We arrived late at night on Thursday 23 March. We were trying CouchSurfing for the first time, so weren't too sure what to expect. Our hosts Roderigo and Marilia stay in an awesome apartment with a large living space stylishly decorated (he is an architect and she is an art teacher.) We even had our own room! They welcomed us warmly, and immediately offered us a hot shower and a basket for our laundry - exactly what we both wanted after a whole days travelling. When we were clean and comfortable, we all got to know each other over some snacks and they suggested a long list of things for us to see the next day.

Friday was a day of sight-seeing. We weren't able to work out the bus system so ended up walking everywhere. (Sao Paulo is one of the biggest cities in the world - about 3x as many people as JHB.) Fortunately we were staying within walking distance of downtown, which is the 'old' part of the city where all the interesting things are. We eventually landed up at the old market, which is a collection of cool little stalls and small shops inside a huge warehouse. After having lunch, we headed home - getting a bit lost in the process :-/ That night we joined a friend-of-a-friend, Marcia, for a youth event at her church. Of course the whole thing was in Portuguese, but she translated like a champ! Afterwards she drove us around a bit and pointed out a few more interesting sights around the city. She was really nice - would have been great to spend more time with her.

Saturday we were up at around 10. Marilia needed to do some work in the morning, so Roderigo offered to show us around some more of the city. We went to this awesome haviannas store, and then to this enourmous old book store. Then we met up with Marilia for a trip to a museum/art gallery that is completely suspended about 10m off the ground on 4 huge pillars. Too bad we're not that into art as I think the collection was pretty good - had at least 4 van Gough's and 2 Monet's - those were the only artists we recognised :-/ It was pouring with rain when we got outside, so we got a tour of the subway system. It was so nice being with people who knew exactly where to go and what stops the get off at! We all went to a local restaurant and had a traditional dish called feijoada for lunch - was really good, and even though we shared one between two, there was still left overs. Afterwards we headed straight to the first of two parties that Roderigo and Marilia were going to that night. Everyone we met was super friendly and welcoming and we had a great time chatting and learning about each others countries and cultures. We eventually crawled into bed at 4am.

Sunday we slept in a bit and then did some admin. Managed to lock our credit card :-/ so spent ages trying to phone SA to sort it out. Eventually we just gave up and went with Roderigo and Marilia to this cool Lebanese restaurant. It was a bit pricey, but it was really nice and all-you-can-eat :-) That evening we relaxed and chatted at home.

Monday we did some more admin in the morning - finally managed to sort out the credit card issue. At lunch time we headed out a place called SESC Pompeia - a huge artsy-type complex. We managed to get there all by ourselves, only to find it is closed on Mondays :-/ We had lunch in the supermarket deli accross the road and were about to go and check out this big park when it started to rain. So we just headed home to pack. Marilia was so kind to escort us all the way to the bus terminal and help us get our tickets to Foz do Iguacu. After a short wait, we headed off on the 16 hour trip to see Iguacu falls!

UPDATE: We know that we haven't posted a lot of photos yet - don't worry we have taken hundreds. We will upload some albums soon!