It's amazing that you can fly across the world and arrive in a completely different continent, country and city like Sao Paulo, Brazil only to feel like you've just flown into your own home town, Johannesburg, South Africa. It started as early as our arrival at the airport which felt exactly like walking through the old Jo'burg international airport. Let's hope they rebuild it or, at least, upgrade it for the world cup. Driving to our hostel felt like driving down the R24 through the surrounds of Edenvale. And it didn't stop there. We were hit with warnings about safety and security when walking around to the point that on our first footed venture onto the streets we took with us no wallets, watches or phones and just had a small bit of cash in our pockets. Sound familiar? This was the first non-first-world country that we had arrived in and worried about things like this. Maybe it was blissful tourist ignorance before but we never felt unsafe. All this said, we were victims of only one thing, paranoia. We were caught in the same trap that many people visiting South Africa find themselves in. We were worrying too much and as we got out more and more our wallets, watches and phones started to return to their rightful places in our pockets. We're not unrealistic though, and we were careful about which areas we went to and what was going on around us.

The more we saw of Sao Paulo, the more we were amazed at how similar it is to Johannesburg. The only real differences that we could pick up were that they drive on the right hand side of the road instead of the left, they spend Reais instead of Rands and they speak Portuguese instead of English. This was probably the biggest problem we had with the city. We just could not get away with English. It was definitely worse here than any other country we had been to. We can't even use the excuse that we were in some small rural town where no English would be expected. We were in the countries capital and most educated and cosmopolitan city. You can just imagine how hard it was to order a big mac without cheese. The only places we could use English were at our hostel and at the airport. An even bigger worry is that with this lack of language how is this city going to host the soccer world cup (football world cup for our British and European readers). It was very interesting to also see the repeat of all the other concerns we had about our world cup. Corruption, misappropriation of funds, major public worry that stadiums won't be ready. It's hard to think back past the success of our world cup and remember all the problems we had with the buildup. Guess this is ironically optimistic for Brazil.

It's quite a difficult city for two lone tourists that had never been here before. The city spans a massive covering making it hard to get around. There is a really good subway system which helps a lot but once you arrive in the suburb you're looking for, the suburb itself is too big to walk around. We tried this while looking for a street called the "Batcave". A street full of graffiti murals. Sounds very cool and definitely worth a little missioning to go see. But once we arrived in Vila Madelina and eventually found the street we had learnt our lesson…don't try walk this city. And it makes sense, cause we wouldn't try walk around back home to get from A to B, so we shouldn't have tried here. On this walk through the burbs though, we noticed another similarity to Jo'burg that we hadn't seen anywhere else in the world. Houses had walls. They were high and they were topped with electric fencing or barbwire. They even had private security guards sitting in little huts outside their houses. This really made us mlungus feel right at home…haha.

We definitely tried here but with the difficulties and distances of getting around and the prominent lack of communication, we eventually found it easier to take the last day in Sao Paulo to rather plan some of our trip around South America. The best advice that we can give for Sao Paulo, would, surprise, surprise, be the same advice that we would give to someone coming to Johannesburg - find someone you know who lives there to show you around cause, like Jo'burg, the city has tons to offer, you just need a little help navigating around.

Trek on…Brett and Darren

P.S. We contributed to an article that appeared in the publication Folha de Sao Paulo on 11 December 2011. We weren't quoted in the article but we were interviewed in the article so we thought we'd put it up here. It's an interesting article in two parts that speaks about the hostel boom in Sao Paulo and the dynamics that come with it.

Sao Paulo finally surrenders to the boom of hostels
Sunday, 11 December 2011

By January 2012, 34 hostels will be running, in 2008, there were only four

At least one thousand beds will be offered; business says the city must prepare to deal with the tourism

Cristina Moreno Castro

Evandro Spinelli
Sao Paulo

Although hostels attract many students, this is not the sole clientele. The turnover is much higher than that of a hotel and, although hostels are informal, they are not hotels. The rooms and bathrooms are shared: definitely not a hotel. Further, and so as to prevent any confusion, hostels are no longer known as social housing.

So what is a hostel: it's a cheaper form of accommodation, full of spaces for interaction with a relaxed atmosphere that facilitates new friendships and they're gaining popularity in the largest city in Brazil.

This way of travelling, common in cities in Europe, U.S.A and Rio, has now also grown in Sao Paulo.

Let the numbers speak for them self: in January 2008, there were only four hostels in the city. Now there are 30 hostels and at least four more are scheduled to open by January. All-in-all, they will offer about a thousand beds.

NEW REQUIREMENTS

"The city of Sao Paulo can be like London, which has 17'000 beds in hostels," compares Mourão Henry Savio, owner of Casa Club Hostel and president of the Hostels Association of São Paulo. Henry adds, "We have the potential to be bigger, but the city must be prepared for tourism."

The owners of the oldest hostels fear that the increased rate of visiting tourists is not being matched by the boom of new hostels- especially with the upcoming World Cup in mind.

Not everyone agrees though. Dutchman, Frodo Eggens, 34, owner of 3 Dogs Hostel, just opened a second establishment in Bela Vista, Beats Hostel.

Alan Nicolich, one of the owners of Go Backpackers Hostel, is focusing on football, and adding helping tourists find the missing beds. "I opened up here because business men failed to find space in hotels."

For Luiz Sales, director of strategic actions SPTuris, entrepreneurs need to seek a differential. For example, opening hostels in regions outside the popular Vila Madalena and Vila Mariana, in which 85% of the hostels in Sao Paulo are concentrated. Hostels are also including a daily breakfast, linen and free internet. "This is the pattern of demand with increased competition," explains Marina Moretti, owner of O Casa De. Each one tries to find a niche: from investing in security or arranging pub crawls through the bars of the city, to those who offer a pool, barbecues or a bar.

The profile of the guests has also changed. Four years ago, 90% were foreigners. With the crisis in Europe, they began to come less. The space is now occupied by Brazilians.

Brazilians discover new type of hosting
Sunday, 11 December 2011

According to owners of hostels, Brazilians already hold 50% of beds

Visitors with an average age of 30 years are attracted to large events and remain in the capital for around three days

Sao Paulo

Sitting in the reception area on the colorful ottomans of one hostel in Bela Vista (city centre), a Turkish and an American tourist have just come back from lunch at a vegetarian restaurant in Vila Mariana in the south of São Paulo. Not far away, in another room, six guests from different countries are watching an English movie. In a third room, with a fireplace adorned in Christmas decorations, a Colombian couple lie fast asleep on a sofa.

"At hotels, you're locked inside one room. Here you get to live with other people, as if in a house rented by strangers", explains Michele Ono, 27, who comes from Piracicaba, São Paulo State. "It is the first time I've stayed in a hostel in Sao Paulo. I was told about this place by a friend who usually stays here to enjoy the outdoors of the Vila Madalena area and it is close to work, which is more convenient than returning home each day on ABC."

PORTUGUESE LANGUAGE

"Hosteleiros" attribute the sector's growth mainly to local travelers, many of which were already familiar with this type of service outside of Brazil. Today, Brazilians account for 50% of hostel guests in São Paulo, according to industry estimates.

"It's an opportunity to meet people from all over the world. I arrived yesterday and I've spoken to an American, German, Mexican and Spaniard", says Diego Moraes, 23. A biologist, Diego came to Sao Paulo to try find a job and was busy on an internet chat with an American when he did this interview.

BED IN TRANSIT

Among the 15 guests interviewed by Folha, most came to São Paulo in search of employment, for tourism or in transit to other cities. The average length of stay of guests (most aged up to 30 years) is three days, the industry says. Many are attracted by events like the International Exhibition of Cinema, international shows and, of course, football. New Yorker Dylan Stillwood, 31, arrived 15 days ago at Square Tree Hostel to see Corinthians end their football season.

Most travelers find their hostels on the websites: HostelWorld, Hostel Bookers, and Hostels.com. In comparison, there are only 11 hostels listed on these sites in cities on Brazil's North Coast (Guaruja, Ilhabela, Santos, Ubatuba, Caraguatatuba and Maresias). These sites provide the only source of information about this since information outside of Sao Paulo is not recorded by SPTuris Secretariade or by State Tourism. Mourao Henry Savio, President of the Association of Hostels Sao Paulo, says that hotels are still the accommodation of choice on the coast. "Shared rooms are still poorly regarded by some", says Mauricio Kimura, 38, manager of Okupe Hostel. (CMC)