Please look at the Campos do Jordão - Weekend 2 Photo Album :)

August 1, 2014

After working in Jundiai today, Fabio (my senior) took Elce and me to the bus station where we bought bus tickets for Sao Paulo. I was SO impressed with the busses and the efficiency of the system. The seats were very spacious and reclined so far back! We arrived in Sao Paulo around 6:45. Elce was a HUGE help as she helped me navigate through the subway system. I had to take three trains to get to the stop near the hotel, and Elce volunteered to ride with me, even though we passed her stop! <3

Once I arrived at the Berrini station, Dan picked me up and walked me to the hotel. Dan, Ashley, Yagmur, and I went to dinner at Verissimo and it was amazing! We started with a variety of different pastel and for dinner, I ordered a quesadilla.

After dinner, we all hung out in Jess and Yagmur's room and booked our bus tickets for our travel to Campos do Jordão. We also shared stories about our clients and how the past two weeks have been in both Campinas and Sao Paulo.

August 2, 2014

Today, we woke up, ate breakfast and headed to the bus station. We traveled through Sao Paulo Tiete Rodoviario, which is the largest bus station in Latin America and the 2nd largest in the world, after New York City! That being said, once we arrived at the station, we were SO lost. On top of being in such a large station, no one spoke English, so we tested our Portuguese knowledge. We asked the information desk, security guards, ticket booth, and the worker taking tickets, and they all directed us in different locations. We ended up finding the check in kiosks in the back corner of the bus station. Yay!

Once we got on the bus, we ate our snacks and all took naps. I happened to wake up after 2 hours to the most beautiful view of the mountains. For the remaining hour, I took many pictures of the view (see photo album) and started looking up how far our hotel was from the bus station. To our surprise, we were less than a 5 min walk away! We did not plan that at all!

When we got to the hotel, I checked everyone in and then we went to our rooms. I was with Jess, Yagmur was with Ashley, and John was with Dan. We all got ready for dinner and walked to Capivari, the most popular area of Campos do Jordão.

After the 10 min walk, we arrived at Capivari, possibly the cutest little town center I have ever seen! There, they block off the street so people can walk freely, and there are many street performers and musicians. We stopped to watch a magician who was phenomenal! He swallowed a 3 foot long balloon without popping it. After his show, we walked around and bought some Swiss chocolates as souvenirs.

For dinner, we went to a restaurant called Baden Baden. We tried sitting outside, which is the more popular thing to do but the wait was too long for a table of 6. The hostess tried to tell us to go upstairs and eat inside the restaurant. We couldn't understand her that well and took the wrong set of stairs and ended up in Baden Baden's supply closet (#languagebarrier). After some people got a good laugh out of our mistake, they generously led us to the right part of the restaurant! :) Baden Baden is famous for their beers. They have a brewery in Campos do Jordão and sell it all over Brazil. John and I ordered a Golden, Yagmur ordered Stout, Ashley ordered Weiss, and Jess and Dan ordered Red Ale. We let each other try the beers and they were all amazing (but the Golden was the best!). For appetizers, we ordered two very traditional Brazilian plates: Bolinhos de Bacalhau and assorted Pastel. For main course, I shared Filet Mignon Fondue for 2 with Dan. It was AH-mazing!! Baden Baden is easily in my top three best restaurants I've ever been to!

After dinner, we picked up some groceries and we went back to the hotel to rest from our food comas. Then we started getting ready to go back out and see the nightlife of Capivari!

August 3, 2014

Today, we woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel. We then went to wait in line for the chair lift up the mountain for Parque dos Elefantes. After waiting in line for nearly two hours, we finally made it onto the chair lift and to the top of the mountain. Trust me, it was well worth the wait! Seeing the view of Campos do Jordão and the mountains surrounding it was truly breathtaking. I will never forget that memory. Also on the mountain was a park called Parque dos Elefantes. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to go inside to see all of the elephant statues, but there were a few outside that we were able to take pictures with!

The Los Angeles campus recruiter, Laura, always asks the random question: "If you were to go into a room and there was an elephant in it, what would you do?" These elephant statues made me think of that! Although my initial reaction was to climb on it and take a picture, my outfit for the day (a dress) made it nearly impossible to do that appropriately, so I gave the elephant a fist pump instead ;)

After we got down from the mountain, we walked around Capivari more and got some more chocolaty treats! We also bought pastel for a late lunch and saved the rest for dinner while we traveled. This pastel was INCREDIBLE. Previously, I only have had the appetizer-like pastel which was smaller, and filled with either cheese or meat. This time, the pastel was almost the length of my arm and filled with beef, eggs, corn, and cheese! :)

Then, we unfortunately had to go to the bus station :( I never wanted to leave! We got on the bus at 4 PM and arrived at 8 PM, an hour later than expected due to the world famous Sao Paulo traffic. After that bus ride, I took another bus to Campinas. After 7 hours of traveling, I was exhausted! I slept very well and had sweet dreams about my beyond amazing weekend!

This weekend marked the halfway point of my global internship! It is flying by!

Tchau!