Day 42: Foz de Iguaçu to São Paulo

This morning we said good bye to our beloved Tetris Hostel. We checked out at 11:00 and one last time hopped on the 120 bus, this time to the airport (note re the buses: they have a awkward turnstile behind the driver where a conductor, I suppose you'd call him, takes your fare and gives you a ticket. These turnstiles are not backpacker friendly...).

We had the most chilled out Airport experience ever, security wasn't the trauma it usually is, and at 13:40, we boarded our flight bound to Sao Paolo. From the sky you could see the full enormity of the national park, green jungle spreading in all directions.

By way of contrast, an hour later, Sao Paolo came into view; an unending, grey concrete jungle spread as far as the eye could see. It was immense. Brazil's largest city, commercial capital, with 20 million inhabitants.

We landed safely and arrived into the modern, clean airport and were on our way to find a taxi when a german couple, who obviously saw the "tourist" sign stamped on our foreheads, asked where we were going and if we could share a taxi. As chance would have it we'd booked into the same hostel, so it made perfect sense. After Uber complications, we decided to try the old fashioned airport taxi option.

The further we got from the airport, and the deeper into the hilly city, an amazing sense of life, energy and a vibrant artistic culture started to emerge. Almost every street seemed to have bright, colourful murals by gifted street artists; beautiful bespoke boutiques of fashionable clothes, children's toys, musical instruments; trendy but unpretentious bars; stylish contemporary architecture - the place just seemed to ooze creative energy and design flare. We were in the heart of the old town known as Vila Magdalena. It felt more like an arty village than a sprawling metropolis. (We subsequently discovered from conversations with Brazilians that this gave us a warped perspective of São Paulo - Vila Magdalena is supposedly a unique and posh part of town, wasnt a faithful representation of Sampa. However, this was our first impression of this unimaginably huge city, and a fine impression it made...).

Buzzing and excited to explore we arrived at our hostel. We checked in and made ourselves at home in our dorm (my first dorm of the trip). Lynn, mourning Tetris hostel, took a rest while I went for a walk around the area. It was slick as.

We met up with our new German friends Daniel and Eva, and went searching for a restaurant Lynn had picked out from her beloved Lonely Planet. Starving by this stage, I think 8 could actually hear the sound of Lynn's heart sinking when we found the place - closed... Here in the buzzy atmosphere of Rua Aspicuelta there were loads of great options. We soon found somewhere and wasted no time ordering. Steak and an enormous salad and plenty of cocktails, Lynn opting for a delicious açaí and vodka slushy cocktail and me embracing caipirinhas as my holiday drink.

Daniel and Eva called it a night. But me and Lynn were only getting started. It was Friday night in São Paulo. Enough said. We ambled through the streets - you could feel the energy building. People packed into bars, merry chatter and good vibes. One particular place caught our attention and we got sucked in. We may have crashed a birthday party, I'm not sure, but it was cool. We propped ourselves up at a high table and got some more drinks. I'm not sure how, I think because we were an odd addition to the scene, but we got chatting to these really friendly Brazilian girls: Ruth and Lydia. We discovered we had planned on going to the same club night in Nossa Casa. So we went together! And it was wild! (So wild there was a naked man, I mean just in his birthday suit, just standing there, having a casual drink! Weird... nobody else even bat an eyelid though! Weirder...) It was a small packed club full of popular and traditional music from Pará (the region that was being celebrated that night) and they were serving a questionable licquor called "Jambu". It was by far the strongest thing I'd ever tasted - 10 times stronger than vodka - it had to be something like methylated spirits! I couldn't finish mine... but it was an experience! And after, we just partied all night long...

Accommodation: Sampa Hostel
Weather: Clammy in São Paulo; especially in the club!