We arrive in Sao Paulo after a 6 hour bus ride from Paraty.

We do our orientation tour of downtown, passing through the mall. We momentarily feel like we're on a movie set when we all have to rush to the side as 2 police cars go racing down the middle of it, the second car with an officer half hanging out the window, gun poised in hand.

The crowd all continues as normal and our group crack up laughing in shock if what we've just seen!

Welcome to downtown Sao Paulo!

We meet with Luci's friend Ju the next morning and her friend Carlos.

Ju tells us she was suprised when i told her where we were staying ... no one goes downtown ... Carlos was getting lost trying to navigate the streets to get us out of there as never goes there!

Downtown is the domain of gay clubs and crack heads!  Thanks Tucan for looking after us!

Ju had a 'program' laid out for us :-) (you Brazillians are soooo hospitable!!!).

She said she'd been discussing with friends where to take us knowing we've already been to the beaches, and thought what can we offer them after that? 

Food! Sao Paulo a city of 20 million may not be pretty but boy does it have some gastronomical delights!  Although it helps if you have a local to take you to all the right places and to point the right dishes out!

So first we head to Mercardo Publico!

We visit some friendly folk at a food stall and taste samples of their custard apples, star fruit, and a few other fruits I hadnt seen and have now forgotten!  They were very generous and didn't charge us!  And we got a great pic with me, Zoe and the boy working the stall pretending to kiss her!  Love the cheeky boys here!

Ju and Carlos then took us upstairs to try their local juices ... They do a really yummy pineapple and mint, passionfruit and Ju explained the aerole juice that we'd seen previously, is a local fruit that contains 5 times more vitamin C then orange!

I really should have got stuck into that as still had the dreaded 'Carnival Cough'!

She also bought us an enormous  'Mortadella Sandwich' to try!

 It is a local specialty packed full of Mortadella meat, with a thick slice of cheese in the middle of it.  I had to unhinge my jaw to take a bite, but it was very good!!!  We also tried a squeeze of lime on it which was also surprisingly tasty!

Next we went to Luz station which was built in the 1800s and still operates today. 

Nearby was the art museum which we had a quick gander through, but unfortunately most exhibits were closed, and flagged the nearby museum on Portugese language history as not much use when you only understand about 5 words!

We left there and headed for lunch .... 

Now we did not get anywhere quickly is Sao Paulo.  It was a miserable overcast & raining day, which matched most of the buildings but they tell us the traffic is ALWAYS this bad! 

Outside of Downtown the city begins to look a lot nicer ... Still too many buildings but more well kept green spaces and less homeless junkies!

Ju asks us have you ever had a boyfriend who was not too pretty, in fact he's pretty ugly! But he treats you well, looks after you, so you love him anyway?

Mmm not sure we reply ... I don't think so?!

Well she said that is Sao Paulo for the Paulistas (what the locals are known as)!  We know it's ugly but we love it anyway! 

Ju you have a great sense of humour!

You also cracked us up with your view on Brazillians and law ... 'We see them as suggestions!'.

So true, that totally explains all the crazy driving, parking, behaviour etc!

Lunch is at ... Um I've forgotten!  But Ju said it translated to something like 'Miss Tiger'.

The place was very popular and we waited for a table with caiprihinas in hand, street side (these were orange and passionfruit also looking like a tiger!).

We ordered an entree, an Amazonian fish that was served in batter with a soy &  ginger sauce - each piece was one rib bone and tasted melt in your mouth delicious!!!

We got a table and went to order thr Feijoada (pork, rice and bean local dish) but were told we need to book for that as they were all out! Now that's popular!

We instead had some other local mince style dishes that were also served with rice & beans, and one also with a banana style salsa.

Just about ready to burst Ju insists we have desert!  

We share a tasting platter with 3 options, all were to die for but I only remember the one that looked like creme caramel but was like a caramel tart if you didn't add golden syrup ... Mmm all so good!

Next we drove around the city and Ju pointed out the financial districts (new and old), some main avenues and a few more really nice areas.  There were also a couple of Oscar Niemyer buildings to spot, and we drove by their huge park (similar to New York Central Park).

Ju tells us about her work as a publicist ... She's working with a sustainability program - SWU (Starts With U).  

We're quite interested to hear about what she does as the program culminates with a music festival at the end of the year, which last year (their first one), had Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, Dave Mattehw band in attendance.  

Then throughout the year the program sponsors charities and leverage off their youth network to source volunteers to assist.

The whole model of SWU sounds very well thought out and realistic. It's something I'd like to look into more when I return to Aus (note to self!). 

Ok! Time for ice cream! We meet Ju (and Luci's) friend, Lucio at the shop which is apparently near where Luci used to live.

I manage to make just enough room to fit the condensed milk & cake tasting icecream goodness in!  But afterwards think i am about to explode!

We farewell Lucio until dinner and Ju & Carlos drop us back to the hotel for a nap before meeting up again for (oh no!) more food and dancing!  

We meet at 10.30 & head to Santos Pizza for dinner, one of the nicest and most ambient pizza restaurants I've ever been to! 

We meet more friends of Ju! Rodrigo, Luis, and I've forgotten the lady from Salvador's name?!

It's great to meet more locals and all are encouraging Zoe and I to visit north of Rio next time we come.

We are very keen to do this, but were a little trepidatious before coming to Brazil after things we'd heard about it being less safe for tourists ... They tell us it's fine (I'm sure it especially is if you speak Portugese!) and they'll come with us!  

I might hold you guys to that one day - don't be surprised!!!

Can you believe after all we'd eaten that day, I still managed to fit pizza in too! AND one of the best I've ever had! Half Mexican and the other half a bit more daring - banana, camembert and curry!  

Dinner was about midnight and we leave there about 2am for the clubs.

Traffic is horrendous!

We arrive at the clubs at 3am - all have queues - we opt for a bar instead.

More caiprihinas! Once again being daring I have a passionfruit & basil, Zoe has a orange and ginger, and Ju had something that comes served with fire and tasted very good!  Carlos our very patient driver (actually he was getting annoyed with the traffic but we couldn't understand his Portugese swearing!) has a red bull.

We head home after this as catching a bus that morning for Curitiba!

Thank you Ju and Carlos for ferrying us around all day, treating us and telling us so much about your city!

We had a fantastic time, put on 10kgs but left Sao Paulo with a much better view of what the city and it's people were like, after meeting you and your friends.

To all of Luci's friends - please