After breakfast at the Zen Hostel we headed out to explore Vila Madalena, a Brunswick-esque neighbourhood of hippies, hills and sidewalks that a cross country runner would balk at. It was gorgeous, filled with parks and public playgrounds, and the people and dogs enjoying them. After a wonder, we took the trains into Brooklyn. Sao Paulo trains are much more efficient than our Melbourne variety, moving much faster and arriving on time! Three line changes later we were in Brooklyn, the business heart of Sao Paulo, resplendent with offices, shopping boutiques, restaurants and tall white towers. Lots of tall towers... One of these was to be our accomodation, a luxurious apartment building in which we crashed on the couch of Felipe Ricotta. Felipe is potentially the most laid back guy on the face of the earth, He is a musician and DJ who somehow owns several apartments in Brazil and inherently rents them, lives in them, or hosts guests. After letting us in around noon, he promptly fell asleep, having been out all night making musical connections, leaving us to explore the city, and we did.

Lunch was an interesting experience, with Lisa mistakenly ordering a chicken fillet we thought was mushroom. Fortunately it came with chips, rice, beans and salad, so plenty of food we still had, and costing, including two beers, roughly $10 AUD! The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent wandering the city again before returning to the apartment for a swim, nachos for dinner (because his studio apartment lacked kitchen appliances and we were forced to make do with only a microwave), and late night balcony * before bed.

Also of note were the pond's goldfish, giant things roughly the size of salmons and swimming alongside the pools in their own pond.