We just returned to the hotel after a long day of exploring the city, but I’ll start with talking about yesterday’s activities.
After arriving at the hotel, we all rested for a few hours before getting refreshed and heading over to a university nearby for a lecture. I think the school is called Collegio Cidade (ci-da-je)? Every Friday they have a lecture series called Café Philosophico, so we were invited to that. The lecture was supposed to be given in English but after more Brazillians arrived it was given in Portuguese and translated every now and then for us. The topic was Urban Violence, specifically in Sao Paulo. It was interesting, but the students were in rough shape after traveling the night before – by this time it was evening, around 8 or 9 and most of us were drifting off during the presentation unfortunately. After the lecture we all went to a restaurant that served delicious Italian food and we all drank wine and chatted about our travel experiences and got to know each other a little.
(Here’s some background on my fellow travelers/classmates:
Though the program is through the University of Florida, UF students make up less than half of the group. There are five or so Gators with us: Eric, Lauren, Shaney, Kevin, and Jessica. Shaney has taken Portuguese language classes so she is really handy to have around. Lauren’s luggage is lost in Panama so she has none of her stuff. Eric is the class clown. Jessica is a fun girl. Kevin I don’t know very well but I think he’s from Delray beach… There is a girl from Canada – she goes to school in Manitoba but did her undergrad in Montreal at McGill (she’s interested in bus rapid transit and bicycles!) There are two girls from UT Austin, Erin and Merideth, I haven’t gotten to know them yet but they seem nice. Elly is really interesting – she graduated from Pratt Institute and currently works for a nonprofit in Honduras in a small town with no electricity! Oh, and Dan – Dan goes to Rutgers and bought and renovated a crackhouse in Trenton. Very cool guy. Everyone is really friendly and interesting.)
After dinner some people went home, but a group of us decided that even though we were exhausted, we needed to go out on our first night in Sao Paulo. We found a street with some interesting bars and bought a bottle of wine and sat in a park next to the bar and talked and then wandered into another bar nearby. We met some Brazillian students at the bar that spoke English and talked to them about the area. Oh, and we got to try the national drink of Brazil! I can’t remember exactly what its called but its basically a mojito without the mint – a ton of sugar and lime.
I also tried a drink one of the people we met recommended, a shot of espresso with liquor in it – I can’t say I’m a fan. The night was really fun – we got some great photos and no one got mugged. A successful night out in Sao Paulo.
Cut to today. Jen and I scrambled to make it to the free breakfast served by the hotel. We made it in time and luckily so because it was delicious. Tons of fresh fruit and fruit juice– papaya, pineapple, fruit salad, lots of tiny Brazillian pastries and cheese. Yum.
We were supposed to go on a walking tour at 11:30 but it was delayed until 2 so a group of us went with the teaching assistant, Renata, to the San Paulista Ave district. It is apparently a business/financial district but we didn’t get to observe the hustle and bustle as it was a Saturday. However, we did get to see some interesting sights. We had lunch at a little café – everyone ate Feshouda (fesh-wada) which is a pork stew and rice kind of dish that I think is typical of Brazil. I had grilled cheese. Ordering at restaurants is kind of difficult because a lot of the menu is difficult to translate and most servers don’t speak English.
We returned to the university we were at the night before to meet up with the rest of the group and a local professor (oh, here they call urban planning “urbanism” and we aren’t planners, we’re “urbanists”) for our walking tour of the historic district. We started with a presentation about the history of the development of the city. Apparently it developed in a haphazard way because much of the land was owned by families in large tracts that were farms – and one by one the farms would be developed into neighborhoods. This lead to Sao Paulo developing in an odd patchwork formation which makes providing infrastructure and public transportation problematic.
After the presentation we went out for our tour. The city is so interesting and diverse and HUGE (tt’s the second largest city in the world). We were told that unlike cities like Manhattan where you can relate where you physically are in the city to a location on a map, Sao Paulo is so huge and confusing that even the people that live here don’t really know where they are most of the time! I can definitely verify that experience. I would have no idea how to get around if I wasn’t with a group. So, anyway the tour was interesting and long. We probably walked around for 7 hours straight today – my feet are aching! Luckily we got some great photos of interesting architecture and urban parks.
Here's a link to an album of photos taken today and last night:
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| First night and second day in Sao Paulo |
Its seven oclock here now and we’re meeting the group at 9 for dinner, so a few precious hours to rest and relax!
Ps. Hi Mom and Dad and Steph!!!
pps. I've added links to photo albums and a video to previous posts, so check that out :)
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