I touched down in Sao Paulo on Sunday night, June 1st. Before landing, I was escorted up to the cockpit to watch the descent by the TAM flight attendant, who I had met along with the rest of the TAM crew the night before in Praia do Futuro. AWESOME. This would be 100% unacceptable in the US.
I don’t have photos of that, because when the flight attendant invited me up I really had no idea I was heading for the cockpit. In general, miscommunication happens a lot when you don’t speak a foreign language fluently. I find that when you nod, smile, and go with the flow, things tend to work out at least in a somewhat interesting or humorous way.
I said my goodbyes to the flight crew, and looked for my ride. I was excited because a Brazilian friend, Maira, that I had initially met in Rio back in the day was supposed to pick me up. I called her on one of many expensive brazilian pay phones at the airport. Unfortunately, she had assumed I was at the other major city airport, so the initial plan was in pieces. I also have to say Sao Paulo was frigid, about 50, in comparison to the Fortaleza heat. It was impossible to get used to. I ended up taking an executive bus to a central station, eating stale popcorn, and borrowing strangers’ cell phones to coordinate where she would pick me up exactly. Not exactly my idea of fun – but eventually she made it, and we made it to an excellent sushi house in the Japanese district.
On Monday, I met up with a long lost “Atowner” Flavia Fernandez. If you aren’t from Arlington MA then you won’t know about Flavia. She went to high school in Arlington and then moved back to Brazil before she even thought about applying to US colleges. I had her information because 3 years ago, I visited Rio, and contacted her at the time only to find out she was in Sao Paulo. As she is an emergency room nurse in a public hospital, her schedule was two days on one day off, which allowed her to come hang out with me. She took me to the “best” Acai place in Sao Paulo – as you can see, those mounds of Acai are in sorbet form – and damn was it good.. some acai with some fresh bananas and granola… yum. I spent a lot of time trying to convince her to come to the states again to make a decent wage. She’s got a boyfriend (-1) and is also studying more (-1) so the move doesn’t look good. I told her I will run a hospital one day so she’s always welcome though.
Night falls over Sao Paulo – imagine this view in all directions, including the high rises and antennas, and you begin to get a feel for what most of Sao Paulo looks like.
Flavia and I, putting down some large towers of Acai!
On Tuesday, I wandered around the Park of Ibirapuera in the Jardins? neighborhood of Sao Paulo, admired the Afro Brazilian museum/modern art center within the park, and took the sweet photo below with two other people from the hostel. We also tried to go to the Hotel Unique, certainly a very unique hotel (shaped like a boat) with a supposedly gorgeous view from the cafe on top. I say supposedly because when we arrived at 4 pm, the sky cafe was closed (until 6 pm). We settled for $7 real fruit juices/beer in the downstairs bar.
Sao Paulo building skyline from Ibirapuera park – a beautiful park in the Jardins? neighborhood of Sao Paulo.
