Reid, Andy and 12.6 Million of Our Closest Friends
Our plans to sleep on an overnight bus were fine in theory, but disappointing in practice. Brazilian AC is a marvel of modern engineering; somehow the air is piped directly from the lower Antarctic and delivered straight to your face. Its impressive to be sure, but not helpful for sleep. Our bus left Rio at midnight, and we arrived in Sao Paulo (Sampa) at 7:00, feeling just slightly less than fresh. Luckily the bus terminal was a calm and relaxing environment to enter during this state. Sampa has the second largest bus station in the world serving a modest 90 000 people per day (Source: my massive brain). Rio’s station had English as well, but Sampa’s did not. We wanted to purchase a ticket now for Foz do Iguacu. Each ticket kiosk is operated by different bus companies which each service different areas. We had to aimlessly wander the terminal to find the one sign that had “Foz do Iguacu” written in microprint amongst dozens of other cities. There was only one kiosk to have this. Having successfully attained our ticket, we headed out into the world to find our hostel.
Sampa and Rio are about as different as it gets. In Sampa, we seemed to drive the speed limit and stick in our lane, but the sights are less of mountains, beaches and favelas and more of endless concrete jungle. At first we were worried that it was going to be a charmless and intimidating place, but it didn’t take long to love it.
Suddenly we awoke from our sleep with impressions on our faces resembling the wooden boards we used as pillows, learning without any doubt that picnic tables are a cruel and unforgiving place to rest. Once again we had arrived too early to check in, and seeing as sleep was not an option we were forced to take in the sights via 15km walk while delirious and sleep deprived. We exited the hostel and head right, a direction that has yet to fail us. We stumbled upon an open air market laid out over an overpass completely restricting traffic.
Locals were selling their finest produce and wares. We nabbed some mega choice wares. Just up the block from the open air market we witnessed a street ball dynasty unfold before our very eyes. Many challengers rose but all fell to the shirtless fleet of middle aged men. We thought this would be the high point saying to one another, “This is the high point.” But little did we know our walk had more in store for us. There was an open recreational space that caught our attention. An open gate was beckoning us with the sounds of drums and frivolity, we had to enter. Unfortunately the security guard didn’t see things that way, instead directing us into a nearby building. We went and tried to walk through, finding ourselves outside a locker room only to be redirected by some administration staff. The admin took us back outside and over to where the security guard was. An argument ensued, which we could only imagine was a great political and social deliberation having nothing to do with us. Three police officers approached as the administration gentleman communicated to them pointing at us. They instructed us to follow them and we didn’t argue. They ended up bringing us through the back of the football stadium and said we could just watch the game from there. It was very much an unexpected surprise.
We chatted a while, because the one officer was happy to have a moment to practice english. One officer remained silent, while the last officer tried to make some light small talk. The small talk went something like this:
“I admire President Trump. Bolsonaro and Trump like this” (brings his index fingers together).
“I see.”
“Is your president right or left?”
“Well, things in Canada are certainly different. Our leader is left though.”
*Long fart sound, and thumbs down from him*
All in all it was the best political discussion I have been apart of. They left us and we watched the game until half. We left and went to the Futebol Museum that is within the stadium. It was cool, we mostly learned that Pele was the GOAT, personifying perfection according to the placard. We were a bit more into taking pics of these horrifying clowns however.
We left the stadium through the main entrance and had a good laugh about how ridiculous our entry had been. Headed to our hostel and slept.
Life in Beco Do Batman
Sampa is a town made for foodies and partiers. Restaurants, bars and clubs line the streets, especially in Villa Madalena. Quite by accident, that is where we were staying. Beco do Batman is a small area within Villa Madalena that has an intensely hipster vibe. Most of the walls have street art, unique and abstract.
In the Sampa food scene all cultures seem to be represented, but there is a special focus on Japanese. Sampa has the most Japanese people outside of Japan; a carry over from workers coming to work on coffee farms (Source: See Above). We ate Mexican food, chicharrons which were salty chicken skins wrapped in corn tortillas. Had a taste of american style burgers with cheese fries on the side, followed by a way to expensive bottle of sakes at a Japanese establishment. One place we visited every morning was Duckbill Coffee and Cookies for a much needed caffeine boost to begin our days. All these things were excellent, but the main reason we would ever return is just to have the opportunity to stay in a place named after Batman once again.
Some Quick Sightseeing
We lost a bunch of time in Sampa because planning our next stops became very difficult. There was a real panic that we might not get hostels where we want, or flights to Patagonia. Even now, there are holes in our plan that desperately need to be filled. Time for fun in Sao Paulo was sacrificed to work on planning for fun later. Staying in the whole time was simply not an option though, so we grabbed an Uber and went for a tour of the city. Up the Edificio Italia to see the intense sprawling metropolis.
Inside the Catedral de Se.
And over to Avenida Paulista (the 5th Avenue of Sao Paulo) where we walked home from.
In Search of Nightlife
Following our Mexican meal we decided we should try to find some of this acclaimed nightlife. We asked our server if he could point us in the direction of anywhere good, and he excitedly nodded. He took our phone, started Google Translate and typed furiously. Andrew was the first to see the advice and told him he had done a great job, which was kind, but untrue.
We tried to go super down the road a little, but ended up missing our first straight. We went home instead.
Our final day we figured, alright, last chance to go out. We are going to go for it. Our driver from earlier in the day had mentioned D-EDGE, and we appreciated its Dad joke name, so we went. There was absolutely no one milling about, which is not a great sign. A man who seemed like a bouncer was snoring heavily from a chair. We had to shake him awake and when he finally came to he confirmed our suspicions. D-EDGE was closed that night. We had to make a quick adjustment and found out about a place named LABCLUB. With time slipping we decided to head straight over. We were ready to shred the dance floor, but found that there was some intense competition. A group of six guys were owning the floor dancing perfectly synchronized, with extreme energy and flopping all over. They could have been dancing backup for Beyonce. A dance battle was brewing, but me and Andrew didn’t have the courage to challenge them. Instead I stuck to my usual awkward shuffling, humiliated.
Conclusions
Sao Paulo started off feeling sketchy, dirty and crumbling, but those feelings were unfair. Sampa has character, and is a cool place to wander and treat yourself to a burger or a bottle of sake.
Sao Paulo: Half star out of ten.
Reid and Andrew,
Currently on a 21 hour bus (that we thought was 10 hours) to Foz do Iguacu.
PS: Reid still has no Brazilian wife, and time is running out. NOT VERY COOL!
Where is Reid? 