Needless to say, it's only been a few days, but I feel so blessed to have been connected with this family. When they drove me to the bus station in Rio (at 1am), Pria's mom told me it was sad I was leaving now that I was part of the family. The family was really cute. They weren't allowed in the bus platform area without a ticket (or they had to pay), but they each grabbed a bag and the girls walked through (pretending like "we knew what we were doing") and then waited with me in line. I almost wanted to cry saying goodbye (or see ya later), and definitely think I will try to be back for Pria's wedding... or before :)
Bus to SP
The bus ride down was pretty good. Bus is the primary form of long-distance transportation in Brazil and it shows in the quality of the ride that they're used to doing this. The bus was basically just a coach and not too expensive (less than $40 for a 6 hour ride), but the seats actually went all the way back and they gave us food and drinks. I saw a few of the famous Motel's (like the Japanese love hotels - very kitschy!) on the way out of town, but otherwise, fell asleep in Rio State and woke up in Sao Paulo!
The metro was easy to find at the bus station. I asked Pria how to pronounce the area of town I was going to and then asked someone at the metro station where to get off. When I got there, it was pouring (thankfully stopping a bit later), so I took a short cab ride with the bag.
And so here I am... in the world’s second largest city and largest metropolis!
I’m meeting the camp people here today, but it's too early to check in and nobody is here yet, so I'm basically just hanging out and catching up. Lucas, the guy at the door who showed me in, though and let me relax at breakfast. I haven't seen our rooms yet, but so far I love the house and garden. I guess the place was started by a group of seven students who bought the house as a place to live together during school and kept this scheme going when they started letting others stay. I don't think this area of town (near Clinicas) is as trendy or chic as it was rumored to be, but the house itself is certainly very charming - and it's good to have a place to drop!
So far, haven’t seen much of the city, but I’m off to explore since I have to wait a while here. I wanted to check out the museum about Japanese-Brazilian relations (maybe it the Japanese part of town? - know it was founded by the current Emperor), but nobody’s heard of it so going to see the main drag and old city first, then ask how to get there at the fine arts museum. I think today was a good day to arrive, too, as there are apparently flea markets all over the city, free entrance to the city center museums, there’s music on the streets and in the shops (although I hope the rain isn’t a deterrant if it keeps going) and Sat is supposed to be SP’s most intense night out. We'll see!
I was warned by the cariocas (Rio natives) that this city isn’t as nice as Rio, at least culturally, but I’m getting the opposite side of the rivalry here so far. Considering I fell absolutely, head-over-heels in love with Rio, I’ll try not to be too biased as I form my impressions… but so far, thinking Brazil in general is just a dream.
(ps – since I started writing, the downpour has stopped. My nickname at school in Japan was “good weather girl” and Pria was laughing about how the weather in Rio turned around and we had a nice New Years when I showed up. Now SP is looking already for my little stroll around the city… kinda strange with this luck, especially after watching Match Point this week. Maybe Woody Allen was onto something??)
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