So after a bit of running around trying to find an ATM that would take my credit card, we popped into the tourist office to ask about buses to Sao Paulo, only to discover that the next bus was due to leave in 10 minutes, but that the station was a couple of kilometers away. We waited for a couple of minutes outside for a local bus to the station, but none came and so we just walked to the station knowing we'd missed it.
It turned out that the next bus wasn´t until 3pm (it was now 11am), but that was already full, and the next one after that was 10pm. So our only option was to leave our bags at the station and hang around Angra for the whole day and get that 10pm bus.
So walking back towards the town we had a drink by the small beach and then another really lovely pay-by-weight lunch in the town centre (with more fantastic cake!). Spent most of the rest of the afternoon in an internet place before they closed and then got a bit of supper and drink in a nice local bar. From the bar I could see a bit of activity down by the waterfront, so we strolled down there to check it out.
It turned out to be a small local festival, with loads of food and drink stalls and a big stage with a group of kids dancing in traditional costumes. We didn't have too much time, but we stayed watching for over half-an-hour, during which time the one group of kids (about 20 of them) never stopped dancing, and it was at times pretty frenetic. I'm sure the whole show would have gone on late into the night, but we had to head back to the bus station for the Sao Paulo bus.
So after another brilliantly comfortable bus journey we arrived in the huge metropolis of Sao Paulo at about 5:30 in the morning. We immediately checked out buses to Campo Grande, but the first decent bus to leave was at 19:30 that evening. So although the thought of exploring such a massive city was daunting, we didn't have much choice really, unless we just hung around the huge bus station for the entire day. Of course, as always, once I got my bearings with the metro system the whole thing was a doddle, and I really enjoyed the whole day.
It didn't start so auspiciously though, as the queue just to buy a metro ticket was a huge snaking affair, and this was at about 6am on a Saturday morning! The metro system is actually really modern, fast, clean, efficient and very quite, but for some crazy reason they haven't cottoned on to the idea of ticket vending machines yet (even the Luas has them!). Anyway after finally getting tickets we hopped on a train to the city centre and strolled around, basically waiting for places to open. We checked out a cool art gallery and then what looked like a major ceremony in the huge central cathedral that hads lots of security guys hanging around and TV cameras filming the front row.
Not knowing what was going on we were about to leave when Sarah is approached by a priest in mad 'knights templar' robes. He explains in very good English that the ceremony is to mark the 1st anniversary of a plane crash in which 189 people died (it was the local military airline TAM (that serves local people too, and with who we catch a flight here in Bolivia tomorrow!)), but apparently it wasn't widely reported outside Brazil. Anyway, then the priest starts on a long rambling spiel that basically tries to convert us to his branch of Catholicism (using obvious hard-sell techniques that any gradute marketeer would be familiar with (e.g. never asking a direct question, immediately answering his own questions, never giving pause, making repeated positive references to abstract concepts of 'beauty' or 'purity', blah, blah)). Somehow I managed not to bring up any of the thornier issues surrounding his obviously fervent beliefs (much to Sarah's relief), and we eventually managed to extricate ourselves from his attempts at rhetorical entrapment (his final attempt being a request for our postal addresses), but he was a nice guy, and in the end I just felt a bit sorry for him.
We strolled around the Asian quarter for lunch (apparently Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese community outside Japan), having noodles in one Japanese place, and then some nice sushi in another up the road. Over lunch we got chatting to the guy next to us who was with his son. After a bit of chat (Sarah had asked initially if they knew a nearby cinema), the guy offers to drive us to one of the major cinema complexes as his car was just outside. So off we go and the guy drops us off in another part of the city. It turned out that we were too late for any movies, so we just ended up strolling around the area for a bit, although unfortunately we didn't really have time to check out the impressive looking MASP museum.
Anyway, after another quick metro trip and more rambling around one of the posher neighbourhoods of the city, and checking out some cool cafes and the like, it was time to head back to the bus station. Even though we only had a day, albeit a very long day, I quite liked Sao Paulo, although of course we only got to see a tiny fraction of what the city has to offer. So then it was another overnight bus journey, this time towards an area called the Pantanal, a vast wetland area famous for it's wildlife.
It turned out to be a small local festival, with loads of food and drink stalls and a big stage with a group of kids dancing in traditional costumes. We didn't have too much time, but we stayed watching for over half-an-hour, during which time the one group of kids (about 20 of them) never stopped dancing, and it was at times pretty frenetic. I'm sure the whole show would have gone on late into the night, but we had to head back to the bus station for the Sao Paulo bus.
So after another brilliantly comfortable bus journey we arrived in the huge metropolis of Sao Paulo at about 5:30 in the morning. We immediately checked out buses to Campo Grande, but the first decent bus to leave was at 19:30 that evening. So although the thought of exploring such a massive city was daunting, we didn't have much choice really, unless we just hung around the huge bus station for the entire day. Of course, as always, once I got my bearings with the metro system the whole thing was a doddle, and I really enjoyed the whole day.
It didn't start so auspiciously though, as the queue just to buy a metro ticket was a huge snaking affair, and this was at about 6am on a Saturday morning! The metro system is actually really modern, fast, clean, efficient and very quite, but for some crazy reason they haven't cottoned on to the idea of ticket vending machines yet (even the Luas has them!). Anyway after finally getting tickets we hopped on a train to the city centre and strolled around, basically waiting for places to open. We checked out a cool art gallery and then what looked like a major ceremony in the huge central cathedral that hads lots of security guys hanging around and TV cameras filming the front row.
Not knowing what was going on we were about to leave when Sarah is approached by a priest in mad 'knights templar' robes. He explains in very good English that the ceremony is to mark the 1st anniversary of a plane crash in which 189 people died (it was the local military airline TAM (that serves local people too, and with who we catch a flight here in Bolivia tomorrow!)), but apparently it wasn't widely reported outside Brazil. Anyway, then the priest starts on a long rambling spiel that basically tries to convert us to his branch of Catholicism (using obvious hard-sell techniques that any gradute marketeer would be familiar with (e.g. never asking a direct question, immediately answering his own questions, never giving pause, making repeated positive references to abstract concepts of 'beauty' or 'purity', blah, blah)). Somehow I managed not to bring up any of the thornier issues surrounding his obviously fervent beliefs (much to Sarah's relief), and we eventually managed to extricate ourselves from his attempts at rhetorical entrapment (his final attempt being a request for our postal addresses), but he was a nice guy, and in the end I just felt a bit sorry for him.
We strolled around the Asian quarter for lunch (apparently Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese community outside Japan), having noodles in one Japanese place, and then some nice sushi in another up the road. Over lunch we got chatting to the guy next to us who was with his son. After a bit of chat (Sarah had asked initially if they knew a nearby cinema), the guy offers to drive us to one of the major cinema complexes as his car was just outside. So off we go and the guy drops us off in another part of the city. It turned out that we were too late for any movies, so we just ended up strolling around the area for a bit, although unfortunately we didn't really have time to check out the impressive looking MASP museum.
Anyway, after another quick metro trip and more rambling around one of the posher neighbourhoods of the city, and checking out some cool cafes and the like, it was time to head back to the bus station. Even though we only had a day, albeit a very long day, I quite liked Sao Paulo, although of course we only got to see a tiny fraction of what the city has to offer. So then it was another overnight bus journey, this time towards an area called the Pantanal, a vast wetland area famous for it's wildlife.
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