Sao Paulo

When people said dangerous we didn´t expect to see a gun point arrest and police drug raid in our first half day.

The day started off promising. Arriving at six in the morning, an ungodly hour that had not yet been experienced by these two protagonists, we made an attempt to visit the tourist attractions. We even elected to walk to the first one, a snake farm, to "save money", especially as we were advised it would only take 20 minutes. We arrived two hours later. What was left of our enthusiasm evaporated when we learned that of the "one thousand serpents" we were promised were there, we could only see three. Furthermore these snakes were doing what should be done at that time of the morning, sleeping. Its saving grace was a huge spider that had built a fortress of a web at the entrance of the cafe. We took pictures (to follow) then decided tourism was overrated and instead we should head to crime ridden Downtown.

Walking around downtown Sao Paulo was the biggest culture shock so far. Homeless people everywhere, prostitutes were common place, illegal street sellers including children selling anything from pornographic pirate CD´s to suspiciously good phones and ipods. We managed to find a busy uppermarket restaurant/bar to have a coffee and dulce de leche pastries (very popular in S.America). It was here that a sudden commotion made us turn around. An illegal street seller had been thrown to the ground and the pursuing police officer had pulled out his hand gun, holding it to the man´s head, shouting. With coffee cup halfway to mouth, Tanya deliberated the appropriateness of continuing the cup´s journey.

Later, following the book´s recommendation, we made our way to the Municipal market. En route, Matt suggested crossing the road and upon looking up and seeing a group of locals hands above heads up against the wall, being circled by rifle-wielding policemen, Tanya agreed. We watched from a distance, surrupticiously taking photos as any true tourist would, as the police offloaded a double decker bus and proceeded to thoroughly search the passengers luggage for illegal products. Tearing ourselves away from the action, we arrived at the market, a huge wharehouse-like building, like something out of a story. Inside, vendors selling candied fruit, exotic fish (incl. salted ray) and parts of animal anatomies that should definitely not be eaten. We ventured out and bought... candied fruit. A friendly fruit seller gave us samples of a variety of tropical fruits, ranging from perfectly ripe mango, lychee and guarana to other fruits only found in the Amazon.

Very content with our interesting, cultural and eventful day, again we approached the bus station with high spirits ("Lucky Sao Paulo?"). And again, our bus plans were foiled. In case we hadn´t made the point clearly enough, Sao Paulo is not somewhere you want to be outside after 5 o´clock. So upon learning at 8 in the evening that we had to stay the night, our minds flashed back to the abandoned mattress we had seen earlier that day that had been stashed under one of the pasovers in the city which at the time we had found amusing but now seemed like an option. Luckily overnight brothels are cheap.

In summary: Sao Paulo´s skyline is a juxtaposition of sky scrapers and collapsing, derelict buildings. A fascinating though intimidating city, it´s crime reputation not to be taken lightly.

Next stop (for Toby´s benefit): Foz du Iguazu - home of the famous water falls.