We arrived to Sao Paulo around 930pm on March 11, grabbed our bags and asked the information desk the best way to get to our Airbnb hosts location in the Pompeia neighborhood. Thankfully the lady at the desk spoke English well and was able to find us a less expensive and complicated route than we were able to figure out using google maps. An airport transfer to the subway, and then a short taxi ride replaced a number of local busses and trainsT, and the subway turned out to feel very safe considering the time of night.
After roughly an hour, our cab from the end of the subway line dropped us off next to a very nice apartment complex. We phoned our host Ariane, and she came down to let us in. Her place was one of the nicest and well decorated Airbnb places we have experienced yet (had a girl´s touch…plus her sister is an interior decorator and helped her out), which made Marcela feel right at home. We settled in, and with Ariane´s help, created a plan of attack for our next and only day in Sao Paulo.
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| View from Ariane's patio |
We woke up a little behind schedule, and headed out to explore after drinking some cold-brewed coffee. Our first stop on Ariane`s "you just can´t miss this" tour was Avenida Paulista, a New York style street with wide lanes, tall buildings, a bunch of stores, and a park right in the middle. We went to a well designed and stocked bookstore called Livraria Cultura that was in a mall-like space called Espaço Cultural Conjunto Nacional. From there we headed to Parque Ten Siqueira Campos, which is a large city block of rainforest that was preserved as the remainder of the forest was clear-cut to make way for a newer breed of jungle.
We took a little break from walking and decided it was time to put some food in our bellies. Across the street from the park we found a by-the-kilo buffet, which was much more expensive than we expected once we weighed our plates. The food was pretty good looking, and its not like we could really put it back anyway. I guess we can splurge once in a while.
After eating, we walked to the Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo, which is across the street from the park. Tickets were 15 reales/person and granted us access to three floors full of great art. One floor I liked in particular was an exhibit from three periods of printing / press art, but there were also plenty of rich people from back in the day hanging around too... and a whole floor of religious art.
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| Livraria Cultura - google |
We took a little break from walking and decided it was time to put some food in our bellies. Across the street from the park we found a by-the-kilo buffet, which was much more expensive than we expected once we weighed our plates. The food was pretty good looking, and its not like we could really put it back anyway. I guess we can splurge once in a while.
After eating, we walked to the Museu de Arte de Sao Paulo, which is across the street from the park. Tickets were 15 reales/person and granted us access to three floors full of great art. One floor I liked in particular was an exhibit from three periods of printing / press art, but there were also plenty of rich people from back in the day hanging around too... and a whole floor of religious art.
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| google. |
Once we were done with the museum we wanted to go to Parque do Ibirapuera, but it started raining hard so we decided to head downtown to visit the tallest building in the city instead. This building, the Altino Arantes Building, has a viewing deck you can visit for free, and gives you a 360 degree view of the city .We arrived in the pouring rain and discovered that it had closed at 3pm… meaning we missed it by about 15 minutes. We then walked to a café nearby which was recommended to us by Ariane, called Cafe Girondino. We had a delicious hot chocolate and slice of pie, and then ran across the street through the rain to the Mosterio de San Bento. We did a quick walk through the monestary, and then took the metro back to Ariane´s apartment.
From reading previous blog posts, you may have noticed a trend: we like to make dinner for our hosts. So, because our day was cut short due to rain, we decided to stop by a nearby grocery store on the way home and buy some ingredients. They had a terrible selection, and I was on the verge of giving up until Marcela suggusted seafood cakes, roasted potatoes, stuffed cucumbers, and wine. We got back to the apartment, prepared dinner, and waited for Ariane to get home. Ariane is a law student so she studies daily from 9am to 8pm. We enjoyed the food and the opportunity to cook, then cleaned up and decided to make some capirinias. After, we headed out to a local bar, where we got to know Ariane better over a few beers before heading back to the apartment.
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| deleted all the pictures of the actual dinner my mistake... |
The next day we tried to wake up early but ended up getting up closer to 10am. We semi-packed for our flight that evening, and went back downtown to the Altino Arantes Building. The ride to the viewing deck involved two elevators and a few flights of stairs, but after about 10 minutes, we made it to the top!
With only a few hours left in Brazil, and almost no money, we decided to avoid the absurd ATM fees from a bank and began looking for a cash exchange. We searched for half an hour, finally found a "Check-into-cash" type place, and accepted the terrible exchange rate out of desperation. After returning to the apartment on the subway, we rushed to finish packing and Ariane kindly drove us to the Barra Funda metro stop so we didn’t have to take a cab. We jumped on the metro and transferred quickly onto the airport link. It all turned out to be much more convienient than we expected.
We arrived at the airport with 13 reales left over, and planned to have a snack in the terminal. We tried to check in for our 6:30pm flight to Buenos Aires, and the airline representative let us know we had to pay the $160USD Argentina entrance fee before we could even check in, and it can only be paid online. We rushed to the internet café in the airport, registered ourselves, paid the fee, all under 15 minutes. Our internet and printing fee came to R$13.50, so we were short by change. Just as I was beginning to attempt to ask if R$13 would do, a very nice man appeared out of nowhere and covered the difference. We checked in without furhter hassle, and were glad when we realized the flight came with a meal! We loved Brazil, but were ready for the next adventure: Buenos Aires!
With only a few hours left in Brazil, and almost no money, we decided to avoid the absurd ATM fees from a bank and began looking for a cash exchange. We searched for half an hour, finally found a "Check-into-cash" type place, and accepted the terrible exchange rate out of desperation. After returning to the apartment on the subway, we rushed to finish packing and Ariane kindly drove us to the Barra Funda metro stop so we didn’t have to take a cab. We jumped on the metro and transferred quickly onto the airport link. It all turned out to be much more convienient than we expected.
We arrived at the airport with 13 reales left over, and planned to have a snack in the terminal. We tried to check in for our 6:30pm flight to Buenos Aires, and the airline representative let us know we had to pay the $160USD Argentina entrance fee before we could even check in, and it can only be paid online. We rushed to the internet café in the airport, registered ourselves, paid the fee, all under 15 minutes. Our internet and printing fee came to R$13.50, so we were short by change. Just as I was beginning to attempt to ask if R$13 would do, a very nice man appeared out of nowhere and covered the difference. We checked in without furhter hassle, and were glad when we realized the flight came with a meal! We loved Brazil, but were ready for the next adventure: Buenos Aires!
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