Welcome to Brazil

Bem vindo ao Brasil (Welcome to Brazil)

Day 1

Just landed in Rio De Janeiro. We took a leito Onibus (lazy bus) with reclining seats to Sao Paulo. We stayed the night in the hotel room and ventured out the next day to Av. Paulista. The entire avenue seemed to have been shutdown and only for bikes and pedestrians to roam around. I walked as much as I could and then entered a random cafe. Using my google translate app I managed to order some chicken empanadas (yummmmm) and cappucino (so-so). It was a good easy start to a great trip across Brazil. In the evening I went a mall on Av. Paulisto. Some photos I took along the way

Day 2

We had breakfast in a cafe close to our hotel. We then walked from our hotel to a famous park near by called Ibirapuera. The felt very long even though it was only 20 minutes or so. The weather was a bit hot and I was comfortable in my shorts :) Some photos from the park

Then we headed back to the hotel and a quick freshen up we went to Mercado Municipal (Market) in the heart of Sao Paulo. There we met a really friendly fruit vendor. Thanks to back and forth on google translate on each other’s phone we finally understood what he was trying to say to us . He showed us a really great restaurant to have lunch as well. After the lunch we went back to Filipe to buy some fruids from him as we promised. Photos below,

After that we spent some time roaming around the Mercado for a bit. We strolled down one of the busiest streets of Sao Paulo and took a ride back to our now familiar Av. Paulisto (next to our hotel). We strolled down Av. Paulisto in search of a local bar where I can get my Capirinha. We decided we were not drunk enough and headed to what we thought was a local bar but ended up in a really upscale bar. The ambiance was great and we had some sliders and beer, chatted for a while and headded back to the hotel.

Day 3

We had breakfast at our hotel and took a ride to join a free walking tour. The guide was extremely energetic and showed us some of the best art side of Sao Paulo. Some of the amazing grafittis and murals we encountered along the way,

Then we went to a mercado (market) near the Faro Lima bus stand and had some great food. After a sumptous meal we headed to the (Tomie Ohtake)[https://www.institutotomieohtake.org.br/en/tomie_ohtake/interna/exposicoes-individuais-brasil “Tomie Ohtake Institute”] and followed an audio guide on a select collection of art exhibits. After spending about an hour there we went to the Por-do-sol Parque which was recommended to us by our guide as one of the most beautiful places to be in during sunset. We watched the sunset casually set along the skyline of Sao Paulo.

Then we headed to the Shopping mall citade on Av. Paulista and exchanged our USD for Reals and had dinner there before heading to our hotel room. We were tired and felt like we had a very productive day.

Day 4

We woke up at around 8:30 and had breakfast at our hotel. Then we left for the GRU airport after checking out. It was one of the largest airports in South America (so we were told at the hotel lobby). So we buffered ample time to make sure we covered for the language differences and any last minute things. We were there about 2 hours before our flight deparature (embarque in portugese) time. There was only one thing to do in such situations. Go to a fancy airport lounge and relax the hell out… We had good lunch . More Pao De Quiejo of course and some rest. We then boarded our flight and with a bitter sweet good bye to Sao Paulo we flew to Foz de Iguassu. It is a small city that attracts millions of tourists every year from all around the world for one magnificent nature’s wonder (Iguassu falls) that is located at the border of 3 countries - Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay. We made our reservations for an adventurous trip at our resort and had an amazing dinner and headed to our room to rest for the day

Day 5

After we woke up we went to have an amazing buffet breakfast at our resort. It was early - 9AM - I know .. I know). After breakfast we went to the lobby to be greeted by our guide for the day trip to Iguassu falls. We introduced ourselves and headed to his car. It was a private tour with a private guide which made us look like such a tourist but then again we are :) First stop - Bird zoo, After an amazing brief encounter with the birds we were greeted again at the exit by our guide. I had an empada to prepare myself to the long (just 10km) drive to the falls. On the way our guide explained a few things about the park. One particular fact about the 3 species of Jaguars fascinated us. We also really enjoyed the sense of humour of our guide who made our trip really memorable. He also helped us with taking some of the most memorable photos of the falls and the amazing panaromic view. Nothing could have prepared us to the stunning view of the falls though. It was like an entire ocean falling from the sky all around you. We stuck to the Brazil side but was thoroughly enthralled.

After being briefly mind blown by the beauty of nature we had lunch at the very top of the falls right next to the point were the water seemed to disappear (and fall). Oh yeah.. there were plenty of racoons

Day 6

So the goal was to get on a plane from IGU airport to Rio. Boy was it stressful. We had breakfast at the resort and packed our stuff and checked out. We were greeted by our guide from the previous day who offered to take us to the airport in his car. Offer taken :) We got to the airport at about 11 AM which was 2 hours before our scheduled flight deparature time (12:55 PM). Being a small airport and its proximity to the resort we thought 2 hours was plenty of time get through security and checkin. Boy were we wrong. The line to checkin and get our boarding pass was 1.5 hours long. Finally when we got to the checkin counter the person at the desk told us to run to a window across to pay for the baggage checkin which baffled us but we still went there. We met with few very stressed travelers who were heading to Rio as well and have had their flight changed from the previous day. We waited for 5 minutes at the window for the people at the counter to give us the receipt. Then we ran back to the checkin counter to get our boarding passes. Then we ran to the gate only to find there was another line to get through security :O (Internal screams). Luckily it went fast. We rushed to the gate. The doors opened and it head to a vast open space. Unlike in other airports we have been to there is not passage way from the gate to the flight. When we went through the gate a man pointed his finger at one of the many planes that was “parked” outside and said “That is your plane” . We just ran to our plan and climbed its steps. When we layed our butts on our alloted seats it was 12:45 PM. Wow! There were many many more passengers who boarded the flight after us up until 1:15 PM. The flight finally took off at 1:20 PM. But luckily the wind favored us and we reached Rio at about 3:30 PM . We checked into our hotel on the Copacabana beach. We went to its roof where we had an amazing view of the beach.

Day 7

We woke up to have some awesome buffet breakfast at our hotel. We watched a lot of really healthy people running along the beach and we thought “hey we are from San Francisco” and there was only one thing we could do. Put our running shoes and went for a run. Thank God for bringing along our sunscreen lotion we were saved from being roasted alive by the blistering sun. We ran for about 5 miles before heading back to the hotel and resting. We went to a restaurant nearby for a quick lunch where I was determined to try Fejoada (a black bean stew with pork and beef). We were full after eating half way through the meal. it was sad wasting stuff but we had no way to store and re heat for later and so we didn’t take out rest of the food :( We then wedged in bed for the rest of the day and later decided to go out to party. We hit a good restaurant where we had some great food. After a good meal we started scouting for some bars and clubs. We realized the the english premiere league was going on and the entire country was at bars and cafes watching them. We some how managed to find the one place that was showing the NBA game 6 of Golden state warriors vs Houston Rockets. We had a couple of Caipirinha (strong drink made with Cachacas - sugar cane juice as its base). We got really tipsy and headed back to the hotel.