Our walk back to the hotel was much less strenuous but we realized the trek to the subway with our packs the next day would be a brutal start to our back-packing experience. So much for easing into things. Oh well, tomorrow we would be on the beach in Parati, supposedly a gorgeous town just two hours away. It was enough of a carrot to get us up those hills the next day.
We had dinner at a sushi place just around the corner from our hotel. It was run by Japanese (looking) people that only spoke Portuguese. I wish we had gone to visit Liberdade, the Japanese “quarter” of the city. I’ll add that to my list of reasons to go back some day. The list also includes a visit to Daslu, Sao Paulo’s most absurd over-the-top designer shopping emporium. You aren’t allowed to arrive by foot. You at least need a car, though a helicopter is preferable (there is a landing pad on the roof). Since I forgot to pack my fancy shoes, we decided not to go, but next time, next time. . . A lot of people would probably ask why the hell I’d want to visit a place like that. In my mind, it’s sort of like a visit to the Creationist Museum in the US. You have to go just to see if it really exists. The mall is controversial for tax evasion which resulted in a USD$112 million fine. It’s also located right beside Coliseu, one of Sao Paulo’s many favelas, serving as profound representation of the economic inequality in Brazilian society.
On that happier note, next stop: the beach.
I don’t have a lot of pictures from Sao Paulo because we weren’t there for long and I was timid about taking our camera out on the first dizzying day we spent there. Coming posts will be better.
Street art near our hotel
We had dinner at a sushi place just around the corner from our hotel. It was run by Japanese (looking) people that only spoke Portuguese. I wish we had gone to visit Liberdade, the Japanese “quarter” of the city. I’ll add that to my list of reasons to go back some day. The list also includes a visit to Daslu, Sao Paulo’s most absurd over-the-top designer shopping emporium. You aren’t allowed to arrive by foot. You at least need a car, though a helicopter is preferable (there is a landing pad on the roof). Since I forgot to pack my fancy shoes, we decided not to go, but next time, next time. . . A lot of people would probably ask why the hell I’d want to visit a place like that. In my mind, it’s sort of like a visit to the Creationist Museum in the US. You have to go just to see if it really exists. The mall is controversial for tax evasion which resulted in a USD$112 million fine. It’s also located right beside Coliseu, one of Sao Paulo’s many favelas, serving as profound representation of the economic inequality in Brazilian society.
On that happier note, next stop: the beach.
I don’t have a lot of pictures from Sao Paulo because we weren’t there for long and I was timid about taking our camera out on the first dizzying day we spent there. Coming posts will be better.
Street art near our hotel
Daslu – notice the helipad:
(Courtesy of wikipedia)
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