Weekend in Sampa!

So i had a great weekend in Sao Paulo. On saturday morning i met with Denise and Ana, two local girls. They are total city girls, so knew the local places (well SP isnt set up for tourists so thats much more interesting)

So me and the chicas had a great traditional brasilian lunch and they took me to one arty craft fair. There were some interesting things there, and i wouldnt have found it otherwise. It had a real londony feel to it, and i got a real Eureka moment, and found a great new business idea there which i'll explore when i get back (its secret of course) It was funny to explain to the girls about potatoes, potatoe heads, and the Estonian connection. There was a stall of potatoes for sale, a whole row of hundreds of potatoes. it looked like an Estonian football match (ok i think you have to be a foreigner in Estonia to understand the joke but anyway it was really funny at the time so please laugh out loud now)

That night i met the local SP guys i'd met in Rio, William and Thiago, and they took me to a really brilliant and cheap Japanese place for dinner in Liberdad, then we went to a local kareoke, 'Kareoke Liberdaad' i think it was called, There was pool, cute drunk girls, and actually it was pretty good despite my lack of singing ability (no i didnt sing, i was not drinking) I did end up talking to a half japanese girl with blonde hair, what an interesting combination! Due to the Ayhuasca, i cant fornicate for one month so i wasnt tempted of course ;o)

Next day, Sunday was a beautiful summers day (these guys spend new year on the beach, amazing!) so i pushed my Brasili/Japan theme further and took a cruise round to one art gallery housed in an enormous pink purple and blue building, called 'Instituto Tomie Ohtake' This is a truly awful place, please avoid it. There were photos by one guy that were so so, but i could have taken them. There were collages by some guy who plainly was employing his 4 year old son to do the actual artwork. And some tedious as hell and pretty talentless random shapes by Tomie herself. Man. I know South America isnt known for its fine art, but with this shit, i should become an artist. (i guess this is modern art all over :o) )

So i went down to check out (the talent) at Ibiraguera park, the most famous park in Sau Paulo. I suppose its the Sampa equivalent of central park, surrounded by poshness and high buildings. i ended up on the roof terrace of 'Hotel unique' id planned on staying here but thanks God i didnt becuase Nikkey palace was much better and the unique was full of super pretencious poor people, the type you see all over bars in Kings Road Chelsea - chunky white trash with their best dresses on, or skanky looking girls with fake tan, boobs and high heels hoping to catch a real rich guy. A bit like bonbon club in Tallinn to be precise. Anyway the rooftop bar/restaurant does pretty good food though (spring rolls were $18!) , and the view is amazing, over the park and the city, and there is a swimming pool too, which pipes the music so you can hear it underwater.

Tonight is my last night and its a bit sad to be going 'home' (wherever that is) to the cold wet Soviet Socialist Republic of Britian, but i think ive seen everything there is to see here in Sao Paulo.

My only regret really is that i didnt get married to Jessica, the beautiful receptionist in the Nikkey Palace Hotel. She seemed a very good hearted girl, with that modesty that makes a woman truly beautiful, despite being really pretty. Oh well...thats the tragedy of travelling, you meet a pretty girl, and the next day your in another continent...by the way this is a great hotel if you go to Sao Paulo. I was quite relieved to stay there after some pretty mixed things around the continent. There is a great Sauna/steam room complex in the basement, wifi all over, and everyone speaks English (and Japanese if you feel the urge to) And the location is pretty central, in Liberdad - thats the Japanese/Asian area, its pretty interesting and i felt safe there.

In fact, despite horrific crime stats. ,Sao Paulo felt a really safe city. i walked everywhere that lonely (wimp) planet would say not to, and on the last night i watched Avitar movie til 1am and walked back til i was tired and picked up a taxi, and no problems at all. Just dont look like an American Tourist when you do that (that goes for worldwide travel i suppose)