Sao Paulo Easter Photos

Just a few of my favorite memories in picture form from Sao Paulo-

Mercado Municipal 

Mercado Municipal 

Liberdade 

Cathedral de Se 

Rua 25 de Marco 

Avenida Paulista 

Vila Madalena 

Vila Madalena 

Sunset Park 

Sao Paulo Adventures on Easter Weekend

Delayed, but better than never! Here is a snippet of some of my best memories from my adventure trekking through Sao Paulo on Easter weekend. Some of the locations shown include-


The Municipal Market

Banco do Brasil

Liberdade

The Sao Paulo Cathedral

Braz Quintal- rated as one of the top ten pizzerias in the world

Vila Mariana

Avenida Paulista

Vila Madalena

Beco de Batman

Sunset Park


It was a short weekend, with two over night buses, but it was worth the trip to reunite with my friends placed in Sao Carlos. I got to know the Sao Paulo metro really well, and felt confident navigating the city. We ran into a lot of small fairs on the roadside, and Avenida Paulista was closed to all traffic on Sundays to allow for a band and fair to overtake the road.

Click here to watch my video from the weekend trip:

https://youtu.be/Cf-L21TCLew

Oreintation Week!

Four days filled with intensive training on- cultural shock, safety, the Brazilian history, dance lessons, and the side exploration of a samba bar, of course to practice our new dance skills. Although the information portions should have been the most memorable, of course it was my Parana family dinner at an Arab restaurant, my first time eating that style food, and the dance lessons. It was crazy to squish 120 Fulbright fellows into the top floor ballroom to learn Forro, Salsa, Samba, and Bachata. That night, Jake, Kathryn and I attempted to go to the Skye bar, with one of the best views in the city, but it was closed due to the rain. We made due, and ended up heading to the samba bar, where I tried to learn the difference between a caipirinha and cachaça from a local. Spoiler- I still don’t understand. Afterwards, Mundo Pensate was filled with a bunch of Gringos that couldn’t dance, but we all enjoyed our last night out together before separating to our host cities. The morning we were all departing, Jake and I found a convenience store that sold Tim Tams (YES! The Australian Tim Tams that I fell in love with while studying abroad!!) and I had to buy some to share. It was a glorious moment then followed by the sadness of realizing that I needed to part ways from my travel buddies and new friends.

Ilhabela Adventures

The next morning involved preparing for a short but traveling packed weekend to the coast line- Ilhabela (beautiful island). Kathryn, another fellow ETA, Jake, and I successfully navigated the metro through the city, but not without some hiccups. I couldn’t figure out how to feed my ticket into the booth, and Jake’s ticket didn’t work. All in all, we arrived at the rodoviaria (bus terminal), bought our tickets, and took the four hour bus ride to Sao Sebastiao. From there, we took the ferry across, which is free for pedestrians. With a backpack each, we walked along the coast to our hostel, and stopped to have dinner on the beach. The 5 kilometer walk seemed a lot longer than we had anticipated with the weight of our backpacks! We had troubles finding our hostel as it was buried back in the woods up a long cobblestone steep driveway. The three of us fell in love with the atmosphere and ambiance of the hostel! To and the night, Jake and I went for a dip in the pool and shared a beer. Our room ended up having about nine people in it!

In the morning, Jake and I ate the hostel breakfast and enjoyed our coffee with food and a view of the mountains overlooking a coastline. We inquired about island tours, trying to make the most of our time on the island, and set out for a day excursion beach trip. While we were walking towards Maremar, a hostel employee offered to drive us there! We made it to the escuna, popped open a drink, and boated towards the beaches Frome and Jabaquara.

The water was crystal blue and a medium temperature- not bath water and not freezing. Along the beaches were also small pool of colder water leading into the ocean. It was a cloudy day, but I still managed to get sunburnt, as always. We spent a few hours romping around the beaches, treading water, and enjoying the views. Following that, Jake and I went to dinner at one of the most amazing restaurants I have ever been to. We were on a rooftop restaurant overlooking the city streets with a live guitarist playing. We shared a seafood platter, and I was really surprised to like the cerviche! I was really surprised and still baffled as to what I thought about the passion fruit risotto. The brownie with homemade sorbet at the and made the meal absolutely complete. To end the night, we strolled around town by the water.

The next morning, our last few hours in Ilhabela, we wanted to squeeze in some hiking and waterfalls! Ilhabela in chuck full of waterfalls, if you know where to find them. The hiking path across the island that we wanted to take was closed down due to a storm that had damaged it, but instead we went to hike Cachoeira Frigagem. It was a few kilometer trek up a mountain, through residential areas, trails, and past a lot of bugs. The waterfall was worth it! There was even a small pool of water at the bottom that we lounged in.

On the walk back to the hostel then ferry, we waited at least forty minutes for a late bus that never arrived. We decided to speed walk back to the hotel, taxi to the ferry, and super speed walk to the bus terminal. It was an intense thirty minutes of hurrying and rushing to try and not miss the bus back to Sao Paulo. By time we reached the terminal there were only four tickets left, and three of us. With a mix of rain and traffic, we didn’t arrive at our orientation hotel until 9:30 pm. As we walked up to the hotel we saw a plethora of Gringos (you have to just own it here), and I met my Co-ETAs!

Check out the travel video at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03ZU-d5ikXw&feature=youtu.be

I made it safely to Sao Paulo!

Arriving in the Sao Paulo airport tested my anxiety levels, but I was so glad to have made a friend on the plane ride. My new friend Mat, a native Brazilian living in Toronto the last few years, saved me when we agreed to share an uber to Sao Paulo Centro. I could not get internet in the airport (a nightmare for a person without a cellphone plan)! He chatted with the uber driver during the hour drive, and it was silent after Jake left the car.

I arrived at Vila Madalena, and I was greeted by Jake, a Fulbright friend who I have been creating travel plans with since January. After showering, and feeling more like a human again, we explored the city on foot! Of course we grabbed some fruit and wine for our adventure, which we enjoyed while resting at sunset park overlooking the city. We also visited Beco de Batman, a graffiti street that I related to Hosier street in Australia. For Jake, the coffeholic, we stopped at Coffee Lab and I tried a Cafe com cachaca, which has a bit of alcohol like an irish coffee. Jake had arrived a day earlier, so he knew the city pretty well, and he was a great sight seeing buddy. That night, the adventures continued and we went to a block party in Pinheiros, and my phrase “nao falo Portuguese” was constantly used. That first day was cram packed with sights and people, the Vila Madalena suburb continues to be one of the favorite locations I’ve been so far.