Moving on

Yesterday was a busy day in Sao Paulo as it was my penultimate day there. I have finally decided to leave Sao Paulo and move on. I am beginning to like this city and it's true that I could stay and train. I like the academy here, it is small but feels homey and the classes are good. But I don't want to impose on Margaret much longer and besides there is loads yet for me to see in Brazil. So yesterday I started out on a reconaissance mission in order to find the main bus station from which I will be leaving today. It is right the other side of town!!! Relatively easy to find and get to but I reckon I will take a cab there. Sounds mad I know...The thing is I don't particularly want to face public transport with my huge backpack. The metro maybe, but not the bus. So I might as well just cab the whole ride....The backpack has advantages and disadvantages: it is practical rather than wheeling a suitcase around but it is also a very obvious foreigner sign and, of course, it's on your back. Sounds like stating the obvious but does make it less easy to keep an eye on it...Anyway enough about practicalities. Found the station, found my bus and enquired about times and prices. Also checked out the lockers to see if they would be safe to leave my bag in for a bit. Then, I went and bought a map of Sao Paulo. Silly to buy it on the last day but better than nothing I suppose. At least it will be a souvenir ha ha! I also bought the Sao Paulo equivalent of the oyster card. Once again stupid to leave it til the last day but when I saw the queues there were waiting to buy regular tickets I gave up and decided to go for the oyster card. Besides I had several trips to do and can always use it again if I come back to Sao Paulo. Note to others though, do buy this earlier on as it is useful!!

After the trip to the bus station I went into the centre of town to go up the BANESPA tower. The guide book had said it was worth it for the view. Considering the view we have from Margaret and Flavia's building I was completely nonplussed at the thought of the view from BANESPA and decided the view here was quite good enough. I quickly changed my mind when I arrived on top though. I think this is possibly the only time I managed to just about grasp the immensity of the city, and I do say just about! It has a 360 degree view of the whole of the city centre and outward looking of course. It is a truly incredible view and I will attach pictures of it after. So it was definitely worth the ride, and it is free too so that is even better. After that I wandered off into the centre on a shopping mission as I needed a sun cap and a bag to replace the one I have been borrowing whilst I was here. Found both pretty easily and cheaply and then carried on walking in the direction of some shops where Margaret had said there were capoeira shops. Eventually I found myself on the Praça da Republica and got the metro from there to capoeira. I was early (as always) and found Kibe outisde and got to have a chat with him. That was nice as I have heard so much about him I really wanted to be able to get to know him a bit better. He does indeed seem very nice. The class was good and as I said earlier made me feel a bit disappointed about leaving Sao Paulo and capoeira behind. But then again this is the land of capoeira and I will be training more later on.

I'm excited as it seems that more people will be coming to join us in January for capoeirando and we will all be renting a house together! Can't wait. In the meantime, I am off to Foz do Iguaçu this evening by bus. It's a 15 hour ride and this will be my first long bus trip. Other than that, twice now people from Sao Paulo have told me that Rio is more dangerous than Sao Paulo. Not sure whether to believe them but in any case have decided that even the small St Christopher's pendant I am wearing, which is my only jewellery, shall not be worn. It's a shame but I guess it's better safe than sorry! Anyway I guess this is all for now, no more ramblings on. Will post a picture of view from BANESPA next.