chants

paraty, brazil to são paulo, brazil

window at the mercado municipal

our first order of business on arrival in são paulo was going to hear monks do some gregorian chanting.
our overnight bus ride left me feeling a little wobbly, and i wasn't feeling too enthusiastic, but v's energy carried me right into the cathedral. it turned out to be a full mass (with very little chanting) and after about 20 minutes i began to do a mr. bean, so i left the monks and v for the fresh city air. when the service was over we grabbed breakfast and made a circuit around downtown, ticking off all of the buildings v wanted to see.

fruit stand at the mercado

i liked the city very much, it reminded me of nyc in the best way. 

i was especially taken with the architecture, a lot of deco and art nouveau.

rococo and asian influence...

at the top of the banespa building

 

late deco

i wouldn’t have minded staying there for a few more days, but we had already booked ourselves on the overnight bus to iguazu.

outside the são paulo cathedral

 

stained glass colors the marble

after we got our fill of skyscrapers we made our way to the botanical gardens. it was heavenly - right up until we got caught in a torrential downpour. we hid out in one of the exhibit buildings for a little while, but started to worry about getting back in time for our bus, so we made a mad dash for the park exit. getting a cab started looking bleak, but just as i was beginning to have pangs of despair, a taxi appeared!

the power had gone out for parts of the city and we were told the metro wasn’t running, so we decided we’d take the cab all the way to the bus station, an expensive ride, but necessary if we were going to catch our bus. the driver told us how much he guessed it would cost and, since we had just a bit more than that, we relaxed. as the ride dragged out, massive traffic caused by the crazy rain, flooding and power outages, the meter ticked higher and higher. i began to worry that we wouldn’t have enough money and kept contemplating jumping out sooner and trying the metro, but if that still wasn’t running we’d be up a creek, as they say.

as it turned out, while a bit more than estimated, we had just enough money to cover the fare and we got to the station with time to change into dry clothes, get cash and grab some food for the bus ride. lucky, lucky, lucky!

rain forest at the botanical garden

i think i'll come back to são paulo again someday...