Brazil trip, Christmas New Year 2000 - 2001

After taking a break from world travels, this year I went to Brazil.

I didn't know much about the place before I went and didn't really have any plans, apart from wanting to see the famous city of Brasilia. Other than that, the idea was to find a nice beach somewhere and unwind.

In a nutshell, that's what happened.

Arrival

I flew into Sao Paulo. A city of some 20,000,000, its a real concrete jungle, Like Bangkok or Mexico City, it's one of these "mega cities" which have grown rapidly in the last quarter of the 20th century. I didn't expect to like the place to be honest.

However, I did have someone to meet up with - Bruno, a fellow techno music lover and someone I'd met when he visited London earlier in the year. (Bruno's DJ name is "Carbon 23" if you're ever in a Sao Paulo nightclub)

Sao Paulo

So this is Sao Paulo, known to the people who live there as "SP", it was coming up for Christmas, hence the large santa sitting on the bank

This is downtwon SP, disected by a large road, this is the business district.

SP is an example of urban planning for big business.
Paulista wildlife, some cute ferral kittens.

Skyscrapers, you don't get to see much sky in SP.

Actually, this is a dangerous area to wonder around in at night. All the office workers go home and no-one lives here.

The cathedral.

SP once had style, but it's been swamped by the building boom of the last century.

An abandoned building project.

There's quite a lot of this sort of thing all over the place in SP. Someone went bust and so the building sits there, waiting for something to happen.
The glass towers of the Ave Paulista

Bruno and Milton.

Monday night and these two took me to a techno nightclub.

Here I'm introduced to some kind of sugar cane fire water. Very drinkable...

In another club the next night, a Tuesday

SP is a strange place, it's certainly got one of the best nightlife scenes I've seen anywhere, even on Monday and Tuesday nights there's something happening.

A packed and very sweaty dance floor.

It was here I came across the strange way Brazilians buy and sell things. In order to get a beer you have to buy vouchers, the bar staff don't handle money.

This is the way things are done in all sorts of places. Having to pay first, when you don't know what you want and can't explain (because you don't speak the lingo) is one of thosethings you have to cope with.

Afterwards.

Click for part 2 - Brassilia