How's the weather?
In São Paulo, not as nice as many Global Green attendees were hoping - I mean, it's Brazil, right? Well as far as I'm aware yes, it is Brazil, but Brazil is a big country. So it's been Wellington-ish actually - if you know what I'm talking about. Cool at nights - 10 to 14°C and cool during overcast days - maybe no more than 18 or 19°C at most, with a cool breeze. On sunny days though it's been warm in the sun - low twenties, but feels hotter in the sun. Rio should be quite a bit warmer though. Can't wait.
What's the food like?
Well, there's a lot of places, being such a huge city and all, but mainly it seems to be pizzerias, sushi bars, buffets (with local type food I guess - salads, roasted and grilled meat - very popular) and snack bars, with pastries and the like. They love their fruit and their sugar/sweet things. They also love their meat - a problem for the many Greenie vegos. Often chicken isn't considered a meat, and something as simple as a "cheese sandwich" on the menu can include big slabs of ham in reality. That's the other thing. Loads of cheese - especially melted. You can even buy fried cheese on a stick.
Drinks?
Lots of fruit juices of all varieties, usually freshly squeezed or from a can - which tastes pretty real too. Beer is very popular too, as are spirits. The most popular are made from sugar cane and the bog-standard cocktail is the mighty caparinha. The caparinha is kinda like a metaphor for Brazil itself. Sugar cane-liquor, ice, lots of sugar and lots of lime. It tastes sweet and citrus-y - you can barely taste the alcohol a lot of the time. So though it is tasty and easy to drink, it can go straight to your head.
And btw, what're doing next?
Rio! In the next few days to check it out. I'll probably have about five days there before I start my tour, which will take me first to Salvador on Tuesday, 20.
And what've you been up to?
Not a hell of a lot. I've been recovering from the previous week(s), which left me with a cold and sleep-deprived. So I've been sleeping a lot, walking around, going to parks and museums and getting more confident ordering at restaurants where no one speaks English. I went to university with my friends on Thursday - which was interesting, but I was still very tired and therefore quiet. They have one class a day for three hours in the morning in a high school-style setting. I haven't managed to see them as much as I would've like, but that's life. It's Mother's Day in Brazil today, so it was quiet comparatively. (Happy mother's day mum).
A GYG is coming back from Rio tomorrow, and I should be seeing another local then too. So things should be picking up again, and then I'll be off to Rio! Hopefully my health will be back to normal by then, as I feel the smog hear is delaying a full recovery.
And, PS, hopefully at the next hostel I will be able to post photos and avoid such bland pages full of text, which are a crime against the internet these days.
