Chad´s São Paulo Diary: Wide-Eyed

Sunday 24th October
It´s just before 7 in the morning, and I am uncharacteristically awake. This time zone thing is pretty bizarre.

First sight of Brazil coming into Guarulhos Airport

The flight was long and arduous, with the Wedding Singer on repeat, and a lot of cloud outside. But as we came down to land I got the first sight of Brazil. Green and hilly.

Things get interesting already: I lose my custom declaration form (How?) while one of my companions on the trip Mohau loses his passport in his pocket. But we get through alright, grab a couple of cabs and head out. The road from Guarulhos Airport to Sao Pãulois stunning, and really gives you a first sense of the city. High-rises in the distance, palm trees, and lush flowering purple green things. We´re staying pretty centrally in a suburb called Vila Mariana, and to get there we head through the centre of town. It´s awesome, an architect´s wet dream. Modernist brutalist concrete next to tiny colonial buildings, next to Japanese pagoda style stuff. The scale just keeps on shifting. And suddenly between two enormous shiny glass skyscrapers a little house straight from the Alps. I couldn´t get a good picture, because it was dusky and taxi-drivers here follow the archetype. They drive bloody fast. (In fact, even Saturday night traffic is crazy. Hundreds of cars speeding down central highways. Bridges and tunnels and crossovers)

Went for a wander around the streets and dinner, beer and sleep. Heading off to the Biennale tomorrow.

Some of my companions, drinking beer and shaking off the post-flight blues.