Sao Paulo – Day Three

This was my relaxing day – sort of. We started of with the basic breakfast – so I won’t go into that again. Class started at about 8:30 in the morning. We had a political, social and economic discussion on Brazil. Here we learned the many sides of Brazilian social life, politics and how the economics of Brazil are felt throughout the society.

Getting ready to head out for drinks and futbol

A group of us watched the Champions League finals futbol game between Barcelona and Manchester United at a local little bar/eatery near our hotel. We had tons of beer and some interesting food. I had some pizza that was made with corn, ham and eggs in it. It did not have any tomato sauce or any other ingredients that you would expect.

Pizza at the local store

Also, one person decided to order the national dish of Brazil: Feijoada. This is simply beans, rice and meat. In this case, we asked the boy that was our server which parts of the pig were in the dish. He said it was the ears, nose, feet and ass. It was quite humorous. It was cooked very deeply so that it really didn’t have a bad taste and was very tender.

pig parts - Feijoada

After the nine of us drank nine beers, we decided to go get some street corn. This is simply corn on the cob that is boiled on the street. The vendor then strips the kernels off the cob and provides it to you in a dish. He then adds salt and butter. It is very good and at only R$2, it was a good and quick purchase.

We then broke up into smaller groups and decided to head into a couple of different shopping malls. Some people were looking for sandals, getting massages, or like myself – searching for a small English – Portuguese dictionary. We ended up finding a huge bookstore and after searching through the entire store located the travel language section. It was odd to purchase a translation dictionary for English in Brazil. However, it was perfect. It will help me out tremendously over the next week and a half.

At this point, I ended up heading back to the hotel. I started to read over the dictionary just getting myself familiar with the book and trying to learn some words. I found myself falling asleep and getting a nice little power nap on the couch in the hotel room. After I woke up an hour or so later, I started to plan my weekend excursion.

I am heading to Buenos Aires this weekend. All others in the group are heading to Rio de Janeiro. I am heading to Rio at the end of the two weeks in Sao Paulo and so decided to do something different. I had purchased a Lonely Planet book on Buenos Aires prior to leaving Chicago. It has a lot to do and see. It also has a great day trip and three day trip itinerary that you can use as a guide to seeing the big sites. I looked through this and mapped out my journey for the 2 days I am there.

At about midnight, the others ended up returning to the hotel and we chatted for about an hour prior to heading to bed. It was another busy day but also a bit relaxing at the end. I will catch up on the craziness this weekend when I am trying to see everything in Buenos Aires that I can.