postcard from gany
HELLO MY FRIENDS :)
The best thing about the cheapest airplane ticket to Brasil was that I had to change the plane in Lisbon.
Of course I have planned for a 3 day break to visit my friends there.
The first day I was walking around the city to see some stuff I did not had time in last October and in the evening we went
to eat at the river with friends who also visited Switzerland last summer. Second day Fernando had his birthday and I joined
them on a family meal. Fernando is the Jesus like guy behind me and Marta
At night Kalú (below on the right), whome we once showed his first snow in Switzerland, joined us for going out.
The place was called Indochine and was at the docks (just beside the huge bridge that looks like the Golden Gate Bridge).
from the party I went more or less directly to the airport to take my flight to Sao Paulo. When leaving Switzerland everything was such a hurry, that I did not have enough time to learn some Portuguese. Luckily I have met Sylvia in the plane with whome I learned some last minute Portuguese.
She was travelling with a group of about 100 people of whome luckily one old lady lived near the hotel that I found in the lonely planet guide during my flight. The old lady helped me get a bus ticket and find the way to the hotel. Surprisingly the hotel was cheaper than in the lonely planet guide - and a little "different". Well, I was tired and safe in a room with closed doors, that was all I was interested in. The next day a new continent expected me :) I went out, took a fresh coconut for breakfast and went to get the map of the city. In the afternoon I joined two backpackers from Netherlands for a free walking city tour offered by the government. It was not too much of information but nice to exchange already gained knowledge about the city. We found out that my hotel was taken out of the new edition of the Lonely Planet Guide, for instance...
I entered a shop that had a nice blue jacket in the window. Unfortunately, it turned out to be for girls, but the girls working there were very nice. In fact, after they were not able to sell anything to me, they wanted that I kiss them all! When the female boss of the shop arrived I thought I was not really sure what to tell her, but no worries, she just wanted a kiss, too :) Of course I took a picture of them before leaving... As you can see the other customers were as surprised as I was.
In the eavening I left all my valuable stuff in the hotel room to be free to walk
to some places for going out. First I went to the area Lonely Planet proposed. There was not really much besides some cheap bars and strange
people. I took a taxi to the place the girl from the tourist information recommended me to go and found a very nice club.
The doubt of going out alone was soon gone as lots of people began to talk to me as I seemed to be of another planet. The architecture of the
place and the grilled meat!!! was really great. (As I have later found out, its common when going out, to eat some bbq).
The next morning when I looked out of the window I had a much better feeling about the city. It was sunday, more quiet and felt much more secure
after the last night had passed so smoothly. I decided to walk the 400m to the terminal where the bus for the airport leaves. Well,
with heavy baggage in both hands it was just too easy for two kids tearing off my swatch. In fact, it was already at the end of its life with
a broken glass and I was carrying my notebook and some other stuff much more worth than the watch. So, actually I was pretty lucky to get
such a cheap warning. As I have had expected some losses I had done an insurance in Switzerland anyway. Later, it came to my mind that my baggage was much too
heavy for a flight inside Brazil, even without the watch, but luckily they didn't even ask me about it.
How big Sao Paulo really is I did just recognize when flying away! Somebody told me its 17 Million people and around close to 30 with the suburbs! Looking out the window, the scenery became greener and greener and stayed like that till Curitiba. In fact, Curitiba is really different. Much cleaner, better air, more space and much much more safe. Here for instance, its almost not necessary to have an electric fence around appartment buildings or private houses as I have seen in Sao Paulo for instance!!! Well, the family where I will be staying for the next 2 month was able to get to the airport with one of their cars and I received a very nice place to stay. ok, so more about Curitiba later...