Find the Small in the Big
Embrace Where You Are
Everyone Loves Thongs
Find the Small in the Big
What a relief that getting to Sāo Paulo was a quick plane ride in lieu of the wild Mariokart tracks we raced to our previous destination: Caparāo. You would have thought we were on ‘Café Canyon’ where each turn wraps around the coffee fields with the mountains painting the distance.
Arriving in Sāo Paulo’s airport is like any other, but it’s the preparation for the city itself which has you really feeling the grandness. Unlike NYC, Sāo Paulo houses double of NYC’s population by not up in skyscrapers, but by wide. Museu de Arte Contemporânea da Universidade de São Paulo (Art Museum) offers one of the most amazing views of the skyline. The balcony wrapped rooftop on the 8th floor gifts an immersive view into one of the biggest cities in the world.
The perspective is gentle. Studying closely you can really peek into society. You can see the Soccer/Football games and hear the cheer of children. You can count the red cars of traffic with the busy highway and hear the dull unified roar of engines. You can find families strolling to the park and imagine the skipping sounds of little shoes eager for the playground. But as you raise your gaze higher, you see the buildings fading into the distance.
The intimidation of the vast city is so impressive that even NYC seems moderate sized. It really is a part of the challenge to not only figure out how to transport, but to actually travel and explore.
Parque Ibirapuera is probably one of the most amazing treasures of the city. It may be easily missed if you are always on the search for museums, but this enormous park seems to have the hearts of so many locals. To be honest, stumbling our way through a simple conversation & website in Portuguese just to rent pedal bikes seemed pretty expected for us, but none the less, we all were entertained. It was hands down one most fun we had flying down little hills, exploring every little pond, running into Mickey Mouse, and laughing as we navigated narrowly missing other pedalers.
Despite us feeling mutual intimidation to be a single droplet into this entire glass of metropolis, our bond for exploration continues to help us find the most of anything even for simple or small moments like a “walk in the park”.
Embrace Where You Are
Arriving at the hostel, there was something promising about the map showing quite a few restaurants, a grocery mart, and even a little café within a few blocks walk. My confidence in my hostel choice was shining as I was the one to book the accommodations for Sāo Paulo. It had good Google reviews, was advertised “good for couples”, moderately priced, and had a private room with connecting bathroom. The room was…interesting. There really was not a window to the outside because the entire hostel was squeezed into the middle of a city block, so the window really just faced an club-like area of a bar open to the street. It was fine though. We were taking a break in the room before the night and it felt like someone was slowly turning up the volume outside. The music gradually crescendoed permanently and the sounds of conversation grew. We glanced out the window to find quite a few people at across the staircase sipping their cocktails and a DJ arranging his table. We glanced at each other surprised that this hostel must be housing quite a few travelers despite the size.
We got ready and hopped over to club-like area to grab our first caipirinhas for the night when we really queued into the roar of conversation. There is something entirely hilarious about looking over the edge of the hostel’s balcony to see the entire street now filled with endless young adults socializing, laughing, and enjoying their Thursday night completing realizing…you booked THE Party Hostel. I busted into laughter looking at David’s knowing very well we probably are going to lose some sleep.
Thankfully, we are both very easy going and laughed verifying that on Google it did indeed label Garoa Hostel as a Party Hostel. It was kind of the best scenario for us to really get the best night life experience of local bars, restaurants, and club scenes.
Everyone Loves Thongs
On our final night in Sāo Paulo, we spent some time conversing at our hostel’s bar people watching planning the next day’s exploration at Liberdade Street Market to see much of authentic Sāo Paulo dancing, art, and music. (Only on Sundays, but encapsulates the entire main street for vendors, performance, and culture).
Surprisingly, Saturday night seemed more tame than Friday party-wise, but the DJ was still playing clearly some hits as small groups sang and danced along. You could see different groups, some from work, some school friends and some that seemed like on group dates all embracing socially. It had been some time as CoVid had slowed and some recent political tensions had loosened which seemed to glow through everyone. There were familiar beats that resembled tunes we knew as if it was more of a guessing game with our limited Portuguese. One melody though…seemed surprising. We smiled watching some sing the chorus aloud, hearing each note…then it was too familiar as
Sisqo’s ‘Thong Song’ broke through our language barrier. Yup, it was probably about 30 people all singing the ‘Thong Song’ with PASSION.
So, I guess everyone loves thongs.
