São Paulo Day 3

We woke up pretty hungover after last night, so movement was pretty slow this morning. We had showers and headed out in search of coffee before beginning our day of activities.

The first stop after coffee was a 40 minute walk to Beco do Batman. We decided to walk rather than get the bus because we hadn't eaten yet and thought we might get something on the way. After about 25 minutes, we stopped at McDonald's and had some food. Allan was surprisingly hungrier than I was (normally it's the other way around after a night of drinking). Them we finished the walk and it was easy to know when we had arrived. There was street art and graffiti everywhere; not a wall was left untouched by the vibrant and unique designs of multiple street artists. We took our time meandering the streets admiring the art.

Once we felt like we'd seen all the art in the area, we stopped in at the Cemitério São Paulo. We walked through on our way to the bus stop. There weren't many mausoleums like other cemeteries, but there were a lot of statues of what I assume are the deceased. We got on our first bus and then had to get a connecting bus to get to the park. We had run out of small bills to pay for the bus, so when we got on the second one we only had R$100 to pay the R$10 fee. The man taking payment didn't take our money and instead chatted to us a little about where we were from before inviting us to sit down.

We got off the bus and went across the street from the park to visit the Obelisco e Monumento Mausoléu ao Soldado Constitucionalista de 32 first. It was a beautiful obelisk with statues near the bottom carved into the obelisk. Underneath it was a memorial for soldiers lost in revolutions (we think). There was also a small chapel down there. It was much bigger than we expected. When we were leaving the obelisk, we saw giant fruits hanging in a tree. Apparently they're called elephant apples. Allan took a bite out of a couple, but said they were too sour.

Finally we went to Ibirapuera Park. When we first entered the park, it was pretty dead which was strange because the park was listed as the number one thing to do on TripAdvisor. We popped our heads into a random Harry Potter exhibition and walked past an auditorium. The MAM art museum was closed so we continued wandering around. Eventually we found the busy part of the park and it was more obvious why it was popular. There were many food stalls, wide paths half for walking and half for cyclists. There were people jogging, cycling, roller blading, and just sitting on benches enjoying the sunshine. People could rent bikes at various parts of the park that I thought was a nice touch. We walked around the park and enjoyed the scenery and lagoons. There was a small green bridge we could cross and saw lots of fish in the lagoon.

After our visit to the park, we went back to Bebeto's place, chilled out for an hour, and then went with him to a churrasco buffet. Luckily the hangover was better by now and we enjoyed stuffing ourselves with a variety of fresh salads, meats, and desserts at the end.Read more