April 17, 2007
Day 566
Today I took the bus to Sao Paulo, the largest city in South America. A bus leaves from Rio to Sao Paulo every fifteen minutes, so it was pretty easy to find one. The drive was mostly populated with small cities constantly dotting the landscape. However, there were a few small pockets of Atlantic rain forest that haven't been cut down yet.
When I got to the main bus terminal, I was delighted to find out that it connected directly to the metro. I jumped on a train and was in the center of the city a few minutes later. I found a hostel made out of an old mansion near Avenida Paulista, the most famous street in the city. The area was surprisingly quiet, despite being in the middle of a huge city.
Tonight I met Vivi, of friend of Francisco's from Sao Paulo. I had heard that the best thing to do in the city was eat, and tonight I wasn't disappointed. Vivi took me to a sushi restaurant in an area with lots of descendants of Japanese immigrants. The food was delicious and a nice change from the beans and rice I had been eating so much of lately. When the restaurant was going to close, the waitress apologized excessively for making us leave in true Japanese cultural form. It was an interesting evening.
