February 24, 2008 - Belo Horizonte & Sao Paulo, Brasil

February 24, 2008 - Belo Horizonte, Brasil
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I had a really early wakeup (2:45 AM). I was ready and checked out by 3:40 AM. I had to wake up the night manager to hand over my room key. We waited on the street for 5-6 minutes before hailing a cab. It cost me R$5 (US$3) to the Rodoviaria which was definitely better than hauling the 3 bags yourself for nearly a Kilometre. Police guards were all around the Rodoviaria. Unless one has a valid ticket, he/she is not allowed to enter the Rodoviaria between Midnight and 6 AM.

Felt quite safe. I headed downstairs to platform H2 for the bus to the airport. There were hardly 5 passengers from the Rodoviaria headed to the airport. When the bus made a stop at Pampulha airport before heading to the Belo Airport, the bus was packed with airport staff and aircraft crew. I spelt a bit during the ride to the Belo Airport.

E-Check in was working and my check-in process was done in about 7 minutes (of which 4 were spent waiting for an agent to check my bag!). I think the flight was headed onward to Rio (after the stop at Sao Paulo) and perhaps out of Brasil. We had to go through the International Check in process and one of my wonderful bottles of Hot Sauce had to be thrown out. However, my small bottle of the actual peppers soaked in Vinegar was allowed to go through!

Randomness as always! In fairness, I was given the option to go back and CHECK-IN my bottle of Hot Sauce to Sao Paulo! Too much hassle and I took the easier option of putting it in Garbage. A gentleman in front of me, had to throw away his quite expensive bottle of after shave. I am not sure these idiotic randomness will cease in my lifetime.

During the first part of the flight, I read my guidebooks and wrote down things to see and do in Sao Paulo. I dozed rather well during the second part of the flight.

February 24, 2008 - Sao Paulo, Brasil
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The flight landed 15-minutes late. There was a confusion at the baggage carousel as we were direction to one carousel, while the display indicator said another! The bags took about 30-minutes to arrive. As we had landed at International section of the airport, I had to show my boarding pass at Passport Control. Everyone from the plane (even those folks with 7+ bags for 2 people) were going through the green channel! Customs clearance took another 20 minutes. Inefficiencies just seem to multiply in the bigger cities here!

The girl at the tourist office (at the airport) spoke English and was quite helpful. As I was running out of local currency, I took some money using my ATM card. I wanted to buy add some money to my Brazilian Mobile Number as I need to call my Sao Paulo contacts.

There was a bus to the centre of Sao Paulo from the airport and the cost was R$28 - which was the most expensive thus far. The bus had hardly 10 folks. It was air conditioned and took about 30-35 minutes to reach Praca Republica. My hotel was around the corner - even a taxi driver indicated that I had to walk! I rolled by duffel and reached the hotel shortly. Despite it being just 10 AM, I was allowed to check-in. I was given a very spacious room with Air-conditioning, Mini fridge, TV (very few channels) and a view of the street. I was paying R$76 (US$ 43 approx) per night. Breakfast was included - as always. I think the price appears to be cheaper that what I had written down in my Grand Itinerary - I had it down as R$93 per night!

I spent a few minutes making notes on some of the additional places I wanted to see. Andre (the tourism writer) called and asked if we could meet tomorrow. It was quite fine by me. It was turning out to be quite a dull grey day.

I asked the hotel front desk for additional information on the places I was planning to see before taking a bus to the Butanta Snake Farm. The bus conductor was not very communicative. A few passenger helped me get off at the appropriate stop. I still had a 20-minute walk from here before I reached the Snake farm.

I paid the R$5 entry fee and started going around the farm. They have very good laboratories and exhibits. All of the descriptions were in Portuguese. There was a central hall which contained a large number of live snake specimens. The INDIAN PYTHON was the most magnificent snake - among those present. Lunch was bread and butter!

The money exhibit was closed. I paid a visit to the historical museum at the farm and headed out. This is a very nice place.

I took a bus to the centre of Sao Paulo to visit MASP. I got off 1-stop later than I was supposed to. It started raining heavily. Despite my raincoat, I took shelter for about 25-minutes before walking into MASP (Museo de Arte Sao Paulo). The entry fee was R$15 and all bags had to be checked in at the entrance.

MASP turned out to be a VERY, VERY good museum. Works by almost all major European artists were presented. The unusual one for me was a painting by Toulouse-Lautrec as I had never seen one before in a museum. The Brazilian Artist Candido Portinari had quite a few works on display here. My revelation during this visit came when I visited the Photo Gallery at MASP.

TATSUMI ORIMUTO´s photographs with his mother, chickens, bread, drums etc were fantastic. The creativity that went into creating these pictures were simply brilliant. He is one contemporary Photographer whose works should not be missed.

I have to thank my new friend (Robert, the Architect from Belo Horizonte) without whose recommendation, I would not have visited MASP. Definitely a place worth visiting.

It was still raining as I prepared to leave the museum. I took a bus back to the hotel and spent an hour or so drying and relaxing. There was a Championship match between BOTAFOGO and FLAMENGO. Just as I turned on the TV, FLAMENGO equalized with a Penalty shot. Players on either side were red-carded and both teams were down to 10 players each. Then 1 more player was red-carded from BOTAFOGO. Now there were 9 BOTAFOGO players to 10 from FLAMENGO playing a game that was supposed to have 11 a side! I was enjoying it. FLAMENGO won with a score of 2-1. This is the kind of game one ought to see at MARACANA (where it was being played). The stadium was packed (perhaps 200,000 people?). I can only imagine the passion and drama in the stands. It was pouring in Rio (where Maracana is located) as well. Did not matter as most males were shirtless!

The hotel manager had done some research while I was resting and had found an Indian restaurant for me. I called the restaurant and obtained directions. I took the metro this time. It was an easy ride plus a 15 to 20-minute walk. While the food was OK, the service was indifferent at best as the waiters were more interested in chatting amongst themselves than in serving customers! I will need to explore other restaurants in the next 2 days.

I took a train back to Centro. Quite a few unsavoury figures about. There was a heavy police presence including the occasional helicopter sweeping its powerful beam on the action down below.

The Oscars are on tonight. I am not sure if I will get the live broadcast on the TV in my room (as it has very few channels). The hotel has free internet.

I meet Andre at 9:30 AM tomorrow.