Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Let byl dlouhy, neco pres 12hodin, ale dalo se to vydrzet. Krome toho, ze jsem se polil cajem se nic zvlastniho nestalo. Imigrace po priletu probehla bez problemu a uz nic nebranilo tomu vyjet do mesta. Chvilku jsme hledali bus, ale po par posuncich s mistnima jsme nasli ten pravy - nic turistickeho, ale mistni MHD. Je to zvlastni pocit byt nekde kde skoro nic nerozumite a naopak, zatim jsme se vzdy kdekoliv bez problemu domluvili...
Je tu pekny vedro 30stupnu a vlhkost vzduchu kolem 60%, takze je to jeste porad dost namahavy cokoliv delat po tech nasich mrazech. Ale zpatky k busu - jede od letiste pres chudsi casti az na zacatek metra, vsude je neporadek, zacpy a dokonce vidime kolem jednoho mostu mensi slum...jak v tom nekdo muze zit...metro uz je pak bez problemu, je docela moderni, ciste a navigace je lehka.
Hostel mame ve vilove ctvrti Vila Madalena, je to z ruky, ale pekne, ciste a hlavne bezpecne. Po tom co se ubytujeme vyrazime na autobusove nadrazi sehnat listky do Iguazu. Az ted kdyz jsme bez baglu si vsimam jak na nas vsichni nenapadne koukaji - preci jen 2 uplne bili lidi nejsou bezny pohled. Ale vsichni jsou prijemni a snazi se pomoci. Sao Paoulo vubec neni na turisty nijak zvlast uvykle, zadne informace, pohledy, nic co je bezne vsude kam turiste jezdi.
Centrum mesta na nas nepusobi moc bezpecne ani zajimave, vsude jsou skupinky policistu minimalne po 4, po chodnicich se vali lidi mimo realitu a dokonce potkame typa obleceneho jen do pytle na odpadky. Zadne obchody, jen vysoke opryskane budovy. Po hodine nam to staci a ptame se nejblizsich policistu na cestu k metru. Ochotne nas prevedou pres rusnou ulici a doprovodi az do stanice.
Ctvrt kde bydlime je uplne jiny svet. Svet bohatych, dost bohatych a hodne bohatych. Vsude same vily v kolonialnim stylu obehnane vysokymi zdmi a mrizemi, uklizene ulice, hlidaci, soferi, parky s posilovanami venku...Potulujeme se tu cely den. Vecer jdeme do restaurace doporucene Ianem...a hovezi je bezkonkurencni! (nebo je to tim, ze jsme od snidane do 7vecer nejedli?).
To jak je Sao Paulo ohromne se da tezko popsat...ale jen tak pro predstavu, kdyz po 2dnech odjizdime, tak jedeme po dalnici 1.5h koukam z okna nez usnu a vsude kolem jsou jen same 20-30patrove budovy...holt 17 milionu lidi na jednom miste se jen tak neztrati

The flight was quite long, over 12hrs. It was smooth and besides me spilling tea all over me nothing interesting happened. Immigration after arrival was quick without any questions asked. For a little while we searched for a bus and soon were successful – local urban bus. It is very strange feeling being somewhere where you don’t understand anything and vice versa…so far we’ve never been to a country where we couldn’t use one of our languages.
It is hot summer here, 30degrees and humidity around 60% - so it is big shock to our bodies as we came from -15 and 4ft of snow…The urban bus goes from the airport through poor suburbs where we saw one of the smaller slums…how anybody can live there is beyond our comprehension.
Fortunately our hostel is in one of the better areas, it is not close to anywhere but it’s nice, clean and most important safe. After we meet our roommates (one of them travels and lives for last 2yrs from playing poker! Cool job if you ask me..) we go to town to get tickets for Iguazu Falls. Only now when we left the luggage at the hostel I can see how the locals are interested in us and give us hidden looks…2 white guys among all of them is probably not very common sight. But everybody we meet is nice and tries to help. The city centre doesn’t feel very safe neither interesting. Everywhere are groups of police men (4 at least), people in different reality sleeping in the middle of the streets and we even saw a guy dressed up only in black bin sacks…No shops just high faded buildings. After a while we ask nearest guards for directions and they take us over busy street all the way to underground.
Area where we live is different world. World of rich and very rich people. Huge villas with high walls, clean streets, private security, chofers, parks with outdoor gyms,…After a whole day spent here we go to the restaurant recommended by Ian (thanks!). And the beef is without flaw, one of the best I ever had (or was it that we haven’t eaten since breakfast?)
It is hard to describe how huge Sao Paulo is...I only realize it when we leave the city and go for 1.5hrs on speedway and all I can see is 20-30storey buildings…well the 17mio people in one place need to fit somewhere…