Full Circle

I´m back on my own in São Paulo (Maggie flew back to Rio this morning), where my Brazil adventure began, meaning that my Brazil extravaganza ends tomorrow evening - or rather Monday morning when I finally get back to Michigan. And you know what? I´m ready to go home. It´s been a blast and I´ve seen and done so much, but it´s been a whole month of non-stop in-your-face Brazil-ing all the time and I´ve travelled so, so, so, so much that I am ready for a few days of peace at home - before I pack up and head to New York a few days later.

In spite of my cumulative exhaustion, I´m still having a really good time. The original plan was to stay in Curitiba until tomorrow and come to São Paulo just to get my flight, but I felt like I would regret it if I didn´t even spend a single day in São Paulo, so I caught a bus first thing on Saturday morning and 7 1/2 hours later I arrived here. I found a great hostel right near Av. Paulista, the city´s main drag, which kind of seems like Manhattan if you pretend you don´t see the occasional palm trees. I didn´t hit the streets until about 4:30, so I booked it to the fantastic Museu de Arte de São Paulo and was able to see the entire collection before it closed at 6:00. Then I got something to eat at a really chic paderia, by which time it was dark outside. I really didn´t want to be out on the street after dark, but it seemed lame to go home so early, but luckily I just happened to stroll past a cultural center where the Latin American Film Festival is going on, and a free screening of a new Brazilian film called "Jogo de Cena" was about to start, so I went. The film turned out to be really fascinating and the director was in attendance and did a little Q&A session afterwards. On the walk back home I spotted a record shop where they had absolutely ridiculous prices on a couple of albums I really wanted to pick up. So I ended up having a nifty little night.

My next post will be from Ann Arbor, where - gasp! - I won´t have to pay to use the internet! I hear that Ann Arbor has hot showers too - I´ve almost forgotten over the last month that a shower need not be ice cold. When I am settled back at home I´m planning on posting more pictures and recapping other parts of the trip including: The Amazon! Iguaçú Falls! Other stuff! Stay tuned...