Day One - São Paulo and in transit

We arrived in São Paulo in the morning and our flight to Manaus was not until 8:30pm, so we had a good chunk of time to do something interesting. The first order of business was breakfast – which we had at a coffee shop right outside the baggage claim area. We were surprised at how expensive the food was: 60 reals ($31) for 4 coffees, two breakfast sandwiches and 4 pães de queijo - ouch! We always seem to plan our trips when the dollar is weakest!

Prior to our trip, we tried to prepare our children for some of the things they would see in Brazil by explaining that Brazil had a lot of people who were desperately poor. Even so, we were still startled by the little kids that came begging for our scraps when we finished breakfast at the airport and the deaf people who left trinkets or a small amount of peanuts on our table, with instructions asking for a donation for the offering.

São Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world and the possibilities are almost endless for fun and entertainment, but we wanted to do something uniquely Brazilian. Since SP is the city with the largest community of Japanese people outside of Japan, we set our sights on the Liberdade neighborhood ("Japan-town"), which also has a metrô stop and is therefore easy to get to.

Liberdade
As we waited for our first bus, we watched in amazement as one after another bicycle rider hitched their bicycles to the trees in full view of multiple large signs stating that doing so was prohibited. This was Exhibit B in my explanation to the kids about the complex relationship Brazilians have with rules.

Along the way, we passed some of the many Favelas that house the poorest of the poor in Brazil's cities, providing a glimpse into poverty that seems almost insurmountable.

It turned out that Sunday is also a day for the Liberdade street fair in the square and surrounding streets above the metro stop. Score! First stop was a street vendor for hot chocolate and pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), which was welcome fare on a chilly, overcast day. Many of the vendors are Japanese artists and artisans, and we spent hours in the stands looking at the hand crafts and chatting with the vendors. Lilly found a wire artist that made animal shapes and opted for a small dragon, and then we found a young lady and her mother that made miniature origami figures and she bought a pair of origami earrings.

São Paulo’s Guarulhos Airport
We decided to head back to the airport to be sure we were able to retrieve our bags, check in for our flight and find dinner before needing to board the 3.5 hour flight to Manaus. Along the way, Lauren spotted a group of Capybara next to a pond along the highway, which are large rodents the size of dogs only found in South America.

Things are rarely easy in Brazil, so it was a good decision to head back to the airport when we did because it was crowded and many people were gathered around TV monitors, watching a soccer game between the U.S. and Brazil that the Brazilians won (nobody was surprised). Not having slept on the overnight flight, we were tired and succumbed to convenience and had dinner at Pizza Hut. We all ate happily. Speaking of happy, we found a kiosk that offered massages at the airport and Lauren became a happy client. When mom’s happy, everyone’s happy.

Changes in Brazil (part I)
Thankfully the flight to Manaus was uneventful. One thing we noticed had changed in Brazil is how common it is to see adults wearing braces on their teeth – all flight attendants on our flight sported them and it was noticeable among the people we saw in Liberdade. We were left to wonder why, and then we noticed other changes later in our trip that are hopefully good signs for the country.

Hot, Humid Jungle Air
After we arrived in Manaus, and got our bags, the hot and humid jungle air hit us in the face as we exited to the chaotic taxi stand. I don’t know why, but my command of Portuguese and ease with Brazilian culture did not prevent me from having a sense of unease as we sped away from the airport. The cover of night could not mask the fact that Manaus was a sleepy provincial capital that’s very far from the economic power of Rio and São Paulo. While I had never been to the Amazon before, I was not surprised to find it so vastly different from SP. Brazil is a continent-size country and we’d just traversed the equivalent distance (in terms of mileage and ambience) between New York City (São Paulo) and Boise, Idaho (Manaus) – very different places indeed.