It's been a whirlwind last couple days. The travel to Brazil is not a joke -- as it took about 15 hours to reach our destination. Fortunately, the conveniences of personal in-flight entertainment, Apple products and sleeping aided in our trip South.
We reached Sao Paulo at 8:00 a.m. At that point, we came through the airport and waited in a ridiculously long line. It did move rather quickly. In the line, we saw fans from various teams and countries, including Germany, Japan, Mexico, Australia and the United States.
Taking a taxi to our area took about 45 minutes. Our driver looked like he was falling asleep at several moments. People on motorcycles darted in and out of traffic. It was a hectic ordeal, to say the least. Traffic was crazy and we were essentially greeted with a concerto of honking horns and angry motorists.
It was startling to see the favelas from the car. These flimsy structures were piled on top of each other in impressive fashion. After speaking to a few natives, there's considerable inequality in Brazil when it comes to wealth.
Driving through the city, we saw a ton of car dealerships. The downtown area itself is older and poorer to an extent. We are staying in the Vila Madalena neighborhood -- one known as the 'SoHo' of Sao Paulo. The amount of graffiti and street art is also quite prevalent. There's an area called Batman's Cave, which we hope to check out today. Supposedly, it's pretty fantastic.
Our apartment is incredibly nice. Lea and Albert have been extremely helpful in hosting and helping with any questions we have. We were greeted with a lunch of grilled chicken, rice, beans and quische on the first day. It was quite good.
The neighborhood is an upscale one. Unlike the somewhat drab buildings downtown, these ones are more modern. Trees and greenery are all over the place. We are also a short walk from the main street, Aspicuelta. On this street exists a myriad of bars and restaurants.
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