I was in Sao Paulo, Brazil for a wedding a couple of years ago and jotted down some thoughts and impressions in Evernote. I shared the page with my brother in London who made a great point. He reminded me that keeping notes is essential. Our memories change so quickly, and it’s great to have a record like this, which is untainted by future experience. Future experience & hindsight is good, but don’t forget the original thoughts when they were raw

It’s a good habit when traveling.

Here are the notes if you are interested:

Flying in the outskirts of SP reminded me of a flood plain near a river mouth. The vast population of SP is a sea of people slowly creeping into every nook and cranny

People, traffic – High Energy!

Initial feel is very welcoming. Bit like Durban, Barcelona, BA or Cape Town

Beautiful people

Portuguese language dominates. English gets you nowhere

Have devolved into pigeon Spanish and hand signals while smiling

Motorbikes everywhere. Constantly hooting like little ducks

Taxi ride from airport GRU to hotel was R110. 1 hour ride to hotel with very heavy traffic. Urban planning is an afterthought

Every restaurant is jam packed. Lots of smoking in cars. No smoking allowed in restaurants

Everyone dressed in colored shirts, but conservative feel to the business world

Congonhas Airport is in the city. Planes fly low over the city every 10 minutes. Constant noise

Very international city. (Need a helicopter to get around.)

Ibirapuera park is beautiful – dogs, skateboards

Heading to Buzios now. beach town

Porcao – Rio meat restaurant that I’m going to try