Playing with Paulistas in São Paulo

I have had am absolutely exhausting last few days.  Today was especially exhausting.  I am writing this from Ilha Grande.  Getting here was interesting.  From my hostel in Villa Madalena in São Paulo, we took the train to the bus station, then we took a 7 hour overnight bus trip to the ferry.  We then had to wait 2 hours for the first ferry, rode the ferry for 1.5 hours and then walked 30 minutes to the hostel, which was awful so we left for another.  One thing I have learned is I am a bit of a control freak and get super annoyed when people don't plan, especially when I am tired.  My current friend I am traveling with neglected to tell me about the 1.5 hour ferry, the wait to board the ferry, or the fact there are no ATMs on the island, so I have about USD $15 until tomorrow, which blows.  Also, my friend has no clue where we are going and speaks no Portuguese, so it was up to me to do a lot of heavy lifting.  This has been a common thing I have had happen on this trip, so not just a blow to my current travel partner, but I can't wait until my good friend meets up next week and will share this task much better.  This is such a change from Kendra back home where I am used to having people take care of me.  This way is way more exhausting, so to all my past boyfriends who made all arrangements for me before, thank you!  

Anyway, back to São Paulo.  Many people warned me that it is a very ugly city and is very hard to have fun unless you know someone.  It isn't exactly beautiful, but I wouldn't go as far as ugly.  Graffiti is legal in Brazil, which is one reason I think so many cities here look sketchy.  I would agree that people make the difference.  During my travels I met several Paulistas (people from São Paulo) and they were amazing at showing me their city. 

My first night here, I met a friend for drinks, sushi and then we went to a club for Sartanejo (Brazilian country music.  I came home at 6 that morning.  

The next day I met some friends I met while I was in Rio the week prior.  They had me over for a BBQ at their gorgeous apartment where I met several of their expat friends and we shared experiences both in Brazil and South America.  The food, the drinks and the company were amazing!  

After eating a ton of meat, I met the same friends the night before for a futbol match - definitely a must do while in South America.  We went to a Corinthians versus Portuguese match.  Both teams are from São Paulo and the Corinthians are the wild, every man team and the Portuguese team is favored more by Paulistas with Portuguese heritage.  

Going to a game here was like being in the Michigan State student section during a final four basketball game if the students each had about 10 vodka red bull before the game.  So many rowdy sections with so many different cheers and dances going on at once.  The seats were more like cement blocks, but who needs to sit during a game?  There were police in riot gear all around the stadium and police on horseback outside the stadium.  

That night after I got back from the game, I had a rather chilled out night as I was pretty beat from the night before and the following day hung around the neighborhood I was in beforing heading to Ilha Grande.  

Right now I am insanely dehydrated and not feeling my best, so I plan on having a chilled out night, but it is my last night in Brazil (tmrw night I will be on a bus) for a few months (I fly out of São Paulo and will go back for a weekend likely at the end) so who knows!

Tchau!!