May 17th or: the festival

Lots of quality meat .. our vegetarians weren't convinced

Finally weekend. Finally some time to relax. That's what we thought at least. After not making it to the cultural program because we overslept, we set off later on yet another bus ride into nowhere. Bus rides here are rather difficult because you just can't tell what the next stop is. Neither is it called anywhere in the bus, nor do the stations have names. Thank God for GPS.

Our destination was the „mercado municipal“. This time, unlike last Sunday, it was open, and I'm pretty positive that if it exists, you can probably get it in there. Lots and lots of meat, cheese, delicacies, fruits and lunch. Which we got in form of Mortadella Sandwiches, which were basically meat and cheese with a tiny bit of bread. Along with that we had „pasteis“, which are deep fried pieces of dough filled with something like cheese, fish, shrimp or meat. Needless to say, a very satisfying and unhealthy meal.

The healthy stuff was to follow. The people at the fruit stand generously let us try lots of their fruits, which were really exotic – I had at least 4 sorts of fruit that I've never had before. We wanted to buy some as well, of course. So we went in the back of the shack, where we were told that the price for all of that is just R$ 250. No thanks dude, not for lke 300g of fruit.

Falling into a food coma once again, we went back to the place some of us are staying in order to watch the glorious victory of Bayern against Dortmund. Yes, the ball was in the goal, but impossible to see for the naked eye – thank God and Brazil for Dante (not Aligheri, but Bonfirm da Costa).

Enjoying the final and the sunshine

It had been a good day so far. But it got even better. In Sao Paulo, there is an open air festival all across the city every year, which just happened to be this weekend. We went to the Republica square to listen to some Jazz, Brass and Reggae. Very interesting experience for a few reasons:

1. I was afraid beer would be expensive. It wasn't, because there are lots of black market sellers with whom you can easily negotiate with.
2. These guys are also really good at running when the police shows up. Feels like children playing catch, except for the fact that the people who get caught got beaten up brutally. Tough punishment for selling a couple beers in my opinion.
3. A brass band randomly started playing in the park next to the square, and it was probably the best impromptu show I've ever seen. Great show, great guys, great vibes. Check them out, their name is Bagunco.
4. We went there by using the metro. I was rather surprised, the system is definitely comparable to Paris aside from the fact that it doesn't nearly cover the whole city.

Instant brass band

We called it a night. Lots of good stuff happened, and we were keen to get some sleep. Especially since the next day, we would have to get up at 8 again. On a Sunday.