São Paulo, Brazil

São Paulo is just enormous! We are currently staying at NIkhil's loft, which is awesome, 7th floor, balcony with a real nice view of never-ending skyscrapers. Fabio and I are finally relaxing..and thinking of not giving back the keys to Nikhil :)
The huge downside... it's been raining since we got here, so for the last week! Supposedly summers are wet and winters are cold and dry... just great! :(
The city is incredibly hectic, lots of people (population is about 11 million!!), and quite a lot of disorganisaton, especially in public transport. There are no bus itineraries or schedules at any of the stops so we end up stopping each bus to ask where it's going! Or checking online beforehand. The metro works ok, tickets are R$2.90 (about 1.30 euros) and there are no special tickets such as the 10-ride one, or the day ticket. The metro works ok, tickets are R$2.90 (about 1.30 euros) and there are no special tickets such as the 10-ride one, or the day ticket. During peak hours it takes hours to get anywhere in the city with any sort of transport.
Centro (the downtown area) is filled with little shops and botecos (cheap bars) and is quite dirty, but we like the atmosphere. The Mercado Municipal is closed, but we are definitely going back there, supposedly is great for foodies! There's also an Japanese area, full of oriental shops and restaurants..Libertade.
Yesterday we had lunch with some friends which we met in Salvador, tried the typical Brazilian Feijoada, real good but so heavy!
Supposedly Carnival is not so great in São Paulo, the city empties itself and everyone goes to Rio..a pity its so damn expensive! We are however thinking of staying here, most probably going to visit some friends we met in Arraial who live in Indaiatuba, small town about 2 hrs from SP, and will take advantage of the empty city to do more sightseeing!