Sao Paulo and Garopaba, Brazil

One of my good friends from Leeds (Gabby) lives in Sao Paulo, so we arranged to meet up and spend new years with hime and his friends. We arrived and were met at the bus station by Gabby's mom (Tereza) and dad (Tim), which was soo nice given that Sao Paulo is an enormous city (the central city has a pop of 11 million, with another 8 million in surrounding suburbs). His parents as well as his borthers Chris and Nick were all very friendly and made us feel at home. After some drinks with Tim, we had a delicious home cooked meal. Gabby is next to me in the pic below, Nick is on the far right. Chris was already down in Garopaba.

We left early the next morning for Garopaba, which is a city in the south of Brazil, about 1.5 hours south of Floranopolis. The idea was to leave really early to beat the traffic. It seemed to be going well, until about 4 hours into the drive, the traffic came to a grinding halt….for 5 hours!!! Turned out a tank truck had rolled and spilled flammable liquid all over the road, so we hung out in the blazing heat, laying down under trucks and doing what ever we would to pass the time. The normally 8 hour drive ended up taking 19 hours. Luckily we were all pretty used to long long bus rides.

Worth the long drive....

Gabby, rockin the speedo...what a stud.

Chris organized all the accommodation, which worked out great. Food, booze and a bed for 5 days for 200 reals, which is about $125. If we had stayed in hostel in Rio over new years, we would have been paying 150 reals per night.

The south is a very popular destianation for Sao Paulo natives and northern Argentines to go over new years. The town we were in was a really cool beach town, really laid back feel, and becomes a massive party over new years. This was one of the first places we'd been were there were almost no other tourists, which was pretty cool. As I mentioned in an email, we also discovered that the Brazilian girls like tourists. Yesssss! We finally found the place where girls dig the goofy white guy.

We spent the days at the beach, and the nights at the bars, which were all pretty crazy. New Years Eve was spent on the beach, with about 3000 other Brazilians partying until sunrise. An absolute blast. It’s a tradition to wear white on new years (T and Mark didn’t get the memo), and also to jump 7 waves for good luck at midnight.

We also learned a commonly played card game called Truco. Gabby and I had a running competition, and finished tied 6-6, although, I did have a bit of an advantage being a foreigner. I'm sure if we play again in Canada he'll have the upper hand.

Me and the Baines Brothers....Gabby, Nick and Chris. And the answer to your question is yes...Nick and Chris are twins.

The whole crew

Dead sober, I promise...

Jumping the 7 waves at midnight

T and Mark going to a frolick in the waves

And somehow, gabby and his brothers manage to find eachother to pass out side by side. Ahhh, it's soo sweet.

Next stop, Johannesburg South Africa. South America was a blast, and ceratinly plan to return.