Vila Madalena


I took myself to Vila Madalena to have a look at the street art for which it is famed. Having found my way through to some of the streets nearest the tube I'd normally be inclined to follow my nose and explore but Sao Paulo is just too dauntingly enormous and no I wasn't wandering with anything as remotely useful as a map and even if I was I'd still probably get lost. I had a walk around a few blocks and still managed to get a little bit confused as to where I'd got to. I was half tempted to keep on going in the name of exploring, never know what you might happen upon, but I soon thought better of it.

Sao Paulo has so many hills, many of which are really steep so I got some good exercise in the sun walking around looking at the huge street murals and some of the views over the city and its innumerable high rise buildings.

A few nights before we had been out for some drinks in Vila Madalena but I failed to find where we had gone, would have been nice to go and sit out and have a coffee or a juice in the sun.


At night the streets are full and brazilian girls dress up to the nines. It's strange to see a mishmash of bars catering for such a wide range of interests all in the same area, from one door to the next there's a rock bar then something completely different. We passed a place called 'Favela' which looked and sounded most like what I would have wanted for a night out in Sao Paulo. Sadly, we ended up in one of the rock bars. Nestled in and around all the bars/clubs which were pumping out music were some quieter bars where people were sitting down and having more relaxed drinks with some food.


Spent the evening getting my toes trod on thinking I wish I could just dance in the dark in Favela rather than listen to this band cover music that England was listening to 10 years ago. I got pissed and started having a conversation in Spanglish with a guy from Bolivia about Bolivia and Evo Morales, both of which I know nothing about. He's not a fan of Evo Morales' political ideas which, together with the face he was living and studying in Sao Paulo probably makes him a fairly wealthy Bolivian dude. Tried to take me home at the end of the night but I was still think with cold and desperate to take my tired and bruised feet home.