I’ve shared my perfect itinerary for 24 hours In São Paulo, a remarkable Brazilian city with a rich history, and still recommend you reference that if you find yourself in Brazil. This brief trip to São Paulo was a bit more mundane.
12 Hours In São Paulo: How I Spent My Time On The Ground
After stepping off my United flight, I was pleased to find that immigration was a breeze…I was out in a few minutes and in an Uber into the city.
Of course, São Paulo traffic is notoriously bad and this morning was no exception. The relatively short journey distance-wise to my hotel in the Moema district of São Paulo (an upscale, walkable, tree-lined residential and commercial neighborhood) took 90 minutes.
I already referenced my hotel issue, but once that resolved I was pleased to get some work done in my room, before heading out for a walk. My only agenda was to find coffee and lunch. For coffee, I found a place called “The Coffee” that I thought was a Japanese chain, but turns out it is a Brazilian specialty coffee chain founded in Curitiba in 2018 by three brothers: Alexandre, Carlos, and Luis Fertonani. These cafés blends high-quality Brazilian coffee beans with Japanese minimalist aesthetics. Most importantly, the coffee is excellent.
Like almost everywhere in Brazil (it seems), you order yourself off a tablet and tap to pay, with no interaction required with a human being. The same was true where I stopped for lunch, a nearby Middle Eastern restaurant called Mirsah.
I had a bowl with lamb, rice, tabbouleh, and hummus…it was respectable. The Brazilian Real has strengthened quite a bit since my last visit and the USD certainly does not go as far…this was $13, which is about what you’d pay in the USA for the same thing.
I was still hungry, but rather than order another bowl, I kept walking, deciding I had to try Taco Bell here (yeah, yeah…it’s a tradition now after doing the same thing in so many countries).
I reached the Ibirapuera Shopping, a fancy mall, and found Taco Bell in the food court downstairs. I just had a cheese quesadilla, which was delicious…
I thought about another cup of coffee, but decided against it and returned to the hotel for a workout and sauna before getting some more work done and heading to the airport around 7:30 pm.
There was some drama at the airport…I will share about that tomorrow.
This was certainly not as cool as a day as my 24-hour itinerary from a prior trip, but it was somewhat restful, productive, and enjoyable…and better than just sitting at the airport, right?
Oh my goodness… more Taco Bell? Did we not learn lessons from the whole Dehli Belly? You’re gonna be so thin after all the *explosive diarrhea* at home and abroad. Bah!
Seems Taco Bell is one lesson I will never learn…
I’m curious to hear about your experience applying for the e-visa for Brazil.
Contrary to what many people say, it isn’t a reciprocal measure in response to the US visa requirement for Brazilians; after all, it’s an online process, it’s ready in just a few days. it is valid for 10 years and it costs half as much as a US visa.
A Brazilian citizen has to wait months, pay more, and travel vast distances to apply in one of the five Brazilian cities where the process can be handled (Brazil is larger than the contiguous United States), even if they have already traveled to (and left) the US dozens of times.
And even then, the visa can still be denied without any reason or explanation.
It is definitely not reciprocity.