Joe Qiao ’17
After 6 hours of flight from Bogota, I arrived in Sao Paulo International Airport. It was 12am and I found the ATM machine in the airport charging an eye-opening 24 $R fee for withdrawing cash… Not a good first impression, at least not yet.
Our group met up at 2pm and went on a city tour. I have to say that Sao Paulo is far more calm and charming than I expected. Maybe the Bogota experience was too hectic but I found Sao Paulo is like a relaxing giant. The streets are busy but not overly crowded for a city with 20 million population. I will have to confirm my feeling tomorrow since today is Sunday.
The downtown Metro Catholic Church is a landmark. I was surprised that such a beautiful historical district is deserted. It is different from many of the “Plaza de Armas” in other Latin America countries. It is calm and beautiful. Our tour guide Lee did a great job explaining the history and how coffee made a huge contribution to the wealth of people in Sao Paulo.
We also went to the Batman Alley (Beco de Batman). Many street arts, bars, and tourists gave Sao Paulo a more lively image and strong contrast to downtown area. We spent half an hour taking the perfect pictures here.
We had dinner at well-regarded Figueira. The steak was amazing and I really regret having had a heavy lunch. I still managed overdosing both beef and watermelon though. The dinner ended with a few of us playing some high-intensity drinking games. Overall, a great start and we look forward to the first day of company visits (not so excited about getting up at 6am).
Chazen Brazil GIP
Student travel with the Chazen Institute 