Here I am on another travel adventure, this time taking me to South America to visit Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. I’ve just finished the Sao Paulo leg of my trip which focused more on business while my travels to Rio is for a brief vacation.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never really had any desire or interest to visit Brazil or South America before but my travel partner wanted to go and it coincided with Brazil’s International Game festival. I figured it would be a good excuse to make the trip to expand my business network and get a better understanding of the gaming market here all while discovering a new part of the world.
First Impressions
Before even arriving in the country all my research pointed to the issue of safety in Brazil, specifically how high thefts and mugging occurrences were. It didn’t help that the few locals I knew from the area further joked about how the stereotype was quite true and even suggested I get a “fake phone” – you know, to give the thieves. Still not sure if this advice was given as a joke or serious but either way I brought one with me. The whole time I’m imagining a scenario where I’m being robbed at either gun point or knife point in a language I can’t understand and trying to figure out how to navigate that. So with that in mind, I land in Sao Paulo and immediately call an Uber to head to our hotel. Not even 10 mins into the ride, the driver asks if he can stop for gas – something I’ve never had an Uber driver ask so my anxiety shoots up. Of course I say sure, I’m not gonna tell this man he can’t fuel up his car. So we pull up to the gas station and he heads out while the gas attendants prepare to fuel up. However the lady peeks into the car and tells me something I can’t understand followed by a “shooing” gesture with her hands to tell me to get out of the car. I’m already planning how I’ll live with only 1 kidney at this point. I do as she says and step out holding my bag close and wondering what the heck is going to happen as I stand aimlessly like a weirdo outside the safety of my Uber ride staring at the attendant tinkering with the car. Am I about to be kidnapped? Is this an elaborate ruse to rob tourists landing at the airport? Am I going to still have a phone to give this man a 0 star Uber review??
Of course, as you may imagine, nothing happened. The driver came back, smiled and casually explained how this specific brand of gas station requires occupants to leave the vehicle before fuelling. I was also surprised to see that gas attendants seems to be the common practice here as drivers aren’t allowed to fuel cars themselves. Some other interesting observations I made around Brazil’s drivers is the vast majority seem to drive manual which I find weird given the ridiculous amount of traffic and congestion. Some cars also seem to fuel up by lifting the hood of the car instead of on the side like most cars I’ve seen in Canada.
A few last remarks on the streets of Sao Paulo, I was surprised at how fearless the motorcycles are here. There are quite a few, similar to Mexico but not quite as much, and they all weave in an out of traffic like nothing could ever happen to them occasionally honking to signal to the cars they’re passing by them. It’s a strange kind of controlled chaos. I took dozens of Uber rides around Sao Paulo and watching the traffic made me so anxious it was better to just look at my phone. I’ll give Brazilians credit for knowing how to drive in that – all while driving stick! They’re far more talented than I am.
Brazilian Food
Onto happier memories: food! What’s great about my previous experience with Brazilian food is I barely have any, outside of a Brazilian steakhouse, so I had no idea what to expect from the food here. Unfortunately, most of my time in Sao Paulo was spent at a gaming conference where they served “con food” and it was by far, the most tasteless food I’ve ever had. Con food is never good but this was on a whole other level of blandness and dissatisfaction. I figured a Dominoes Pizza in a convention space would at least have some of that signature pizza sauce on it – nope! It just tasted like flour. Sad sad flour.
Otherwise, I’ve come to discover 2 food items that seem to be Brazilian staples wherever I go: a delicious soda called Guaraná and a cheese filled pastry called pão de queijo. The soda is very unique, tastes amazing, and made from a fruit found in the Amazon that would give anyone with trypophobia goosebumps. I realized I can’t easily find an import of this drink in Canada so I’m drinking it anywhere I can. The pão de queijo is simple enough and tastes like a pastry ball with some warm cheese in it. It’s like a more innocent form of a mozarella stick that promises less calories and better health somehow. I seem to come across both these food items in every hotel and restaurant I visit.
On the more traditional side of foods I got to try some authentic feijoada made by the very grand-mother of the editor behind the Hey Jay! videos. It’s apparently a national dish and consists of a stew made from black beans and pork which is served on rice. It comes across as a simple dish but reminds me of some traditional Canadian dishes I often find at my family’s Christmas dinners.
Continuing my food adventure, I did get to try out one of the famous Brazilian steakhouses in Brazil and while it was of course very delicious the portion sizes were too big for my tastes, especially as someone who lost his gall bladder and can’t digest large sums of meat at once. In comparison the Brazilian steakhouses in Canada slice their meats very thin which extends the eating experience. In Brazil, it’s just BAM! Here’s 2-3 massive slab of meats from each cut. While here I also got to try the cashew fruit which is ironic given I just learned a few weeks ago that cashew nuts come from fruits. I had no idea! Simply put, I’ll stick to the nut – the cashew fruit offers a chalky bland kind of juice when you bite into it which isn’t the most pleasant.
Unfortunately, that sums up about everything I was able to take away from Sao Paulo in my short 3 day stay here. I didn’t really get to take in any of the tourist spots or check out vibrant neighborhoods or landmarks. I’m sure Sao Paulo has a lot more to offer but for now it’s time to head over to Rio de Janeiro – a far more touristy destination than the 500 year old mega city that is Sao Paulo. I’ve been in Rio for a day so far as I write this and I can already see it’s going to be a vastly different experience than the first half of my trip, hopefully for the better.
