So Much Craziness to Finally End Up in Sao Paulo

The past forty-eight hours have been an absolute whirlwind. It began three hours before my initial flight to Sao Paulo via Detroit. My first flight was delayed forty-five minutes, which I thought was fine until I realized that I only had 53 minutes to transfer in Detroit. Not going to work. So I received another phone call a bit later saying that my flight was changed to fly through Atlanta. And my father, seeing that my flight was delayed by 45 minutes thought that we could leave for the airport 45 minutes later. That would normally work, except it was rush hour time. By the time we arrived at the airport, I was running super late, and I ended being "one of those people" that had to cut the security line. And of course, when you're running late, it feels like everything moving in slow motion. Finally, I made it to gate 13, only to realize that my flight was further delayed and that I didn't actually miss it.

Upon arriving at the Sao Paulo international airport nearly fourteen hours later, there was a sentiment of: "why am I here? I don't speak any Portuguese." As a side note, the public phones are super confusing to use. But once I found Daniel, all was well. And eventually, Camilo found his father, who landed about an hour after I did. Then, we drove into the city.

I wish I could say Sao Paulo and Brazil were what I expected, but I didn't know what to expect. It feels like there is a mix of European influences and Asian influences all within the city. We walked around the city and went to Chinatown. I was a bit surprised that there weren't as many skyscrapers as I had imagined and that (parts of) Sao Paulo weren't as crowded as I had thought they were. I was also surprised that many of the stores were closed, as it was a Saturday afternoon. Night was quickly advancing, and by then we were all exhausted--Daniel and Camilo left Joinville at 3am to drive to Joinville; Hernando, Camilo's father flew in from Rio de Janeiro; and I was travelling from Boston. We retired back to the beautiful Hostel Vila Bonita, and let's just say I don't think I've ever slept for 15 (inching towards 16) hours in my life.