Breakfast
You might wonder why I’m writing about our breakfast. The arrangements were rather unique and, at first, puzzling. When we arrived, the reception told me breakfast was delivered to the room and asked at what time we would like it? We said 08.30.
At about 07.00 we received a phone call, which Dennis answered, asking at what time would we like our breakfast. Dennis said 08.30. The gentleman on the phone seemed to want us to have it at 08.00, but Dennis, reiterated 08.30.
At about 08.10 a bell rang. I was up and dressed, Dennis was in the bathroom. I opened the door, but there was no one in sight. This happened three times. In the end I walked over to reception to see what was going on, but there was no one there. I walked through a doorway into a courtyard where there were several tables, laid with cloths, under the trees. A gentleman, who was on his phone, beckoned me to sit there. I presumed this must be where breakfast would appear.
I went back to our room to tell Dennis, to be met by another gentleman who was obviously trying to communicate with us about breakfast. Entering our room, to a once again ringing bell, he pointed to a hatch at the end of the room. I opened the hatch and there was a lady in chefs outfit, holding 2 full trays.
One with 3 jugs of fruit juices and yogurt and one with bread Rolls, a selection of cheese and cold meats and a plate of pastries. Two more trays followed, one with a selection of fruits and another with jugs of coffee and hot milk and then a plate of scrambled eggs. A feast, but a somewhat unusual delivery!
We were on the road quite early, for us, at about 09.30. We expected it could be a slow ride into São Paulo and in parts it certainly was. Once again there were hundreds of trucks it was a similar ride to yesterday. Before we reached the city boundaries, jungle covered hills and winding sections with 60 km limits, controlled by cameras.
I hadn’t booked a hotel because of the usual problem with not knowing if we would be able to access the parking. I had a hotel in mind, which we aimed for. Traffic as we got into the city was appalling. We crawled along.
Some Sao Paulo shots
Once we found 155 Hotel I went to check out the parking. We wouldn’t fit as the maximum height was 2.1 meters and Poki is 2.4. The hotel receptionist advised there was suitable parking in the next street. We went to check it out and found a large outdoor parking lot. There was a large sign saying 30 Reals for 12 hours. We worked this out to be 120 for 48 hours, but the car park attendant said it was 210. We didn’t like his attitude, so removed our custom.
We located another car park, much closer to the hotel and which was undercover. It’s not much cheaper, 200 reals, but central city parking is always pricey.
We checked into hotel 155. We’re on the fifth floor with a view over the street. It’s modern and a bit austere, but clean and has all the facilities and includes breakfast for 250 Reals a night. Slightly less than last night
By now it was late afternoon and we were tired from the tedious journey and heat. We had a short rest and ventured out for some food. We had lots of fruit in Poki after our big shop up yesterday. We just had a spicy meat pastie in a little local cafe and then went to Poki and had a large bowl of papaya, pineapple, banana and strawberries with yogurt.
The hotel staff don’t speak English and don’t have a tourist map of the city, which I was hoping for. It appears there isn’t a hop on hop off bus tour here either. Tomorrow we’ll just wander in the centre and see what we find. I have information in Lonely Planet but it is a big, heavy tome and I don’t want to carry it around.
Returning to the hotel we had decided to have an early night. As we walked back, rain was threatening. It turned into another fierce thunderstorm. During the course of which I received some sort of civic warning on my phone. I couldn’t understand the Portuguese, but I presumed this was due to the weather. Apparently there was severe flooding here a week ago. A strange ending to the day
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