World Brazil São Paulo São Paulo

Takeaway Tales

Sao Paulo 9 Mar 2007

On 6 March 2007 the biggest city in South America rolled out the red carpet and braced itself for the arrival of possibly the most important couple in the world; He, head held high, convinced that his opinions and actions are always right even though the rest of the world might disagree; She, tall, elegant, tanned yet a real force to be reckon with. Yes, we had returned to Sao Paulo. Oh, and George and Condi were in town too! We had begun our travels in Mexico City amidst protests against a man who unfairly won an election against the majority`s wishes and so it was fitting to end our Latin American adventure in much the same way. However, the metropolis that is Sao Paulo has a distinct lack of grassy knolls and so we chose to avoid the angry rioters and watch the excitement in the comfort of Emil and Natasha`s front room courtesy of Her Majesty`s finest BBC. It felt very strange for this leg of our trip to be coming to an end. We`d finally slowed down to the South American way of life and had done our best to sample the local culture whereever possible. There was one thing in Brazil, however, that I was still to tick off the list in order to say that I had done as every other Brazilian women does on a regular basis. Brazilian women are obsessed with their appearance. If you asked them to list the most important people in their lives their beautician would definately make it into the top three. And so, it was with first time nerves that I booked myself a Brazilian - mani-pedi that is! I was also having my hair "seen to" after my disasterous experience in Chile when my hair was inexplicably dyed black leaving me looking like a Geisha with a make-up deficiency. At one point during my session in the Sao Paulo beauty salon I had 6 people working on me. I felt like Giselle Bundchen must do before a big catwalk show. Sadly though, 2hs and numerous pairs of hands were not enough to make Leonardo DiCaprio come to collect me at the end. It was D who faithfully told me I looked lovely as I lied about how much it had all cost! Our last day in South America also brought with it another first; Orson`s introduction to Churrascarias. Though he has only just started to eat mushed up fruit, I imagine that it won`t be too long before he sinks his two teeth into a whole cow`s leg like every other man in Brazil. So there you have it, with a tear in my eye I say farewell South America, hope to see you again soon. Or as they say in Brazil, Tchau x N

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