Most of our flight into São Paulo was over dark-green, dense jungle terrain, dotted by the occasional city. But as we approached the city, that ratio flipped. Bright lights and neon signs filled the horizon. It was a vast cityscape as far as I could see.

We landed and joined the hundreds of people waiting to be picked up at the airport. Our Uber driver was a mile away in a waiting lot, and it still took 20 minutes for him to arrive to pick us up. We made it to our rental apartment a little after midnight, ready for some sleep.

What can you really see when you only have two and a half days? Just enough to catch the vibes and explore some food! That’s exactly what we did.

There’s not a lot of praise out there for São Paulo. To me, it did not have the charm of Verona or Quebec City, but our neighborhood was funky and filled with eclectic stores and restaurants. I quite liked the city and could see ourselves coming back here to visit again. We absolutely only scratched the surface of this enormous city.

Day 1

After so much fast travel, we enjoyed sleeping in a little. Our first meal was at Al Mimas, a Syrian restaurant in our neighborhood of Vila Madalena.

Middle Eastern food is a big deal in São Paulo, thanks to the massive wave of Syrian and Lebanese immigrants who came to the city in the first half of the 20th century. There are still many authentic Lebanese and Syrian restaurants around town, often run by second- or third-generation immigrants.

Our lunch was impeccably perfect! We feasted on fresh mezze dips, kibbe in a yogurt sauce, and a lamb kabob.

We walked around the neighborhood next and explored the street art and funky vibes.

Then we cruised through Beco do Batman (Batman’s Alley).

Honestly, it seemed a little touristy to me: one of those things that you should do while recognizing that you are in a tourist experience (similar to Pike Place Market in Seattle). There were a lot of street vendors, selling African prints and Brazilian two-piece outfits, plus things like jewelry and healing crystals. It’s not so much our vibe, but was interesting to see.

Unlike the city of Batman in Turkey, this alley is actually named for the Caped Crusader. In the 1980’s, a graffiti piece featuring Batman provided the start, and now the whole alley is filled with different kinds of street art, and the small area buzzed with activity during the day on a Saturday.

After that, we walked around the neighborhood more and did some light shopping. I had to get a pair of Havaianas while in Brazil!!

One thing we noticed while walking around is that so many of the shops and restaurants are open air. Even businesses like grocery stores or pharmacies simply opened up their front roll-up door to the street. With the open storefront and the air conditioning inside, the shopping was quite pleasant. The weather was warm and felt tropical.

Eventually, we made our way to the Municipal Market of Pinheiros (Mercado Municipal de Pinheiros). It’s not as big as the famous Municipal Market of São Paulo, but it still had some interesting fruits, fresh meat counters, and the usual things you find at a city market. There was a patio outside the market where groups could meet and enjoy some food and drink from the market.

From there we cooled down at Cervejaria Nacional with a tasting set of local beers. The açaí sour was our favorite: fruity but not too sweet.

This was our introduction to the Brazilian concept of a “consumption card.” Upon entry, we were given a card by the cashier. Every time we ordered, we gave the card to the server or bartender. Then, when we were ready to pay, everything was handled back at the cashier. This system may be more efficient when things are crowded and hectic, but it also creates the possibility of losing the card.

When it came time for dinner, we were delighted to dine at Floreado Restaurante, a small local joint around the corner from our apartment. The couple running the restaurant were fantastic and through translate apps, we were able to order a fantastic meal. There are four tables, and an open kitchen centered around a small brick wood-fired grill. The grill is used to cook just about everything.

We had a great hamburger. The chef warned us via pantomime that it would be very juicy and fortunately this was correct. It was a pleasant change from the generally-overdone beef preferred in Argentina.

On the side was a side of crispy fries made from cassava root. Did you know that cassava, manioc, yuca, and tapioca are all the same plant? Corey dipped these in a house-made mayonnaise that he mixed with a chili-pepper sauce provided by the kitchen (another thing we never saw in Argentina).

Sitting at the top of the grill was the night’s special, a cut of beef we have never seen before. Most of the beef cattle in Brazil is the Zebu breed, which has a shoulder hump similar to a camel. In Brazil, the cut of beef from that hump is the cupim. It had been slow-smoking all day and was served simply, with sea salt and a green chimichurri. So tender and smoky!

Finally, we could not resist the interesting dessert: a local cultivar of small and flavorful banana, caramelized and served with dulce de leche, topped with a layer of mozzarella cheese that was grilled to a crisp. Like nothing we have ever had! I am still undecided if I actually liked it or not.

Day 2

Again we enjoyed sleeping in and then going down to the huge Sunday street fair on Avenida Paulista.

The first place we visited was Mequi 1000, the art deco McDonald’s. This was the 1000th McDonald’s opened in Brazil, and it is a burger palace, complete with chandelier. Fancy! It was a sight to behold.

We passed on ordering food there, instead eating some grilled beef skewers on the street and then stopping at a local lunch counter where we tried to decipher the Portuguese-language menu.

We walked around for a few hours and enjoyed the scene. Drums, group dancing, country music, magicians, and artists. Tourists and locals rubbing shoulders on the sidewalks and street, sifting through vintage items and bopping heads to different beats. It was loud, hot, and entertaining. We could have spent all day there! But we did not.

We took a mid-afternoon break and returned home for a bit to charge phones and rest. We decided to have dinner in our neighborhood again and combined that with some fun cocktails. We went to Bar Astor, arguably the best cocktail bar in the city. High-quality craft cocktails were around $8 USD.

On our way in from the airport, we had seen a wide-open raucous locals spot called São Cristóvão Bar. We walked over there and grabbed a sidewalk table for dinner. While not being entirely certain what we we ordering, we started with a salted-cod dish (bacalhau) and followed it with a filet mignon steak that came with a ton of sides. The wine selection was iffy so we had some basic cocktails with our meal.

Decided to end our trip with a nightcap of fun cocktails at Olívio Bar. The novelty drinks were creative, but they also had interesting takes on classic cocktails like the paloma. Drinks here were also around $8 USD.

We discovered that São Paulo is quite hilly! As we walked around we found an incline around just about every corner. And the street layout appears to be randomly placed on top of the hills. The trip from the airport involved large freeways, small freeways, residential streets, strange U-turns, and many, many hills. And we’re pretty sure these were the correct directions!

Despite the hills, I am “in like” with SP. There are lots of parks, live music, museums we didn’t even get to see, and great food. Sure, Brazil is a little pricier than Argentina but it felt more vibrant and definitely offers more spice (for instance, they actually put black pepper on the table).

Day 3

Moving day! We packed up and prepared to leave the continent. We reserved an Uber and arrived at the airport several hours before our flight. It was too early to check in, and since São Paulo (GRU) has dynamic assignments for check-in counters, the South African Airways counter did not even exist yet!

We spent some time walking around the landside restaurants and stores. We ordered cheese bread from Casa do Pão de Queijo (House of Cheese Bread), since that is a common snack in Brazil that we had seen recommended. Perhaps this is a bad vendor, or a bad batch, but it was quite plain, a little stale, airport-priced, and to top it off, the employee kept yelling at us in Portuguese, louder and faster, as if that would help us learn their weird ordering system. Overall, it was a pretty underwhelming experience.

Eventually, we were able to check in and enjoy time in the lounges. We had our choice of a few places, but ended up staying at the American Express lounge. (Unlike the United States, the GRU Centurion Lounge does not accept QR codes from the AmEx app. But also unlike the US, a guest is still allowed. So I used my physical card to get us both in, and all was happy.)

Then we made our way over to our gate. I love it when there is a separate jetway for business class.

The flight was decent. The chair was a little uncomfortable for me, but the food was good. I didn’t like the lack of a menu for food and drink options. The extremely eager flight attendant would just rattle off the options, but I would prefer to read over the menu and mull it over for a few minutes. But the food was good and they poured Moet Imperial champagne before takeoff (retail price $50 USD/bottle). Corey kept drinking that throughout the flight while I switched to red wine then cognac. Service was excellent and kept our beverages topped up throughout the flight. Next stop, South Africa!