Day 3

This morning, we had the chance to sleep a little bit more. We just had to wake up at 8:30am. At 9:30am, we were leaving the hotel to go to the Municipal Market Place however it was closed and we ended up going to a park called Serra da Cantareira. At the park, we hiked for about 40min where we could see a big part of Sao Paulo, a city with over 20 million people.





On the way back, we saw some monkeys and baby monkeys. We were lucky to see them because they normally do not like to be around the humans.




We got back to the hotel, had lunch, rested a little bit and left to watch a professional soccer match. There were so many people at the game and the match was excellent. The fans were singing, cheering, and dancing for their team. We were cheering for the green and white team called Palmeiras. The majority of the fans were from this team. We had a great time at the game and the best of it: Palmeiras won 2x0. Unfortunately, we had to leave the stadium earlier and we did not see them scoring the last goal.

The dinner was at the hotel and after it we went to bed. Tomorrow the day is going to be busy, 2 games.

Testimonial

Today was an exciting day. After breakfast this morning we went to Serra da Cantareira. We walked for 45 minutes uphill to see a spectacular view of the entire city. Although we were tired after that long walk up, the view was worth it. We got to take many pictures with the city behind us. I’m pretty sure we couldn’t even see the whole thing because the city’s so large. At the top of the hill we also got to see a museum with preserved wildlife that was common around there. The way back down, we saw monkeys, and we all spent time trying to get good pictures of them. We definitely succeeded with that.

After stopping at the hotel for lunch and a bit of a rest we went to a Portuguese type superstore. We were all able to buy snacks and water for the games. We found out that all the food we recognized was double the price it is at home because it had to be imported. So we went for the packaging we didn’t recognize. Everything so far has been delicious, and I’m really glad that I got to try the different types of candy and crackers they have here. After being in the store for about an hour we headed to the soccer game.

Getting to the soccer game took awhile once we got near the stadium, because of all the crowds. Everyone there was in a green jersey ready to support their soccer team the Palmeiras. We definitely felt out of place without a jersey, and we were all eager to buy one so that we would fit in. We had really good seats for the game, (right on field level!) thanks to our friend Daniel, who got us the tickets to the game. We got to learn some of the cheers that the fans were saying to encourage their team “the pigs”. (The Palmeiras mascot was originally the parrot, but the fans of another team called them pigs, so the fans adopted that name and they are now referred to as “the pigs”). At the game they sold snacks like popcorn, water and ice cream. They were all delicious. During the game we witnessed many injuries and a penalty kick for the Palmeiras. The Palmeiras ended up winning 2-0. This was my first time seeing a pro soccer match, and it was for many of the girls on the team.

After the game we went back to the hotel for dinner and then we went straight to bed. It was a tiring but enjoyable day. We still have a bit of jetlag, but I’m excited for the rest of the trip, and I can’t wait to see what new things we get to do everyday.

By Suzanne Byrne