Its the middle of winter - which in South America's biggest city means a cool 27C. The sun's out, we're in shorts and t-shirts for the first time in weeks, but there's something not quite right...
After three months of getting by in Spanish, Brazil has given us a language barrier to cross. On paper, Portuguese looks very similar - give or take a few letters - and we can pretty much read simple texts. But when you hear it being spoken - its a whole different kettle of piranha fish.
Adding to the complication is the fact that many Brazilians understand Spanish, but always reply in Portuguese. It sounds lovely - all those 'djh' and 'ao' sounds, but even when they slow down its only the occasional word we comprehend.
And so here's the dilemma: should we take the 'Wenglish' approach as some people do at home by just adding the occasional '-o' ("stop-o... watch-o... dive-o”) to our Spanish vocabulary, in the hope that we'll get by? Somehow it seems wrong - but then we're only here for another few weeks..
While we chew that one over we've been enjoying Sao Paulo's food - spicy north Brazilian, Japanese and Korean included. There's even a little Italy that gives us our first taste of proper, strong Brazilian coffee.
The scale of the city is a bit overwhelming, with motorways going through the middle of town and no end to the sky scrapers on the horizon. Swamps and rainforest lie ahead, but for now we’ll just try and spend some more time tuning in.
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