Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo

left: Priscila's step-dad, sister Deborah and her husband.
Right: Priscila's step-sister Thais, me and another friend (also called Priscila)




I spent a week in Mogi das Cruzes in the house of the family of my friend Priscila Romeiro - not to be confused with the other Priscila's in Brasilia. Priscila lives in Sydney at the moment, but her family were very hospitable. Her brother Bruno met me at the bus station when I arrived from Curitiba and showed me around over the weekend. Her step-sister Thais is really cool and had some time off during the week which she used to show me around São Paulo. Likewise were sister Deborah and step-father were very friendly. I really liked mum who insisted that I return.

Mogi das Cruzes is a city in the state of São Paulo about an hour or three (depending on traffic) outside of the city of São Paulo - the biggest city in Brazil and one of the biggest in the world. In Australia you rarely get more then 3 lanes of traffic going in the same direction. In São Paulo I once counted 11.

So I spend some time getting somewhat cultured and visiting various museums and parks in São Paulo. I was under the impression that Sydney was second only to San Francisco in having the biggest annual gay event of the world. But it turns out that São Paulo has an even bigger one. It commenced in 1997, but now has overtaken even San Francisco in annual attendance. Amongst other events, São Paulo has a big annual "March for Jesus" day, which is also quite famous.

It was good to have some time to check out Brazil's biggest city and be overwhelmed with the crazy amount of traffic. I have a couple of friends in São Paulo who unfortunately were out of town when I was there, so I may return.

A big thanks to Priscila for letting me stay at her family's place. On Friday I took the 6 hour bus ride to the city where it all began for me - Rio de Janeiro.



Priscila's mum and I


Museum