I´ve been having problems sleeping for three weeks or so now. I don´t know whether it´s jet lag, or the result of interrupted sleep on aeroplanes and in airports, or what, but it makes me cranky and tired. I went into a pharmacy called `Farto´ and bought a small packet of sleeping pills, but they are `natural´ (I didn´t want to get the hardcore ones for the same reason I don´t use ear plugs when travelling alone, in case there´s some kind of emergency like a fire, and I don´t wake up) and didn´t work. Maybe a niiiiiice looooong distance bus journey will help...

I was out like a light on the flight from Foz to Sao Paulo. We stopped off in Curitiba on the way and some people left and others got on, much like a bus. It was the same coming from LA to Rio - we stopped in Sao Paulo and they came on to clean the plane while a bunch of us were sitting in it, hoovering around our feet.

I got into Sao Paulo later than I expected after just missing a bus and it turned out that the hotel described by the infuriatingly useless Lonely Planet as being on a quiet, safe street, was actually in a really dodgy area full of homeless people, sex shops, and dodgy characters lurking in doorways. I normally walk with confidence and try to blend in as much as I can, but when you are carrying a backpack and other bags, you might as well have a neon sign on your head saying ´I am a tourist. I have just arrived and don´t know where I´m going. I have all my belongings with me.´ I might as well have stuck a bullseye target on my back. I reached the hotel with relief, only to find it was full, and so were some others I approached in the area. I finally found one that was more expensive than I would have liked, but I was pretty desperate to get off the streets by that point.

Sao Paulo is a ginormous, dirty, crowded city full of street vendors and haphazard roads. I visited the MASP (art gallery), which had a fantastic collection of art by the likes of Degas, Monet, Constable and Picasso, and found a loud protest taking place outside by students, carefully watched by battalions of police. I walked around the city with a leaflet I´d picked up at the tourist info place which pointed out the sights. Not the safest place I´ve ever been though, and am planning to leave tonight...