When I tried leaving Sao Paulo on Saturday the city didn't let me - all the buses were full-up. Besides, the city was throwing itself a 450th birthday party so I stayed another night and joined it. The location: an intersection of two streets that featured in a classic Paulista song which the songwriter was performing that day. The downside: even though the traffic lights were still trying to impose order it was complete chaos on the ground; moving was nigh on impossible. The only option was to find others likeminded who were seeking a way out. Almost magically such collection of people would coordinate their efforts by pushing the person in front of them with all their weight. We turned into a human ram, wedging the crowd violently apart and stumbling in whichever direction the first person in line could go to escape the flattening pressure from behind.

But we weren't the only ones having fun (and honestly, most in the line had big grins on their faces while getting dangerously close to being trampled to death). As I was being pushed along one smiling guy passing in the other direction firmly planted his hand on my crotch-area before disappearing into the crowd while others, I could swear, were rubbing themselves into me and others. Frotter's paradise!

The next morning I hung around the city and elevatored a tall building and got a nice view of the city from above.

That evening after barely missing my bus I made my way to Foz do Iguaçu, of waterfall fame. So far I've seen the Brasilian side of the falls which were mightily impressive. But since then I've been nastily sick, so much so that under suspicion of having caught Dengue Fever or Malaria earlier I got a blood test at the local hospital.

After an hour's wait they luckily returned negative on both counts. Which unfortunately means there can be less self-pity from now on and I'll have to suffer in comparative silence. However I swore to myself that as soon as I could walk without breaking out into a piggish sweat I would haul my ass to Argentina.

Which I have done today after bidding my goodbyes to Brasil... :*(

[Pictures of Sao Paulo and Foz have been uploaded into Albums Brasil 5 and 6. Album Brasil 6 contains Panorama shots of Sao Paulo from above and the falls from the Brasilian side. The very large panoramas had to be split so I could upload them - piece them together at home on photoshop for a desktop background for your ultra-widescreen monitor. :)

In other news a sicko hit this blog last week looking for 'pictures of foxes with there guts hanging out of there stomach'. For some reason google brings up my blog as the second hit on the query. Hmmmm... ;)]