Greetings from Sáo Paulo in Brazil. I've had quite an interesting few days.
Friday, two days ago, I was denied permission to board a flight to Bolivia as I didn't have an onward ticket. Immigration like to know you're going to leave their country at some point. They're funny like that. So yesterday I managed to jump through some hoops and succesfully bought a ticket to Peru in three months time, and this afternoon, fingers crossed, I should be able to fly to Bolivia.
It´s quite funny, really. I was delayed by two days to enter Brasil and now I´ve been delayed by two days to leave Brasil. It´s all swings and roundabouts.
So with some extra time to kill I went south to the Formula 1 track they have here to see if I could get a glimpse of the circuit. There was nothing happening there so security let me inside the gates to take a few photos from the back straight so I was pretty happy about that. Then they let me be so I thought I´d go wandering until someone stopped me. I managed to get right down next to the track and hung out there for about ten minutes before a guard called me back. I had visions of walking up to the main grandstand and standing on the main straight. Anyway, I was grateful that I´d been able to see anything at all.
Then I decided to do a lap of the circuit by walking around the outside of the fence perimeter of the track. I thought I might be able to peek through some holes in the fence at differnet vantage points, anyway, three quarters of the track is surrounded by middle class neighbourhoods but the last part, the part that would link me up to the train station to return to the city was a really dodgy neighbourhood. I thought about turning around but that would mean a long walk back. I kept going but I didn´t know if it was even possible to get through this area to get where I was going, or for how long I would have to walk through it. The houses were run down and there were a lot of cars and bins burnt out. The people were predominantly black and I was a wee bit worried that I might attract attention with my large headphones and bulging pockets with my camera and mobile. I walked purposefully and confidently and thankfully no one hassled me. The interesting thing was that alot of young men in the neighbourhood were flying kites. I guess it´s something to do.
Fingers crossed, I get to Bolivia today.
cioa fow now.
* No I didn´t make it on to the flight. I was on stand-by and myself and a few other passengers didn´t get a seat. So fingers crossed now for Tuesday.
