Rain and walking/Lluvia y caminar

Two days in Sao Paulo should be enough to see the major sights, if you don´t get rain all the time and as a result have to cancel things a few times, that is. So there´s quite a few things that I didn´t manage to see there, another day would be perfect, maybe on my way back there to catch my flight I´ll have an extra day.
So, there´s basically 2 main touristic areas to visit in SP: the historic centre, and the new (modern) centre. Day 1 I went to the modern city centre, with the tall buildings, international businesses and nice shops. I walked along Avenida Paulista, which is THE street in SP, stopping along the way in a few different places. The Conjunto Nacional is a shopping centre, which don´t particularly interest me, but this one was really cool: the design of the interior was beautiful, and they had the biggest bookstore I´ve seen in my life, 3 floors and big coffee shop included. On my way to the Ibirapuera Park it started pouring down so I ran to the first bus I saw coming along the street and got back to Paulista Avenue and took refuge in a museum (MASP- cool building, which is lifted off the ground so people can have a view of the city underneath the building, it´s held up by 4 giant columns only). At night I went out with Daniel, who´s a guy from Couchsurfing (I had requested him to host me in SP, but by the time he replied saying he could I had already received confirmation from Fernanda, so we agreed to meet up for drinks anyway). So we went for drinks at a pub and then we walked around the city for a while and he pointed out all the landmarks to me. When I got back home, my host Fernanda was there with her boyfriend, so we stayed up talking for a few hours and they made the very traditional Pao de Queijo for me (it´s a cheese bread, called Chipa in Argentina, yum yum!).
Day 2 was the historic centre. I saw quite a few churches (Consolacao, the Cathedral at Se with guided tour of the cryps included, Sao Bento, and a couple of others). I walked past the Copan Building- a massive residential building which also has some shops in the lower levels and it´s so huge it has its own zip code! I then went up the Italia Building, for a free view of the city. A few parks as well- Praza da Republica, Praca de Se (where the 0kms mark is), Praca da Luz with its massive train station and a few museums around. I walked through some famous shopping streets and bought stupid-shaped glasses for Carnival for Fernanda, Diego (her boyfriend) and I, and then went to the Mercado Municipal (Municipaloty Markets, where they sell fresh produce, fish, and has lots of places to go and have lunch at). There I had some food and met some locals (a man from SP with his sister and nephew visiting him over from someplace else in Brazil) and I ended up walking with them over to Praza da Luz. I got back home soaking wet as per usual (they have these summer storms, where in 1 second it just starts POURING down all of a sudden and then it stops about 20 minutes later, but it´s enough to already get everyone soaked). At night we went with Fernanda and her boyfriend to some of their friends´place. They were having a pre-carnival party there for all of those who can´t travel to Rio de Janeiro for carnival. We wore our stupid-shaped glasses and had a wonderful night, everyone was really really nice, it was so cool being at a local´s house party.

Dos dias en Sao Paulo se suponen que son suficientes para conocer las cosas turisticas mas importantes, si no te agarra lluvia a cada rato y como resultado tenes que cancelar planes. Asi que hay varias cosas que no pude hacer, tener un dia mas seria ideal, tal vez cuando vuelva a SP para tomar mi vuelo tenga un dia mas.
Hay basicamente 2 areas turisticas para visitar en SP: el centro historico, y el nuevo centro (moderno) El primer dia fui al centro moderno de la ciudad, con los edificios altos, las empresas internacionales y los negocios lindos. Camine a lo largo de la Avenida Paulista, que es LA calle en SP, parando en el camino en algunos lugares. El Conjunto Nacional es un shopping, que la verdad de por si no me interesan, pero este estaba muy copado: el disenio del interior era lindisimo, y tenia la libreria mas grande que vi en mi vida, 3 pisos y un cafe grande incluido. De camino al Parque Ibirapuera empezo a diluviar asi que corri al primer colectivo que vi pasar y volvi a la Avenida Paulista, y me refugie en un museo (MASP- muy copado el edificio, que esta elevado del suelo asi la gente puede ver la vista de la ciudad por debajo del edificio, y esta sostenido solamente por 4 columnas gigantes). A la noche sali con Daniel, que es un pibe de Couchsurfig (le habia pedido si me podia quedar con el en SP, pero para cuando me contesto diciendo que si yo ya habia quedado con Fernanda, asi que quedamos en encontrarnos para salir una noche). Asi que fuimos a tomar a un bar y despues caminamos un rato por la ciudad y me senalo los edificios famosos. Cuando volvi a casa mi anfitriona Fernanda estaba con su novio ahi, asi que nos quedamos hablando por varias horas y me hicieron el muy tradicional Pao de Queijo (chipa en Argentina, muy rico!)
El segundo dia fui al centro historico. Vi unas cuantas iglesias (Consolacao, la Catedral en Se incluyendo la visita guiada a la cripta, Sao Bento, y un par mas). Pase por el Edificio Copan- un edificio residencial masivo que tambien tiene algunos negocios en los pisos de abajo y es tan enorme que tiene su propio codigo postal! Despues subi al Edificio Italia, para una vista gratis de la ciudad. Unos cuantos parques tambien: Plaza de la Republica, Plaza de Se (donde esta el km 0), Plaza de Luz con su estcaion de tren gigante y algunos museos alrededor. Camine por algunas calles famosas de negocios y compre unos anteojos ridiculos para Carnaval para Fernanda, Diego (el novio) y para mi y despues fui al Mercado Municipal (donde venden frutas y verduras, pescados, y tiene lugares para almorzar tambien). Comi algo ahi y conoci a una gente de Brazil (un hombre de SP con su hermana y sobrino que estaban de visita de otra parte de Brazil) y termine caminando con ellos hasta la Plaza de Luz. Volvi a la casa de Fernanda empapada como de costumbre (tienen tormentas de verano, y en un segundo empieza a DILUVIAR y para a los 20 minutos, pero es suficiente para que todo el mundo termine empapado). A la noche fui con Fernanda y Diego a la casa de unos amigos de ellos. Hicieron una fiesta pre-carnaval para los que no pudieron irse a Rio de Janeiro para el Carnaval. Usamos nuestros anteojos ridiculos y la pasamos barbaro, todo el mundo muy muy buena onda, estuvo muy bueno poder ir a una fiesta en la casa de un local de ahi.