July 10
We flew to São Paulo from Florianopolis and arrived around lunchtime. Mac picked us up from the airport and we drove downtown near his apartment. We ate lunch and talked at a 50s burger place. It was so good to see Mac again. It’s been a year and a half. After lunch, Mac drove us around a little and we went back to his apartment. He shared the apartment with his friend from Belo, Fabio. The apartment building was sweet. There was a rooftop with a pool, sauna, and cookout area. There was also a gym and a bunch of meeting rooms. It was great. We rested for a little bit, then got dinner at a bakery. We pregamed a little and went to a rock club. It wasn’t very crowded but the DJ was really good and the first band that played was legit. We met these girls and hung out with them until the club began shutting down. It was a cool place.
July 11
We slept in and drove to a lunch place that Mac’s friend recommended. It was a hipster place with a cool nature vibe that served fish and eggs. We drove to the park that is comparable to our Central Park in NYC and we rented bikes. We rode around the main area of the park and got a little work out in. We then drove to this cool area called Batman Alley, which was graffiti art all over brick walls. It reminded me of Berlin. We went back to Mac’s place and showered before going to his cousins apartment for a BBQ. BBQs are huge here. People in Brazil have BBQs all the time as a get together with family and friends on weekends. They eat as much meat as their stomachs can handle. It was so good. His cousin lived right around the corner so they see each other a fair amount. After the BBQ, we went to a cool outdoor club. It didn’t get crowded until midnight and it was at a place that looked like a house. The house had a large outdoor courtyard area and bars were scattered. The rooms of the house were small so it felt like a house party inside. It was different and cool. The movie Tommy was playing on the big screen outside but there wasn’t any sound. It must have been for the vibe of the place. We met up with our friends who we met in Florianopolis, Brendon and Guilio from Canada and Italy. It was good to see them again because they were both really nice guys. They ordered a bottle of vodka to get girls to come over and drink some, but it kind of backfired because they couldn’t get a table. They just stood with the bottle and it’s not as classy to ask people if they wanted drinks. We talked to different people throughout the night and had a good time. We went home around 5:00 am.
July 12
We slept in and then got lunch at a bakery. We hung out at Mac’s apartment and watched the Brazil vs Netherlands 3rd place match. Afterward, we met some of his friends and went to a bar area, called Villa. There were a ton of bars and people drinking in the street. We went into a good one and drank a bunch of beer. We also got some really good meat dish. We talked to these Brazilians at the table next to us for a while. It was a fun early night. We were going to go to a club later but we were pretty worn out from last night. We headed back to Mac’s place and called it a night.
July 13
We slept in again and then ate lunch at a bakery. We went directly to a big outdoor bar to watch the game at 4:00 pm. It was only 1:00 pm but we knew it would fill up for the World Cup final. We drank a bunch of beer and waited for the match to start. Everyone in Brazil was cheering for Germany, even though they lost to them 7-1. Brazil hates Argentina with a passion so they will cheer for anyone who is playing against Argentina. The match was really good. It was very eventful and exciting. Germany won the match and Brazilians celebrated. We got dinner after we left the bar and then went back to Mac’s for a little. We wanted to go out tonight but we ended up getting too comfortable at the apartment. We also had to wake up early to catch a flight to Chile, so we decided to stay in and play Truco. Rick and I best Mac and Logan. It was a solid end to our time in Brazil.