Nordeste Tour Part I - Sao Luis

Here we go at last!
After my laptop miraculously fixed itself, I can now finally report on my trip to Northeastern Brazil. My decision to do this trip was rather last-minute, as I decided to join fellow exchange student Barry from NY, who had already booked his flights, only two days in advance (You find the link to his blog on the toolbar on the right).
Hence, on September 28th, we met at 7 a.m. at MASP station to go to the airport and then fly to Sao Luis, in the Northern state of Maranhao, with a short stopover in Brasília, the capital. The flight was slightly more than four hours, which gives an idea of the size of this country! From the plain we could observe many fires in the bush, where apparently people were burning the woods in order to reclaim land.

Therefore we arrived not long before dusk, looked for a cheap pousada (hostel/inn) and checked out the city.
Sao Luis is a colonial city, founded by the French in 1612, and in the aftermath it was controlled by the Dutch and the Portuguese. Unfortunately today, it is in very bad states, and many of the colonial buildings are very scruffy, as you can see in the picture.

Barry and a colonial ruin in Sao Luis

However, some of them are nicely restored as the historic center was declared a World Heritage in 1989. Due to the city's scenic setting between a river and the see, it has a cozy atmosphere and a relatively pleasant climate, despite being only 2° south of the equator. The people look quite different from Paulistas, most of them being mixed with white, African and Indian.
A funny thing we still experienced many times on this trip was that although we stuck out as strangers, everybody would believe it if we said we were from Sao Paulo.

Me with a delicious agua de coco

Sao Luis townhall