Dec 19, Monday

Dec 19, Monday

7:45 am there is a knock at my door; my breakfast has arrived.  For approx $10 I received coffee, juice, two baby croissants (delicious by the way), a container of yogurt, jam & butter.   By  9 am I’ had walked to the Radisson for my tour to Johannesburg.   Joe was very nice, polite and talkative and provided a lot of historical detail about South Africa, the natives, the Dutch and the British.   I’ve read a lot of historical fiction novels ( ex Wilbur Smith) about this so the memories come flowing back. 

We first toured the very rich section of the city where properties are worth millions of dollars.  Every house is hidden behind high walls, with electrified wires on the top or laser beam security, plus cameras filming the perimeter.   This is also where the Nelson Mandela Foundations is located (Central Street);  they have helped with education of the young and ensuring that the orphans and the old are taken care of.  We drove past Mandela’s house as well and saw the “rock birthday messages” which had been left for him.

 Birthday wishes stones in front of Nelson Mandela's house.  He is away in the township where he was born for the holidays.

  Streets of the rich !

The only people I see walking around in the streets are gardeners or maids.  We drive up a hill in this area to get a nice view of the city.  Johannesburg is huge and has trees everywhere, all planted by the Europeans as they arrived to the area.

 Some look like they are living behind prison walls

 Others have "beautified" and have lovely landscaping.

We drove up a hill in the rich section and from there had a nice panoramic view looking north west away from the city centre.

  All these trees are not native to this area, they were planted by Europeans as they arrived and colonized, to provide much needed shade.

  Sandton district in the distance

From there we drove into one of the central parts of Johannesburg which has been completely abandoned by whites.  The high-rises are in very poor condition, broken windows and garbage everywhere.  Joe tells me that the men on the street corners are drug dealers and we see their clients staggering around all over the streets.  The buildings are no longer being maintained, the slum lords just collect the rents.  It is a sad situation.  For obvious reasons, I kept my camera out of sight while we drove through here.

  Broken windows everywhere

Just a few streets away, the situation changes and Joe tells me these streets would be safe for me to walk in.  Lots of stores and businesses but not as many people as I would normally see since many have already left the city to go back to their original communities to spend the Christmas holidays with their families. 

No Christmas decorations anywhere in the streets, only in the shops and in the malls.

From here we headed to what is now called Constitution Hill.  The ramparts of the original fort were built in 1893 by Paul Kruger to defend the city from a possible  British invasion.  

 The old fort and rampart walls

It became a jail during the Boer war.   In later years more jails (gaols here) were built just outside the fort; the notorious “number four” where Mahatma Ghandi was held in his early formative years (1908 to 1913 for refusing to carry a pass in protest) and where Nelson Mandela & Robert Sobukwe spent some of their jail time. 

Robert Sobukwe  -  On 21 March 1960, the PAC led a nationwide protest against the hated Pass Law which require black people to carry a pass book at all times. Sobukwe led a march to the local police station at Orlando, Soweto in order to openly defy the laws. He was joined on route by a few followers and, after presenting his pass to a police officer, he purposely made himself guilty under the terms of the Pass Law for being present in a region/area other than that allowed in his papers. In a similar protest the same day in Sharpeville, police opened fire on a crowd of PAC supporters, killing 69 in the Sharpeville Massacre.
Following Sobukwe's arrest, he was charged and convicted of incitement, and sentenced to three years in prison. After serving his sentence, he was interned on Robben Island. The new General Law Amendment Act was passed, allowing his imprisonment to be renewed annually at the discretion of the Minister of Justice. This procedure became known as the "Sobukwe clause" and went on for a further three years. Sobukwe was the only person imprisoned under this clause.

There is also a women’s jail which was built in 1909 and the museum portion here includes messages from past prisoners who were asked to contribute their stories.  One of the most telling was this:  “My grandmother had taught us to say goodbye every time we left home because we never know if we would come back or not.”   If the non-whites were caught in white areas without a pass, they would be arrested and detained;  some for days, some for months, some for years; no explanation given and the families were not contacted to let them know a family member had been detained.   If someone disappeared, the family knew to come to the prison to check.  Segregation ruled here as well, whites being kept in one area and non-whites in another.  Whites received better treatment, better food, better conditions in general.   Political prisoners were housed with the criminals and suffered not only by the hands of their jailers but also by the criminals who ruled the cells.  They were tortured as well and the instruments of torture are on display as well as photographs.  Very emotional visit.  

 The women's gaol.  Notice the grid on the ground on the right side of the lawn.  There was no grass when it was used as a jail; it was soil.  When the women arrived they had to strip in the yard and be body searched to ensure they were not bringing in anything.

  Inside one of the wards,  memories from the women who were imprisoned here.  The wards had closed cells in the beginning, but as overcrowding occurred the inner walls came down and 60 women were housed where only 24 should have been.  If they were pregnant, they had their babies in jail.  After a certain age the children were taken away from them and kept in a seperate area.

  That grid in the yard used to have this type of structure on it.  The yard was filled with these zinc corrugated structures to hold the overflow.  Zinc in the hot sun meant that they literally baked in their cells and froze when it was cold.

  One of the closed cells in the women's block

  The white women were housed in a seperate building and had more room, better food, better overall conditions.  White women murderers were better treated than the black prisoners.

 Cells in the men's block where overcrowding also existed.   Gang leaders took over a larger floor area and took other prisoners' blankets to be more comfortable (below).  The remainder of the prisoners had to do with what was left over (above).  Warders did not intervene.

Quotes:   Gandhi – “I have a call I must answer. I must deliver my message to my people.  This humiliation has sunk too deep in me to remain without an outlet.  I, at least, must act up to the light that has dawned on me.”     Mandela -  “It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails.  A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals.”   Mandela was finally released in 1990 and by 1994 he had helped to write a new constitution and the first democratically parliament was elected in South Africa.   Mandela was the first president and only remained for 4 years, retiring from political life and moving on to the creation of his Foundation.

 Outdoor eating area right beside the latrines therefore disease was unavoidable and dishes were filthy.

  Open shower area beside the yard where they were allowed only 1 hour per day, 20 minutes of which water was available.  If the gang leaders decided to use the entire 20 minutes, others did not get to wash.

  Solitary confinement cell

  and there were many of those available.

It was then time to visit the Constitutional Court, the main reason this area is now called Constitution Hill. One of the older prison blocks was completely dismantled and the bricks were reused to build the walkway between Number Four and the new Court buildings;  it has been named the Great African Steps.  The bricks were also used to build part of the Constitutional Court and are vey symbolic:  bricks with no mortar symbolizing freedom,  bricks which were used to imprison people and take away their rights are now used to protect their rights and freedom.   The new flag of South Africa also reflects this.

 

 Great African Steps

  Built with the bricks from the old prison

  Site of the old prison.  Only the staircases that led to the holding cells have been kept.  The one in the foreground holds the Eternal Flame of Hope

  There are ELEVEN (11) official languages in South Africa and these appear on the walls of Constitution Hall.  And some people in Canada complain about having TWO!

  Joe, my guide for the day, in front of the carved wooden doors  that contain the 27 clauses to the Constitution.

  Columns symbolize tree trunks, leaves hanging above are actually sun lights.   

  The tree is represented on their logo as well.  Just as historically in Africa elders sat under trees and provided judgements, the eleven constitutional judges provide judgements today under a symbolic tree.

  The chambers are open to the public when the Constitutional Court is siting and judging cases.   The front of the desks where the judges sit are covered in cow hides.   A beaded South African flag hangs from the ceiling.

The exhibition hall is filled with the history of the four constitutions which have been used by South Africa throughout the years, but the main display is about the 1970s and 80s and the culmination of years of oppression.

  "Freedom"

  Jail Baby Carriage, symbolic of the children who were born in jail and kept away from their mothers

From here we drove south west toward the Soweto Township, crossing more of the downtown area, this time the business portion where the BIG mining offices are located.   Along the way we drove past huge hills and mountains, all man made from the remnants of the gold mines.   With the new technology available today, many of these hills are being re-sifted to collect more of the gold dust which was left behind.

 Diamond building in the middle (narrow black)

  How's that for advertisement !

  Mandela bridge

 Central Johannesburg skyline

  Street view

  Soccer City:  Calabash (african cooking pot) shaped stadium

 Close up of the windows in the stadium

Images for soccer city johannesburg

Man made mountains of earth from the gold mines

We arrived in Soweto and Joe had told me we would be driving through the Rich part, and the Poor part before making our way to the Hector Pieterson museum.

 Some of the houses in the rich sector of Soweto. 

  The steets in this sector are lively and children were playing everywhere.

 Just down the hill from the rich section and clearly in view is the extremely poor section which used to house the miners.  No running water and no eclectricity.

  This is the oldest section of Soweto where some of the houses have not changed (below)

  Where some have running water in their back yards, but others have to use communal water spouts.

  Where some of the old houses remain as is, but others have been completely renovated

  And where new developments are being built to replace the slum areas.

Other interesting photos I took in the area

 No, these are not golf tees, they are vuvuzelas, those really noisy horns they honk during socker games.

 

Biggest hospital in all of Africa is located in Soweto !

The grounds and buildings takes up what must be an entire mile along the road.

  A new church in Soweto

The museum is located in the Orlando section of Soweto.  This is where both Nobel Prize winners lived on the Vilakazi street:  Benjamin Tutu & Nelson Mandela.   It is also the sector where hundreds of students were killed during what started as a peaceful “walk” protesting the language of instruction in Africaan.

 Arriving in the Orlando area

  Benjamin Tutu's house is behind these walls.

  This used to be Mandela's house, it is now a museum

  Hector Pieterson Memorial June 1976

 Street where the students marched.  Memorial on the sidewalk.

I remember seeing this on the news in 1976, and later seeing movies retelling the story.  The street where the police opened fire on the marchers has changed considerably.   Amazing to see the changes.  So many people had to die and spend almost their entire lives in jail to achieve the breakdown of Apartheid. Sorry, no pictures allowed inside the museum, but it retells the story of why the march took place, basically protesting the education system in Soweto (Money going to the other townships and Soweto having to depend on Johannesburg funding = almost none.   Whites obtained free books from the ministry, Blacks had to pay for them !   A peaceful march turned into shots being fired by police and a young boy being killed:  Hector Pieterson.

Hector Pieterson (1964 – 16 June 1976) became the subject of an iconic image of the 1976 Soweto uprising in South Africa when a news photograph by Sam Nzima of the dying Hector being carried by another student while his sister ran next to them, was published around the world. He was killed at the age of 12 when the police opened fire on protesting students. For years, 16 June stood as a symbol of resistance to the brutality of the apartheid government. Today, it is designated National Youth Day — when South Africans honor young people and bring attention to their needs.

In the ensuing months the black people revolted and things got really ugly here.  Thousands of people were arrested and the jails were overcrowded.  Cells which were meant to hold 24 now contained more than 60.  Outside zinc walled sheds were built to house the overflow. Pictures above. 

On the drive out of Soweto we passed the Orlando Soccer stadium.  I also got a few nice shots of the Johannesburg skyline.

 Nuclear cooling towers no longer in use, nicely decorated with art.

 Orlando Soccer Stadium

  Commuters bus stop

 

Skyline of the city

Back at the Radisson Hotel, I checked on the status of my car rental enquiry.  No news.  The lady at the counter suggested I may want to go to the agency and check in person.  She also indicated that there were other rental agencies nearby that I could check with.   It was within walking distance so I stretched my legs and went for a walk.   The young lady at the Avis counter could find nothing on their computer with regard to my enquiry, but confirmed that a vehicle was available for pick-up tomorrow.  YEAH !

Well I’m glad I’ll have the vehicle for 15 days so I can drive down to Cape Town and come back up along the coast line, but I am worried about having to drive on the wrong side of the road; and sitting in the driver’s seat on the wrong side of the car !   I asked Joe a lot of questions today about driving rules and what to watch out for.   TIME WILL TELL.

Dec 18 Sunday

Dec 18 Sunday

I slept very well last night and woke up at around 9 am.   No food available and I did not feel like going out, so I had a bottle of water instead.  The maid knocked at the door at around 10 am and came in to do her thing.  I took advantage of her dropping in to ask about getting breakfast tomorrow morning (all part of the condo service and not too expensive for room service) and also asked about getting an electrical plug converter (the one I have in my kit is outdated).   After checking with the manager, she advised that they could not provide the electrical plug convertor but I could purchase one downtown.   So at 11 am I headed out for a walk downtown.   I’m finally wearing the skirts I sewed before leaving; quite suitable for Johannesburg.   I took a different route than yesterday and followed Grayston Drive which curves around the downtown area.  Just as I was about to turn left on West to go downtown, I spotted a shopping mall on the other side of the street and decided to check it out first.  Excellent decision, the first shop I spotted was a bakery which also served meals.  COFFEE !   I opted for a quiche since I had not eaten breakfast, but was definitely going to buy some baked goods before heading back to the condo.   

After finishing my meal I roamed through the mall and located a number of interesting shops.  One was a dress shop with a beautiful one in the window.  Now I don’t need any more clothing, I have enough for this trip, but I could not resist this dress; it was calling to me !   So I went in to try it on and see how much it cost.  It fit like a glove; when I asked for the price I thought it was a bit too much.  The other rack of similar dresses was advertised at 50% off.   I asked if the price included the 50% discount and was told that no, this dress was not the same.   I told the sales clerk that unfortunately, I would not be purchasing the dress, even though it fit beautifully.  She was actually putting it away when the other sales clerk started talking to her in some other language (not Afrikaans, but a native language).  {The internet says that there are 11 official languages in South Africa:  Afrikaans,  English and 9 native languages}   I guess the other clerk convinced her to give me the 50% discount because that’s exactly what she offered !    Love it!

As I walked down the mall looking for a shop that would be selling the electrical plug converter, I spotted a travel shop ! ! !   YES,  they should have converters for foreign travel, but would they have some for foreigners who needed to use South African outlets.  Yes again !   I’ve got the converter and can now recharge all the batteries.  

There were a few grocery shops in the mall as well, so I decided to go in and check things out.  I ended up purchasing some juice, wine, cheese and deli meats to go with the baked goods I would purchase on my way out.   I’m set for a few days anyway.  

I continued walking towards downtown, since it was now on my way back to the condo.   Sandton is a business district: BIG business complexes, did not see one store.   It may be that I would have needed to walk further west than I did, but I was now carrying groceries along with the rest of my bags, so I decided to forego any more shopping and head back to the hotel.

  Business Sector of Sandton

  Shopping area near the condo

I stopped again at the Radisson to book my tour for tomorrow morning: Johannesburg & Soweto.  Unfortunately I won’t be able to include the Nelson Mandela Museum because….. it’s closed on Mondays!   (Why didn’t I just phone from the condo?  Because there is no phone in the apartment !)  While I was there I decided to enquire about renting a car and see how expensive it would be.   The lady at the Avis desk helped me out and got me a good price (there is actually a tourist discount !)   I should be able to find out tomorrow if there is a vehicle available for 15 days.   If there is, I’m driving to Cape Town and then driving back along the coast.   I’ll keep my fingers crossed.   Did I mention they drive on the opposite side of the street here?  It will be my first time, but I might as well get used to it here since I’ll be driving again once I reach Australia and New Zealand.
 

Dec 17 Saturday

Dec 17 Saturday 

My flight arrived just after 7 am local time.  The line-ups were very very long:  1) to get off the plane, where they were checking everyone’s passport,  2) at the immigration area  and  3) at the custom area.  The good thing was that by the time we finally got to the baggage carousel, all luggage was waiting.

I had done my research and knew that I could catch the GauTrain from the airport to Sandton (Sector of Johannesburg) where I had reserved a hotel through Booking.com  (my favourite GO-TO site now).

 My first pictures of South Africa on the way in to Johannesburg

Found the booth and purchased a ticket to Sandton for 115 Rand  = $14.   (R8 = $1)   From the Sandton station I took a taxi to the hotel, which turned out to be a condominium complex.  Luxurious one at that, and for only $105/night !   Just to compare, a hotel room at the Radisson is $136/night and at the Holiday Inn is $114.   The main reason I selected the Time Square Executive Suites was that they have laundry facilities in the unit !  So guess what I did as soon as I had settled in ?

  I'm lucky to be on the 3rd floor, where I get a nice breeze from the windows.

I dozed off a few times between loads; it took 3 because the washer and dryer are really small.  At 4:30 I decided to walk around a bit to find out what was nearby.  The Security Guard at the gate indicated that the nearest mall was closed for renovations, but still pointed me in that direction since there were restaurants nearby.  It also is on the way to “downtown” Sandton.   It’s about a 10 minute walk to that centre and although most of the shops are not yet re-opened, there were a few restaurants that were, or that never closed for renovations.  Luckily one of them was an Indian restaurant and I thoroughly enjoyed my vegetable and rice dish, accompanied by hot-from-the-oven buttered naan.   I also tried out my first South African beer;  unfortunately I was so tired I don’t remember the name so that I can re-order it again. 

After my meal it was still light, so I decided to walk towards the downtown area.  I soon changed my mind however since the streets were completely empty; hardly anyone walking around.  And this is Saturday night.  On my walk back to the Condo I stopped off  at the Radisson Hotel to see if they had any tourist brochures and maps.  Big hotel, nice Concierge, who went out of his way to assist me, even though I’m not staying there !   Got lots of info, including a list of tours that are available.  Unfortunately none are pre-scheduled;  you book them individually so the prices are quite steep.  He gave me the phone number to call so that I could contact the agency and I was on my way back to the hotel, just in time before darkness set in.

Dec 16 Friday

Check out today is at noon so I can have a bit of a lazy morning repacking all my stuff.   At 11:30 I went down to check-out and have my luggage stored until later this afternoon.  I decided to make up for some of those lazy days I just spent and visit another part of the downtown area:  Luz  (which means Light in both Spanish and Portuguese).

Took the metro again, but this time on the Yellow line, which is quite short and ends at Luz Station, where it meets up with almost every other metro line in the city.  This metro stop is therefore HUGE, and like every other station in the city, it is impeccably clean;  not a single item of garbage ANYWHERE.   And it’s not because they have cleaning staff around the clock because I did not see any cleaning staff at all.  Nor is it because you are being scared by signs that say that if you litter you will be jailed, or fined an exorbitant amount of money, because I saw no such signs.  People simply don’t litter in the subway !   Now it may be that there are heavy fines, I simply don’t know.   Every single station had great signage as well.  If you had a map and knew which street or metro line you needed, it was very easy to follow directions.   And it is not an expensive trip =  2.90 Real per ride which is only about $2.

Estaçio da Luz

The two main things I wanted to visit, in only 2 ½ hours were the Museu da Lingua Portuguesa (Portuguese Language Museum) and the Pinacoteca Park.  If I had extra time, I might check out a Monastary a little further away.  The museum is located in what I thought was an old Train Station, but it turned out that the Estaçao da Luz is still in use.  Unfortunately, everything in the Museum of Portuguese Language was in Portuguese, no English, French or Spanish translations available so after picking up the brochure (Available in English !)  I decided not to go in for a visit.

But this is what I found out about Portuguese (at least the one spoken in Brazil) and why I’m having such a difficult time understanding it.  It is a mixture of Amerindian (various native languages spoken in the area where Brazil is presently located), Portuguese (European 17^th century) & African (from the various tribes where the slaves came from).  No wonder I can’t understand it !  And the sound of it, from certain speakers on TV, actually grates on my nerves;  very strange since I usually love the sound of other languages.

I noticed that across the street there was another museum, which had not been mentioned in any of my brochures, Museu Pinacoteca de Sao Paulo, containing Brazilian art.  I went in for the price of 6R or $4.  Not only were the paintings and sculptures worthwhile, but the building itself was such an architectural pleasure on the inside.

 Inside gutted down to the brickwork and art added

 And it has its own upside down glass pyramid

 Notice anything strange about the 3rd floor openings?

 It is a mirrored reflection !  There are actually only 2 stories with a mirror on the ceiling, creating an optical illusion.

 One of the "rebuilt" hallways

 and one of the many beautiful sculptures.  
Photography of the paintings and inner sculptures was not allowed.

Pinacoteca Park was just beside this museum so I did a quick walk through.

 

 Sculptures in the park

 Beautiful trees

 and a water grotto

I still had some time left over, but not enought to get to the monestary, so I decided to walk towards a structure I could see in the distance. 

It turned out to be yet another train station: Estaçao Julio Prestes, but the building also includes a concert hall. No longer at its prime, the station is now surrounded by an area which is “less than safe” as you can see by the last picture.

  Inside the station, stained glass

I kept walking, thinking I might be able to get back to Luz from the other side, but when I saw the garbage in the streets and that the locals seemed a little too scary I decided to turn around and head by to the Luz metro stop and head back to the hotel.

By 2:45 I had picked up my luggage, got into a taxi, and was headed to the airport for my 6:30 flight to South Africa.  So here are my last pictures of Sao Paulo and South America, taken on the drive to the airport.

 Sao Paulo skyscrapers

  The suburbs around the airport

  That will be me in less than 3 hours !

Unfortunately I was not able to sleep at all during the 8 hour flight, but I did watch 3 movies !

Dec 14, Wednesday, Dec 15 Thursday

Dec 14, Wednesday, Dec 15 Thursday

Interesting tid-bit (for me anyway).   I stayed at Hotel Bandeirantes, saw streets named for Bandeirantes, etc  and thought that he must have been some historical figure.   While visiting one of the museums I found out that it actually identified a group of people, like we have in Canada with “les courreurs de bois”.

”The bandeirantes (Portuguese pronunciation: [bɐ̃dejˈɾɐ̃tʃiʃ], followers of the banner) were composed of Indians (slaves and allies), caboclos (people of Indian mixed with white), and some whites who were the captains of the Bandeiras. Members of the 16th–18th century South American slave-hunting expeditions called bandeiras (Portuguese for "flags"). Though their original purpose was to capture and force amerindians into slavery, the bandeirantes later began to focus their expeditions on finding gold, silver and diamond mines. They ventured into unmapped regions in search of profit and adventure. From 1580–1670 the Bandeirantes focused on slave hunting, then from 1670–1750 they focused on mineral wealth. Through these expeditions, the Bandeirantes also expanded Portuguese America from the small limits of the Tordesilhas Line to roughly the same territory as current Brazil. This expansion discovered mineral wealth that made the fortune of Portugal during the 17th and 18th centuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandeirantes  “”

Hopefully they are being “promoted” for this last portion of their 17^th & 18^th century exploits and not for the earlier ones.

I’ve run out of steam and have been resting for the past few days.  

Dec 12, Monday & Dec 13, Tuesday

Dec 13, Tuesday

It's sunny again today, but I'm just to tired to get out, so I'm calling it a "sick day".   Sorry boss !  

HA, HA !  You got to love being retired !

Dec 12, Monday

Mondays in Sao Paulo = closed museums and most other areas, including the Botanical Gardens, so today I went to the park to play.  That’s the Ibirapuera Park.   After locating it on the map, I determined that my best way to get there was to take the metro to what has become my favourite metro stop “Paraiso”  (which means Paradise by the way).   From there, I would have to walk a considerable distance, but less than the distance I walked along Avenida Paulista that first day.   So off I went and after getting out of the metro, although I had a general idea of which direction I should be going, I was lucky enough to spot a sign for drivers, indicating where to turn to get to El Parque Ibirapuera.   Zigzagged a few times and realized why I had not been able to spot Avenida 23 de Mayo;  it ran in a tunnel beneath the road at this point !   Luckily, the route was downhill, and I intended on staying in the park until dark to see the lighted fountains, and return to the hotel by taxi.

 View from my 5th floor bedroom at the Ibis,  Avenida Paulista

  Beautiful statue in front of a huge building I saw along the way

 Avenida 23 de Mayo looking back up to the overpass I walked from

  Looking down the other side to where I still need to get to.

I made it down the hill to the Obelisk  “Obelisco e Mausoléu aos Herois de 32”.  It is 72 meters high and pays homage to the heroes of the constitutional revolutionaries of 1932.  It is built of Travertine Marble and inside is a mausoleum to students who were tortured and died during the protest against the provisional government of Getulio Vargas.

  Obelisk

 Huge Xmas tree outside the park

  Xmas decoration I saw along the way

The pedestrian entrance to the park was not easy to find.  A lot of roundabouts to get there.   I ended up following a couple walking with a picnic basket in the hope that they were going to the park.  It worked !

 Views of the park

  Beautiful monument across the lake, outside of the park.  Can't find it on my map so no idea what it is.

  Mama and young black swan

  Pedestrian bridge across part of the lake

There was a beautiful lake at this end of the park.  The park is open every day and has no entry fee and has been compared to New York’s Central Park.  The planetarium is located here, as well as the Museum of Modern Art and the Museu Afro Brasil  (all closed on Mondays).  I had read that you could rent bikes here and that was what I had planned to do.  After walking a considerable distance within the park without seeing any signs to indicate where these bikes might be located, I finally saw two guards and asked them where the “bicycletas” were located.   I was pointed back in the direction I had come and was able to understand that I should look for # 3.   Ok, I had seen a #9 and #9a on one of the posts so off I went, back the way I had come.  Unfortunately there was no map of the park nearby, nor did the signs indicate in which direction #3 might be located.   There were lots of paths and roads criss-crossing the park, as well as many waterways.   So I walked, and walked, and asked directions a few more times, and walked, and walked.   I finally came across a road that had a clearly marked bicycle path painted on it and followed that for a while.  

 Strange, beautiful bird taking a breather

  One of the many roads in the park

  Huge play area

I’m not sure how long it took me to find #4, which included a sign saying “Bicycletario” with an arrow pointing to the left, but I was pretty sure I had walked completely across the park by now.  I was no longer sure I had the energy left to ride a bike, but I figured that I had come this far, I should at least go to the Bicycletario to see what type of selection they had.   By this time I had seen a lot of other people on bikes which obviously belonged to the park, and they seemed to be in pretty good condition.    Finally found the bikes and decided to rent one after all; it only cost $5 Reales to rent a bike for one hour, with a 10 minute grace period.  

So I rented my bike and got the seat height adjusted for my short legs.  Now I should also mention that in Ottawa, I’m still riding my old bike that I rode when I was in Smooth Rock Falls;  an old Sunshine bike with balloon tires.   If I want to break, I simply back pedal.   The bikes in the park were speed bikes with breaks on the handles, so I had to keep reminding myself to keep the fingers of my left hand on the breaks.  I have to admit that I forgot a few times after stopping to take pictures, but I finally got the hang of it.   I finally found an information office while I was riding around and got a map of the park with some additional information.   It was inaugurated in 1954, 400^th anniversary of Sao Paulo’s inauguration, and the year I was born; it is 1,584 square meters and has a triangular shape.   When I first asked for directions, I was in one corner of the triangle.  The guards who pointed me towards the bikes should have told me to keep going around the lake and stay on the same road, all the way to the bikes; which would have basically been along one side of the triangle.  Unfortunately they pointed me in the other direction, which meant that I had actually zigzagged along the other two sides of the triangle !

If the bike seat had been more comfortable I might have used up my entire hour, but after going around the park twice, I decided to turn it in 10 minutes early.  My bum was just too sore to ride any more.  There was no way I was going to walk back to the other entrance where I had first come in (Portao 10), so I took a chance and left by the “bike” gate (Portao 6).  I could see people waiting for buses so I made my way to where they were.  From there I could see a freeway, but had no idea which one it was.  The names on the buses did not help.   I looked again at the freeway in both directions and spotted a sign on the other side pointing cars to “Paraiso” neighbourhood.  Ah ha !   I needed to get to the other side of the freeway and there was a pedestrian bridge just a few steps away.   Off I went.   While I was crossing the bridge I had a pretty good view of the city and figured that I was probably close to two major roads heading in the right direction to get back to the Metro.   I figured that if I walked straight up the hill, I would get to either the Ana Rosa or Vila Mariana metro stations.  Oh yes,  it was UPHILL !   a very very very long way uphill !

I made it up to the main street and stopped in a baby store to ask for more directions, either right or left to get to the closest metro stop.   My sense of direction did not fail me;  I was only 2 blocks away from the Ana Rosa station !   The rest was a breeze and I made it back to my hotel, very tired with a lot of sore muscles but happy with another beautiful sunny day.  

I decided to have dinner at the Ibis Hotel again tonight.  The buffet has a nice selection of great foods.  Tonight there was an even better selection of vegetables;  Yvette there was roasted egg plant which I sprinkled with parmesan !  Yummy.   Loaded up on the vegetables tonight and only had a small piece of meat.  Nice music playing in the background; the only song I recognized was a song by Shania Twaine.  A little bit of home with dinner.