More Downtown

 Here we are on Rua 25 de Marco. This street is filled with stores and vendors and is incredibly packed with people. Our missionary friends compared it to the fabric district in LA, multiplied by 10. I've never been to LA, but basically you couldn't walk without touching or being touched by someone else. We were like sardines, everyone looking for bargains. We didn't buy much, but we did find some cheap ties for Todd. It was a pretty crazy street...I would not want to bring kids down that street!

 We liked how the policeman was up in this little tower so he could look down upon all of us little ants :)

 In front of the Banco de Sao Paulo. There were lots of streets that were closed to traffic. We got approached by this crazy drunk guy that no one could understand. We tried to ask him directions to get him to go away and leave us alone, and after we paid him, he told us to go ask the police officers, they would know :)

 Another part of the plaza. This part was less busy, but there were still a lot of people. We saw more homeless people than we see in our part of Sao Paulo, which you would expect in a city this huge. It always makes me feel sad though :(

 This statue is of a guy named de Silva. There are a lot of people named de Silva in Brazil :)

 We are crossing the aqueduct here. You can see all the busses and cars in the background. I love the palm trees!

 This is the freeway that runs underneath the aqueduct we crossed. They say you can get stuck in traffic for hours during rush times. Let's just say that I would NEVER want to drive in SP...they drive like crazies!

In front of the Teatro Municipal. It's still used for ballet and theater, and is a SP landmark.

After this, we walked over and caught our bus. We were lucky to be one of the first ones on, because I ended up getting a seat and we were out of the way of traffic. This turned out to be fortuitous because the.bus.was.packed. I don't think I've ever been on a bus with so many people...we were like chickens in a very crowded coop. I couldn't imagine having to take the bus every day to work or to the store, because a lot of the time you end up standing. However, its a part of the culture there, and it was fun to ride just to see what its like. Todd tells me that it is part of the culture of most cities, but he has to remember that I am not a city girl and I prefer to drive my car where I can listen to my songs and not have someone pressed up right against me as I hold on for dear life to the pole!

Anyway, we had a good time in downtown SP and found a lot to see and do during our day!