Sean's Motorcycle Journey: High School Reunion in São Paulo

In Florianapolis, we met up with a couple from Western Canada, Pete and Carol. I had met the couple in Buenos Aires, while my motorcycle was getting worked on. They are very experience travelers, who have already ridden around the world once, and now are going from Alaska to Ushuaia and back. We decided to ride north together and ended up in Morretes, just outside of Curatiba, along the river. It was a very nice little town, with an old railway that passes through the jungle filled with birds and flowers.

Pete and Carol on the way to Morretes.

The river through Morretes, outside of Curatiba.

Pretty flowers with an amazing fragrence.

The next morning, we left Morretes early and the road led us through a national forrest filled where the hightway was built from cobble stone, which bended around mountain sides through forrest filled with waterfalls and giant blue butterflies. As we left heaven and moved onto the interstate, we split up from Pete and Carol, because they were not interested in São Paulo, and decided to meet up with them in three days. So Ted, Christi and I headed towards the big city on a hunt to see an old high school sweetheart.

Cobble stone highway through a national park.

We made it into Embu, on the outskirts of São Paulo, early in the afternoon this past Wednesday and enjoyed the outdoor market filled with artisans and craftsmen. We enjoyed coffee and cake as we waited for my good friend Pati (pronounced Pátchee) from senior year in high school, and her husband Edwardo, to get off from work and meet us. It was interesting, because it has been eight years since I last saw Pati, and I was not quite sure what she looked like. However, when she stepped out from the car it hit me, and senior year memories came back to me. They live in Baueri, and so we followed them with our bikes to their upscale apartment just outside the city.
São Paulo was fantastic. Pati´s sister, who also spent a year at Hutchinson high, gave us a city tour and took us out for a wonderful vegetarian lunch. Pati works at a not-for-profit agency in São Paulo that works with teachers in the public education system, Edwardo (aka Dudu) works for his father´s tomato sauce company (and he really loves tomatoes), and Pati´s sister Barbara is an actress in an underground theater company downtown.
We visited Pati´s work, toured an art gallery and enjoyed São Paulo´s famous espresso. It was a wonderful, but short trip to a great city, with a wonderful reunion.