My ticket to see Lollapalooza in Brazil took my travels to a town just outside of São Paulo called Bragança. When I was in Brazil with my best friend for the World Cup I was introduced to Vanessa, who took us out for dinner and drinks one night in São Paulo. We have been in contact ever since then and she very kindly offered to have me stay at her house.

Van picked me up from the airport with her Mum and friend on Thursday and it didn’t take long for me to experience their kindness and generosity. Not long after putting my bags down at their house I was being fed a home cooked meal and my clothes were being washed!

The weekend was spent at the Autodromo de Interlagos for Lollapalooza. I was here to see Jack White again who was headlining the festival on Saturday. I went with Van’s friend Marina, her cousin and his fiancée, who again were amazingly nice people. We grabbed a few beers (called 'chopp' in Brasil) and sat down to see Kasabian, then went and picked a good spot for Robert Plant and Jack White. Needless to say Jack’s performance was again amazing, and I really enjoyed seeing his show at a festival, which did had a lot more atmosphere to it than the smaller side shows. At night we needed a place nearby to stay, so we settled on a cheap motel. It did the job, but I spent most of the night sweating and swatting mosquitos.

Sunday we met up with more of Vanessa’s friends and saw a bunch of great bands - Interpol, The Kooks, Foster The People, Calvin Harris and The Smashing Pumpkins. One of the cool things about Lollapalooza was the “Chef Stage” they had, where famous chefs from around Brazil had stalls selling interesting food - I tried a Donut Hamburger and some Tapioca cubes, both of which were really tasty. It was an absolute nightmare to get home that night - we waited for over an hour in the rain to get a taxi back to Marina’s, then Vanessa picked me up at about 1AM to take us back to her place.

The rest of my time here was spent hanging out with Vanessa, her brother Gustavo and their parents. My search for the best coffee in each city continued, so this time I dragged Vanessa to a place called The Coffee Lab in the Pinheiros district of São Paulo. I splurged on a coffee tasting ritual which involved 3 different types of pour over coffee from around Brazil. They were all superb coffees. We tried a Japanese restaurant in Liberdade (a big Japanese district) for dinner, and although the menu was confusing, we had a nice meal.

I had such a great time in Bragança, and Vanessa and her family really made it feel like a home away from home for me. I never once felt hungry in my whole time at their place - I was constantly being fed amazing Brazilian food and going back for more. Unfortunately it was time to leave but I’ll never forget this place, the friends I made and the memories that were shared.