sao luis is the capital of maranhao. it is a strange city: beautiful architecture, very trendy bars and a couple of streets, but otherwise very poor. it reminds me of cuba, havana. i spent about a week here and discovered that is has THE nightlife of the north. for some reason it is brasil's raggae capital - our own raggae as well as the imported kind. and here every night is party night. the clubs are fantastic - outdoor patios where people rotate around in giant circles, picking up and leading onto the centre where they dance and drink. i met some really cool people here, and think drank more than anywhere else in the north - theres little else to do :).