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Published: March 1st 2012
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A megalopolis. That is the only befitting way to describe the cityscape of São Paulo (
Sampa to the locals). Seen from the air, my mind boggled as I saw the skyscrapers shooting up from the earth with such density that they could not be distinguished from one another. Mexico City is the largest expanse of land I have seen taken over by buildings from the vantage point of an aeroplane, but in terms of skyscrapers, São Paulo surely has no peer. To try and clarify this image, in the week I spent there, I never saw a single house, only skyscrapers and apartment blocks. The business district, intersected by Avenida Paulista, is like walking through a Tetris landscape. This is not to say that I did not enjoy my time there, far from it. I was fortunate enough to be staying with locals and they ensured that I had a fantastic time.
My friends live in the Liberdade district, which is the Japanese enclave within the city. Well, historically it was, but today it is rapidly being inhabited by Chinese immigrants. As a result, the Japanese and Chinese cuisine on offer here is superb. In fact, one restaurant served up
the tastiest noodle dish I have ever eaten, which I saw them make from scratch by hand – noodles and all. One night we ventured to another part of the city and ate at a classy restaurant, with a valet and live jazz! It was certainly a step up from the take-away empanada and ice cream diet I had been living on in Argentina.
Living in the Japanese district also means that karaoke venues are in abundance, normally on the upper floor of a restaurant. George, an American friend of Leo’s who also attended Carnaval with us, is quite a gifted singer and natural showman, so a karaoke night was clearly on the cards when we were seemingly encircled by venues. I had only been to karaoke venues twice before, once when I was an incoherently drunk 18 year old in Melbourne, the second time with a group of university students I had met on a bus in Vietnam (well, not exclusively university students, as there was a 50-something American guy who had met one of the girls on the Internet…I wonder how that all panned out in the end?). After a couple of beers to quell the nerves,
I braved the microphone to assault the eardrums of all present and had an absolute blast rapping Young MC’s ‘Bust A Move’, with George singing the chorus and setting the floor on fire with his dance moves that had the entire audience and host clapping, hooting and hollering.
São Paulo is known as a city with an array of cultural things on offer, with some of the best museums and art collections in South America. A couple that Leo took us to were: the Portuguese Language museum, which I found really interesting, learning its origins and where it has spread to around the globe; and MASP (Museu de Arte de São Paulo), which houses an excellent collection of works from the likes of Renoir, Matisse, Van Gough, Gauguin and El Greco, among others. To my delight, MASP also had a temporary exhibit on Ancient Rome with superb exhibits on loan from museums in Italy. Standing face to face with the likes of masterfully sculpted busts of Julius Caesar and frescos from Pompeii cast my mind back to my visits to the ancient sites in Italy and my nerdy side completely took over and I was utterly engrossed, taking considerably
longer than George and Leo to finish wandering through the exhibit. One thing that reminded me I wasn’t in Australia, England or America at this exhibit was the complete lack of motion sensors that buzz when you get too close, or even ropes. No such thing here. In fact, I even saw young children trying to satisfy their curiosity by touching the 2000 year old sculptures, or playing tag whilst dashing past an oil painting of inconceivable worth. In a way, I found this refreshing.
Some respite from the concrete and glass can be found in a couple of wonderful parks in São Paulo, my favourite of which was Parque Trianon, which is like stepping into a lush rainforest in the middle of the city, albeit with paths paved in the Portuguese black and white style and sculptures in amongst the greenery. It is quite a romantic place and I spotted many couples canoodling and whiling away the time together. I think they were choosing to ignore the large tropical spiders waiting patiently in their webs. The parks in the city have to be closed at nightfall, however, for there is a seedier side to São Paulo that the
local government is doing its best to eradicate. Almost on cue, as Leo was explaining the reasons behind these measures, a thin heroin junkie in her twenties came vacantly stumbling past us, crack pipe resting in the curled fingers of her limp right hand, before absently stepping onto the busy road in an effort to reach the park, which had just been closed. Not thirty minutes later, George spotted a pool of blood in an entrance archway to the restored Luz train station. We followed the trail to where a crowd had gathered around a security official tending to a young woman suffering from horrific injuries, the result of knife wounds. I assume the compound fracture visibly jutting out of her left forearm was the result of falling down unconscious on the concrete from loss of blood and shock. It was a pitiable scene. She was only trying to catch the train home from work. I could not readily clear my head of concerns for this young woman, hoping that she would be okay in the long run.
A visit to Brazil probably would not be complete without a visit to a Havaianas store, which I assume is their
most notable export since the Brazil Wood which gave the country its name. Therefore, to escape the memories of junkies with a penchant for homicide, retail therapy was required. First stop was the Sunday markets at Praça de Liberdade, followed by the vibrant beach colours of a large Havaianas store, selling a variety of products that I never even knew they made. Being half the price of what they charge in Australia (no surprise there), I couldn’t hold back from making my first purchase in three months that wasn’t linked to food, alcohol, accommodation or transport. I wore them straight out of the store and within an hour had stepped on a large piece of sun-softened gum that was more attracted to my foot than the pavement. The next place I’ll be wearing them is on a walk to the beach in Rio!
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