The beauty of imperfection

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On Thursday night (3rd November) I went out to dinner at a typical Brazilian pub with Bira's family and the German Contingent ("GC")

Steffi, a friend of Catrin's from Germany with whom I became acquainted when she was living in Melbourne, was amongst the GC. I have much admiration and respect for Steffi due to the fact that although she has a hearing disability her command of the English language is so superb that I originally mistook her as being a native Australian! She has a beautiful nature and is one of the most interesting people I have met. Steffi and I shared our thoughts about São Paulo and she told me that she didn't think that São Paulo was exactly the most beautiful city on earth! I am sure that many visitors to this huge metropolis would agree with her.

This simple comment of Steffi's is completely contrary to my own thoughts about the "beauty" of this city.

When you drive along the Avenidas and Ruas, dense with vehicles driven by subscribers to the anything goes anarchic São Paulo traffic management policy, you pass by favelas (the infamous slums of Brasil) and manufacturing plants, gated middle class residences, schools and putrid smelling rivers full of raw sewage.

I see the beauty in this city's imperfections - the rich terracotta colour of the tijolo bahianos (a type of cheap brick used in construction) roughly mortared together to create a shanty dwelling; the unique style of graffiti covering any available upright flat surface; the pot holed motorways. And all this interspersed with lush tropical greenery with an occasional show of a yellow or pink flower.

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