The massive metropolis of Sao Paulo

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Arriving in Sao Paulo sure was a challenge. I had been warned about the dangers of the place and after a 10 hour bus that was late, I arrived just as the heavens opened and it was dark. One of the things I love about travel is the spontenaiety of arriving in a new place and having to sort out where to go and what to do. This is usually fun but when it´s pouring outside the fun soon dries up. In the end I had a lovely umbrella seller man holding one over me as I stood on the pavement and tried to wave down a cab. Once I got one, what was to follow was a hilarious half hour of trying to communicate to the lovely lady driver where I was going. We finally reached my hostel and I was greeted at the door by a guy who was the dead ringer for Chris Lilley (an Australian comedian from Channel 2). He was so like him that I was nearly convinced for the first 5 minutes that I had walked into one of his shows and I was looking for a hidden camera. I wouldn´t be surprised if he had created a character who was a hostel worker in Brazil. I have added a picture of him (doing a very Chris Lilley character action) so you an see for yourselves.

Sao Paulo has been a nice surprise. Having heard many stories about the crime here I was expecting the worst but I didn´t notice anything at all that was dodgy. Obviously I was careful but overall the place seemed pretty safe. The metro was especially clean and efficient and the city was alive 24-7. It was loud, raw and very very busy. 20 million people live in Sao Paulo - that´s the entire population of Australia!! The monsterous metropolis sure was intimidating at first and when I visited their tallest building to look over the urban sprawl it was pretty mesmerising.

It´s also where Brazil´s rich live. They are so rich that they don´t even drive themselves around, instead they all own helicopters and get from A to B via the sky. Sao Paulo has more helipads than NYC and as you walk down the street you are constantly drowned out by the sound of them flying overhead. It´s crazy as it seems that there´s more traffic in the sky than on the roads! Unfortunately as an Aussie backpacker I wasn´t likely to meet any of them walking the streets but I did notice many many unbelievably handsome suited Brazilians heading to work since my hostel was near the financial district of Paulista Avenue.

As well as the lack of english, security is another thing I have really noticed about Brazil. Everyone has armoured cars, there are military looking types everywhere and all have guns, the Federal police seem to stop every bus I am on and question all on board and most properties are alarmed and fenced. Drivers late at night in Sao Paulo are now allowed to run red lights because of frequent car jackings. It´s all a little like what I imagine parts of South Africa to be like. However, so far and perhaps I am being ignorant, I am a little confused as to who they are actually protecting themselves from.

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Photos

Sao Paulo
Chris Lilly - the resemblance is uncanny!!!

Sao Paulo
Paulista Avenue - the heart of the financial district

Sao Paulo
The monsterous metropolis

Sao Paulo
On top of the Brazil bank building

Comments

[Mez]

Ahhh...the town planning is astounding

[MA]

Obrigada!
Thanks Ames for adding me to your blog list. I was really fascinated by your description of this great city. I too had heard of the ugly side of Sao P but you painted a inspirational piece to fellow travellers of it being a buzzy, fast, modern, magic city. Tino is absolutely envious as he has always wanted to do SP so you are the next best thing to us being there. Keep safe girl and enjoy. Ume beige, MA

[nkkny1]

I agree
I thought São Paulo was going to be scarier as well! I was expecting the worst on my trip, because all I hear is that it's dangerous, but when I got there, I thought it was beautiful and felt secure in a lot of areas. We definitely did not go into the bad areas. Nice picture from the Bank building!