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I only spent one day in Sao Paolo, since I wanted to spend more time in USA. In my opinion, one day was enough, and I felt happy seeing what I did. I got to the airport at 8am, after 4 hours on the plane and no sleep. I took the bus into 'town' (town consists of various areas).
The lady at the information desk at the airport suggested that I visit Paulista. A nice leafy area, with about a gazillion trendy shops. This was my first stop. In true Silvia style, i misjudged the distances yet again, and walked for kilometer after kilometer to get to the monuments. I walked down the hilly roads with lots of shops, and it was so nice to see such a change after the rest of the trip. Sao Paolo feels like it shouldn't belong to South America. It feels more like I should be in New York (in fact, I heard a few people say that it is just like New York - big city). It is so rich! Everything is so proper ... the traffic lights, the lines on the road ... they even have footpaths, people dress well, there are flower beds, and shops have proper lighting (you know, all those things you forget about after having been to the rest of South America). It's soooo hard to believe that some of the poorest countries in the world are just next door (Bolivia and Paraguay). The centro has nice archtecture, but the vibe still tells you you shouldn't walk there at night. Sao Paolo was supposed to be frightfully dangerous.
From the area with the shops, I made my way to a large park with a couple of lakes. Along the way, I passed what I what I would call the 'plastic surgery street'. There was clinic after clinic advertising nose jobs, boob enlargement, erection problems .... tja.... ok. So I got to the park, and was immediately overwhelmed by the amount of men jogging with their tops off. Hooooochimama. It was nice to see a bit of eye candy. I sat by the lake for about half an hour, just watching the black swans groom themselves, and then go to sleep (with one foot up, and their heads tucked backwards into their wing) - it looked awfully uncomfortable, but I learned something new.
Along the way, I stopped at the Cathedral Methropolitan de Se, with the highest ceilings in any church I've ever seen (perhaps it appears this way because the church is relatively narrow). I took the bus to downtown Sao Paolo, and noticed that the buildings are very close, mainly with different shades of brown, and the city is quite clean! People were standing on the streets, with cloth on the floor, one after the other selling pirated DVDs. There were lots of food places selling food by the kilo, and there were many places selling empanadas (pastries) just like in Peru and Argentina (except here it was called empadas).
The Basilica e mosteiro de Sao Bento was beautiful, but not in the traditional way. It was a mix of all types of styles that didn't necessarily go together, but somehow worked. The archways were painted in stripes, the walls painted with angels, the ceilings divided into boxes and painted individually of saints. The floor was tiled in the shape of diamonds, squares and circles. The alter was very dark.
On a bridge after the basilica, out of nowhere, the chinese connection had gathered to sell just Bokchoy on the bridge. Random. The area after the Basilica seemed to become more seedy. The buildings were old, some were abandoned, there was a lot of grafitti, and people were standing around looking scary. I walked around a little more, and while noticing that people were looking me up and down, I noticed the prostitutes, and when I walked past a gun shop, I sensed the area was bad and made my way out of there quick smart.
ps: I didn't take any pictures here because I forgot my camera in my luggage at the airport.
pps: Pedestrians have absolutely NO rights in all south american countries I have visited.
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Chris
non-member comment
Sao Paulo???
Hard to believe that some of the poorest countries in the world are just next door? You didn't pass the shanty (favela) part of town then.