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São Paulo
28/01/09 - 29/01/09
We were woken up from the night bus journey at 6.30am and it only feels as if I fell asleep less than an hour ago. As we drag our cases weary eyed into the second biggest bus station in the world, which looks pretty much like an airport, it starts to become evident why this is the 3rd biggest city in the world. Imagine London, with three times more people and 25 degrees hotter at 7.30am!!!! There is a stark contrast between Paraty, a chilled out tourist area originally occupied by fisherman which we left less than 6 hours ago and the enormous skyscrapers which dominate the Sao Paulo skyline and the city hustle and bustle that goes with it.
After Rina knocked over most Brazilian city commuters on the tube, the bonus is that we have checked into an Ibis for the evening in one of the most upmarket areas in the city…I know its only an Ibis, but that's an unaffordable luxury for a couple of backpackers.
We weren't particularly looking forward to our visit to Sao Paulo after it received a lot of bad mouthing from fellow travellers. However after spending two days here it just comes too show that one should form there own opinions and take those of others with a pinch of salt. We stayed on Avenida Paulista which is very much the business district of the city. In context with everything else Sao Paulo, the avenue is colossal, probably 2-3 miles long and almost everyone here is dressed in business attire, the people look far more European compared to Rio and Paraty, perhaps influenced by Italian and German roots. Perhaps it is this that has made us feel far safer here than we did in Rio.
The city is very cosmopolitan, the avenue we are staying on has numerous shopping malls that are heavily influenced by the US and Europe and you can tell from the standards of the shops that there are some extremely wealthy people around, not to mention the hundreds of helicopters that pass over our heads. The city also boasts the biggest Japanese population outside of Japan, so we didn't even need to discuss where we should eat whilst in Sao Paulo!!!
Following an ordeal to view the city from a birds eye view, which I wont bore you with the details of, we eventually found a pretty good vantage point from a restaurant in a building called Edifico Itilaia. Whilst at street level in certain areas of the Sao Paulo it feels as if you could be in any of the major city in the world, New York, Paris or London…...however from this building it is apparent where we are. The only way I can think to describe the place is a concrete jungle, it just seems to go on and on and on. Although big is not necessarily beautiful, as the layout of the buildings is sporadic and many of which are dirty looking.
One thing that has been hard to come too terms of on this leg of the Brazilian tour is the organisation and efficiency of the City. For example some of the tube stations are bigger than most UK airports, yet they run like clock work which seems impossible when you think it has a population of over 20 million (Boris needs to take a trip to Brazil)!!
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