Sao Paulo Part 2

Things I knew about Sao Paulo before I started doing research for our trip:


- It’s big. (Though I never could have truly conceived how big.)
- It’s polluted.
- It’s quite a dangerous city (for some people), being one of the kidnapping capitals of the world.
- If you’re driving at night you don’t stop at red lights unless there are other cars going through the intersection. (To avoid car-jacking and kidnapping.)


Most of those bits of information, I gained from watching a Manda Bala, a movie about kidnapping in Sao Paulo. Naturally the movie offers a pretty grim outlook on life in Sao Paulo. There were interviews with kidnappers, some guy who took emergency driver’s education in case he was faced with a car-jacking situation, and kidnapees and there were gruesome descriptions of ear amputations. Being naturally optimistic I figured most kidnappings are directed at wealthy Paulista families and since we were dressed like travelling bums, no need to worry. I also didn’t mention to my wife that we were more likely to be kidnapped during those few days in Sao Paulo than at any point in the rest of our lives.


Things I learned during our short stay in Sao Paulo:


- It’s built on hills. My god, so many hills.
- There are lots of very, very rich people there.
- There are a lot of (originally) Japanese people in the city.
- The air pollution was not that bad (but I wouldn’t want to be breathing it every day I guess).
- It’s not the most fun place to visit but I think living there would have a lot of potential.
- The subway system is awesome.


After our incredible journey into town we found ourselves in the Jardins district. I specifically chose a place in this area because it was supposed to be the safest, swankiest area of the city, a good place to ease ourselves into travelling and hopefully not get mugged in our dazed, post-flight state. Well, even with guidebook descriptions, I did not expect Jardins to be as elite as it is. It is basically like the Champs-Elysees area of Paris, with absurdly expensive designer boutiques, luxury apartments, and a whole bunch of sushi restaurants.

(Courtesy of Panoramio.)

The Armani store had three well-armed, tuxedoed private security men (and more inside) leaning against the entrance. Ditto for most other high end shops. All the residence buildings have multiple guards and double sets of gates (first one has to close before the second one will open). Men and women of obvious wealth flash expensive cameras and wallets filled with large bills. Every other car costs more than a lot of Paulistas will make in their lifetimes.