When South Africans think of visiting Brazil, we tend to often imagine only Rio and not Sao Paulo. And yet Sao Paulo is an incredible city, the largest and richest in the southern hemisphere and the 10th richest in the world.
Its economy alone is greater than Israel's. And it has as much to offer as any other great city, if not more, and with its own special Brazilian flavour.
I was there on a short visit to see a friend, a Paulistana, as people from the city call themselves. Ten days proved to be just long enough to get a taste of the city, and left me eager to return.
Sao Paulo's sheer size is daunting at first. It has the third-highest number of tall buildings in the world, after Hong Kong and New York. There are between 11 and 17 million inhabitants, depending on where you wish to draw the boundaries. And yet on the streets this vast city does not feel like a crowded concrete jungle, Big Apple style. Instead it is clean and green, spacious and slick.
The first port of call is the main avenue, aptly named Avenue Paulista. On this wide street you will see architectural marvels in all directions. Don't miss the incredible Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), said to be the largest suspended concrete structure in the world.
Near the museum, a section of the avenue spans a bridge over a wide walking avenue, with trees and lawns, which in turn is built over a six-lane road tunnel hundreds of metres long, and yet totally hidden from sight.
Brazilian engineers have to be admired for this and other structures, such as their latest marvel, the Estalada Bridge. Sorry to gush, but it makes Joburg's Mandela bridge look a little tiny. The Estaiada's main structure is a giant X shape, 138m high (about 20 storeys). Its steel wires carry double-lane highways that curve in two different directions, a world first. This is Sao Paulo's Eiffel Tower, and at night it is a beacon, lit up in neon colours.
And on the subject of roads, what about the traffic? Sao Paulo has a reputation of suffocation by endless traffic jams, and, yes, the traffic is bad and the drivers are incredibly reckless. They all drive like our taxi drivers, or maybe like racing car drivers. They do have an Ayrton Senna highway.
This is boom town, and the cars are new. In May, city officials had announced that since January, Paulistanos had purchased one million new vehicles. Not good for pollution, but about half these cars drive on sugar cane-based fuel, which is cleaner (and half the price of petrol). There's also been a big switch to LPG gas power for many of the larger buses and trucks, which cuts out diesel smog.
Sao Paulo also has fantastic public transport. There's a large and smart underground, not as big as London's, yet, but much cleaner. Above ground are about 17 000 buses driving in dedicated lanes. Some are articulated - different carriages attached together to make a train of up to three buses long.
But what about the people? South Africans claim to be the rainbow nation, but Brazil might be able to steal the title from us. Sao Paulo was founded way back in 1552, and since then populations have settled here from all over the world. In close proportions are Italians, Portuguese, Africans, Latinos and Arabs, and not far behind are Germans, Chinese and the largest Japanese group outside Japan, followed by Greeks, French and others. People definitely don't try to put people in race groups here. The only discriminating factor is wealth, and Sao Paulo has lots of that. For instance, looking in one of the 34 daily newspapers, you'll easily find new apartments going for six or seven million reals (R30 million).
And it seems some of the rich don't have to worry about traffic. Sao Paulo has the largest helicopter fleet in the world, necessary for hopping businessmen from building to building. And interestingly, there's even a fleet run entirely by women, with women pilots. It's worth it to visit the famous Italian Building, Edifico Italia. From the top-storey restaurant and look-out area, you'll get a bird's-eye view of the city.
If the buildings seem a little overwhelming, don't despair, there are great parks, and the best is Ibirapuera Park, Sao Paulo's version of Hyde Park. It's large enough to make you forget you're in a city, with many attractions such as fields, running tracks and a lake, as well as a massive fountain that's sometimes a setting for symphony concerts and lighting displays. The park is renowned for the many architectural wonders of Oscar Niemeyer: interesting overhead concrete pavilions, several museums and a planetarium too.
Don't miss the Vila Madalena District. It's the Melville of the city, artistic and colourful, with hilly streets and quaint small buildings painted in garish but beautiful Latin tones, fashion stores, art collectables and numerous bars of all description that stay open until the wee hours. Don't worry about finding parking here at night - there are valet
services that whisk your car away and bring it back for a modest fee.
Sao Paulo's residents are spoilt for choice with great restaurants and a huge range of food styles to choose from. They take their food seriously here and, in fact, its cuisine is one of Sao Paulo's claims to fame. On any given day somewhere in the city streets will be an outdoor market, selling fresh fruit and veg, many of which I'd never seen before and can't name.
At the markets you can try pastells. This is fried pastry filled with melted cheese and heart of palm, or broccolli, or tomato, or any of about 20 different options. Wash it down with a cup of fresh sugar cane juice - a stick of raw sugar cane, stuffed into a crusher, and 10 seconds later, voilà, delicious fresh juice. There is also a main food market in town, the Mercado Municipal, just near the famous March 25 Street. This market is open all week and it's spotlessly clean, not a cabbage leaf on the floor, nor a rotten tomato in sight.
Paulistanos are soccer crazy. One evening I heard screams and yells coming from outside. Rushing out to look, I realised a game was on TV. A local team had almost scored a goal, and the supporters were hanging off the balconies, some in underwear, screaming, yelling and dropping fire crackers. And 10 minutes later the spectacle was repeated with another near goal. It went on for a few hours, until the game was over and fireworks began exploding across the city skyline.
In May there was a frenzy about collecting soccer stickers. In the evening, the local mall was filled with people of all ages swapping soccer cards. Caught up in the whirl, I bought a sticker book from Ivan, a newsagent. Cars were pulling up at 11pm, drivers shouting "give me more stickers please" out their windows. Then, the craziest thing, somebody robbed Ivan, a gun to the head, for five boxes of stickers, and nothing else! TV crews descended to cover the incident and Ivan became famous for a day.
Apart from the sticker incident, I heard little about crime in the city, and apparently Sao Paulo experiences much less than Rio. I didn't see huge favellas - with Brazil's booming economy (6.3 percent growth), many have been changed up. I was in an area called Brooklin, part financial district, part suburbia, built up like Sea Point on steroids, and with zero grime. It seemed safe to walk at night, the streets busy with Paulistanos walking their dogs - they're dog crazy here.
On weekends many like to get out of town. There are great beaches just a hundred kilometres away. Directly south is Santos, and from there to Rio is about 500km of beaches - white sands, palm trees and seawater that is 25ºC. And they serve alcohol on the beach, like the famous caipirinha, the national cocktail of Brazil, of which there are at least 25 varieties, to other delicious drinks like the batida de coco with coconut juice, condensed milk and vodka.
Beach culture is big, and the bikinis are tiny. I bought one for a friend but she was horrified that the rear was the same size as the front. These bikinis are worn by every woman, no matter their shape, age or size. Everyone is respected.
The most interesting fact is that Sao Paulo, with Rio, are our closest overseas cities. Forget London or Paris, this is the megapolis we should be focusing on, trading with, and visiting for short holidays. It's crazy that for Capetonians it should be just a seven-hour flight away, but SAA flies there via Joburg, adding another five hours to the trip. I hope this will change before I go back, which should be soon. See you there!
Ten things to do
- Listen to Vanessa de Mata, sultry princess of Brazilian pop.
- See St Paul's Cathedral and Se Square.
- Taste a fried pastell at a fresh food market.
- Visit the fascinating second-hand goods market on Saturday morning in the Vila Madalena District.
- Take a trip to Maresias, a beautiful coastal resort village 150km to the west.
- Dance at some of the largest of Brazil's carnival parades in February.
- Or join 1.5 million others at the Gay Pride Parade in June.
- See the city, and the Copan Building next door, from the top of the Edifico Itália (The Italian Building).
- Eat sushi in the street on Saturday in the Liberdade district.
- Watch equestarian events at the famous Jockey Club.
- Jackson is a freelance travel writer and filmmaker. E-mail [email protected] or visit www.jacksonfilm.