Recently we went to the top of one of the downtown sky scrapers, the city of São Paulo doesn't end, in any direction.
We were honestly kind of awed, when we realized there were mountains in the distance... Who knew? But on careful examination I realized the city crept up them and into the valleys between...
2) Buffets!
In the last few countries we started seeing more and more of the pay by weight buffets. This is an especially good option for a picky-eater and a vegetarian who don't speak the language, but in São Paulo we have run into buffet heaven. At the food court in the local mall there are about 25 restaurants, I'd guess about half are buffets of different styles. Japanese, Middle Eastern, Brazilian, Chinese, Italian, etc. much like many of the Chinese buffets in the US a lot of them offer a little bit of everything. Here is one we ate at in the Japanese neighborhood:
But here is a suggestion, don't get watermelon at a pay by weight buffet.
3) Portuguese
This is not really a language but a series of "sh" sounds added to words randomly.
After being in this country for 5 days I can say honestly that I still don't know how to pronounce a single word properly. In Spanish each letter is pronounced the same everytime, I'm pretty sure Italian is the same, however Portuguese takes liberties on many letters... Like an "São" is pronounced saong with the last few letters sort of implied but not spoken directly. The United States is basically pronounced "doosh eshtadoosh ooneedoosh" anyway I can't help but laugh at most "portugesh."
4) Homeless
With a population of around 12 million in the city limits and 22 million-ish in the metro area, there are bound to be homeless people. But our guide through downtown today told us that there are estimated to be at least 15,000 homeless people in the city (especially the center). Walking to the center isn't recommended at night, the parks, alleys and churches are full of people who have fallen on hard times. Our guide noted hard times... By saying tourists are often surprised by how often the homeless will approach them speaking their (foreign) language.
5) 500 Years of Immigration
The local Tupi-guarani people were set upon by Portuguese colonists, slavers, Jesuits, farmers trying to find land, adventurers in search of fast wealth. The mixture of peoples over the years have shaped Brazil into a multicultural society with strong ties to foreign lands such as Japan and Italy. While in São Paulo we went to two museums honoring the cultural contributions of two groups who came to Brazil under very different circumstances. The first was the Afro Brazilian museum which documented through maps, artififacts, costumes, instruments, art and photos the history of people of African ethnicity in Brazil. The museum showed both the positives like contributions to music and art, carnaval costumes etc, but also the negatives like the history of slavery, displaying chains, pictures and even the wooden frame of an old slave ship. Brazil didn't officially end slavery until 1888 which is ridiculously recent. The Brazilian economy for many years was based on slave labor in agriculture like sugar plantations and rubber collectors, both of which relied heavily on black and native slave labor. But around the time that slavery ended another industry (coffee) was taking off in the south and Japanese immigrants were recruited to meet the labor need. The Japanese immigration museum is located in a neighborhood of São Paulo that is is heavily influenced by Japanese culture and has a huge population of Japanese families still to this day.



The museum highlights the living conditions of the people who emigrated from Japan, how they merged and contributed to Brazilian society. Artifacts and documents show work and life conditions in the jungles, clearing farms and starting business and community organizations.
The contrast between the two museums, the one showing a people kidnapped and forced into slavery vs another of courageous people who willingly adventured to start a new life is extreme. The afromuseum shows an incredible amount of visual evidence, but very little written documentation of afrobrazilian life.
For instance a picture shows how Africans were brought by the hundred chained in rows to the decks of the ships with very little room to even eat or defecate. They had no idea where they were going or what to expect.
The Japanese(a much more recent immigration) have pictures getting on and off the ships, and photo evidence to document the classrooms on the ships in which they learned Portuguese on the ride over.
6) Diversity
São Paulo with it's massive population and history of immigration is the most diverse place I have ever been. People in every shape size and color. The combination of the entire world melting together. It's beautiful honestly. I know a lot is written about how Brazil has conquered the race issue, and a lot is written about how that is bullshit, but as an American who reads every night on Facebook about the continued racial tension in the US, it's really amazing to see a society that SEEMs to have integrated so many differ people so well.
That being said...
7) Or Not?
In one of the wealthiest areas of the city, we saw all of the worlds famous stores (name any high end designer) and the entire mall was full of white people.
If I spoke the language, I'd guess id hear a lot more about the differences, the biases and other inequalities present in Brazil, but as an outsider who doesn't speak the language... It mostly looks beautiful if you don't pay too much attention.
8) wtf?
Mcdonalds doesn't have chicken mcnuggets on their menu?
9) Street Art(see next post- sorry but it may take some time to load the photos).
10) The Christmas Spirit
For me Christmas usually means snow or at least cold weather. Its been about 80-90 degrees here everyday but the Brazilians are out in full swing to celebrate X MAS. Here are a couple of the public displays...