Sampa

A modest piece of São Paulo city

São Paulo is the Brasil the world is unaware of. Lovely called Sampa by its inhabitants, it doesn't have the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, nor has it the blue blue sky of Salvador de Bahia in the north, nor that sort of 'Europeaness' of certain cities in the south. São Paulo is a huge, enormous and almost monstruous metropolis...and being the economic-financial heart of Brazil, it attracts a special kind of turist: the business man. Believe or not, it is almost hard to find postcards in São Paulo!

Paulistanos are very proud of their city. According to a local saying, Brasilia is the head of the country, São Paulo is the heart, whereas Rio de Janeiro is the penis. Funny, uh?! Sure Rio is represented as such for the body's worship and the usual show off of suntanned tatooed body along the beaches of the former capital. Paulistanos like to remark how easy it is to recognize a Paulistano in Rio de Janeiro: unlike cariocas, s/he would wear at least a t-shirt. Now, I'm not buying it at all, but I still find such jokes and implicit rivalry way too funny! ...'We work while they just sunbathe!' (guess who is who)...ahahah!!

Afternoon storm on the Avenida Paulista

What I like of São Paulo is that its summer days have four season in one day: like spring in the morning, summer around noon, sort of winter during the punctual afternoon rainstorm, and autumn right after the storm. Lovely. They all know it and that's why Paulistan@s smartly walk around in summer clothes plus umbrella :) 

What I can't possibly like of São Paulo is the driving style of its people. They are completely crazy. And I come from Palermo! They all jump in their cars and immediately lock the doors (the reason being to prevent that someone opens the car and robs you or pulls you out and takes the vehicle. No, it is not some science fiction story). Then they speed up from 1 to 5 in ten seconds, run like crazy and, like in Napoli, they wil decide whether they feel like stopping at the traffic light or not (mainly for the same reason already explained). Let's just take it as local custom.

Overall, we are still discovering the city. Our friends are clearly spoiling us with culinary experiences, churrascos, feijoadas, sushi and so on. Maurice and I keep saying that we are made for good old man-sized Europe, yet we are fascinated and curious to discover what all other capitals and metropolis in South America look like!