A brief visit to Sâo Paulo - Brazil

After traveling 40 days through various regions of Brazil (if you like you can read the previous posts on my blog), the city of Sâo Paulo was the last destination I visited in this country before returning home.

My time in Sâo Paulo was brief, I spent two nights there and I only had a whole day to visit some points of this huge and active city. The truth is that since the flight back to my country started from there and I couldn't extend the trip any further, I hardly gave this city a chance.

I arrived at night, the bus that brought me from Paraty, a coastal city in the state of Rio de Janeiro, arrived at the Sâo Paulo terminal called Tietê at around 7:00 pm. I took my heavy backpack and among a lot of people I looked for some information point to ask how to get to Praça da República, since nearby there was the Hostel where I was going to stay. Fortunately I got one and in addition to explaining me they gave me a map of the city and the subway stations.

I went with the crowd through a corridor of the bus terminal that led to the subway station, I looked at the map to locate the República station, which is where I should get off, luckily I didn't get lost hehehe, thank goodness because it was already night and my backpack weighed a lot ...

Finally I came to the surface in Praça da República, where the atmosphere was a bit strange, I don't know, I stopped for a while to discreetly look at the map and see if I could find which street I was on since the Hostel was close, but I observed that there were strange people there, who saw me from the other side. Maybe as I was walking with that backpack I caught their attention, the truth is that since it was already dark I did not feel very safe and I saw some taxis in front and asked how much it was for me to take me to the accommodation, about four blocks from there according to the map. It was not expensive, the man told me that he was close, I went up and told him of my intention to go walking and immediately he said to me: "não, você vai chegar lá pelada" (no, you're going to get there naked), that is, that they could take everything from me ... I laughed because the taxi driver said it in a very funny way, but he was right, it was better to avoid walking around at that time in a place that I didn't know and with that big backpack on top of me.

At the hostel, after eating and bathing, I began to plan where I would go the next day, the only day I had to get to know this enormous city a little, to take away even an impression.

In the morning everything seemed different to me, the city was more friendly. I followed the lyrics of the song "Sampa" by Caetano Veloso, since I realized that my Hostel was close to Av. Sâo Joao, so I walked to the intersection with Av. Ipiranga to get to the subway in Praça da República.

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The first chorus of the song Sampa:

Alguma coisa acontece no meu coração

Que só quando cruza a Ipiranga e Av. São João

É que quando eu cheguei por aqui eu nada entendi

Da dura poesia concreta de tuas esquinas

Da deselegância discreta de tuas meninas

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My plan for the day was to visit Ibirapuera Park, Av. Paulista and some other area that would give me time in those surroundings.

From República station I went to Vila Mariana and when leaving the subway, although it was not very close, I walked down a long avenue to Ibirapuera Park. I like to walk long distances, in this way I consider that you manage to know the places better.

The Ibirapuera Park is the largest green area in the center of Sâo Paulo with its 2 square km of extension and also has other attractions for visitors, such as its museums: Modern Art, the Afro-Brazil Museum and the Museum of Contemporary art. It also houses the Ibirapuera Auditorium, a beautiful architectural work by the famous Oscar Niemeyer, and the building where the Sâo Paulo Biennial is held, one of the most important art events in the world. It has beautiful wooded areas, lakes, a nursery garden and even "forests for reading".

I share some photos I took on this tour:

One of the park's lakes

The Afro-Brazil Museum building

Planetarium

Ibirapuera Park is the green lung of Sâo Paulo

Forests for reading

Ibirapuera Auditorium

Exhibition palace, better known as OCA

Me, feeling at the entrance of a spaceship

At noon I went to visit Av. Paulista, the main artery of Sampa, as this city is also called. There is everything there, shops, restaurants, theaters, cultural centers, lots of tall buildings... it is the most dynamic street in this huge city.

Photo: Sâo Paulo Museum of Art (MASP) in Av. Paulista (Paulista avenue)

More than 12 million people live here, it is the most inhabited, richest region with the most important industries in Brazil. The negative: it suffers from a lot of vehicular traffic and many social inequalities, you know, typical of the great metropolis.

Photo: Paulista Avenue

In the past, at the beginning of the 19th century it became a great coffee producer, which exported to the whole world, but already at the beginning of the 20th century, coffee prices fell worldwide and Sâo Paulo had to diversify its economy, thus little by little became the main industrial engine of the country. Currently, as I read, this state contributes more than 30% to the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of Brazil.

I was wandering around until around six in the afternoon through this megalopolis, I returned early to the Hostel because I had to organize my backpack for the trip back home the next day from Guarulhos airport.

Photo: A subway station

It is true that visually Sâo Paulo did not seem very pretty to me, but I hardly knew it, so I will have to give this place another chance.

THANK YOU FOR READING!

All the photos were made by me

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