From Spook to Spell

The first thing I noticed about São Paulo was a brown odor that hit my nose. It was on our way from the airport into town, and even out in the suburbs the smell penetrated obnoxiously into the car. It was a smell that escaped from the city's canalization, that was emitted from ill-reeking gutters under layers of garbage, that lingered in the air in every minute corner of this place. It was the smell of fifteen million people who dwelled far too closely together.

Where had we come? This seemed like a place where you get either born into or stuck for some lamentable reason. Little did I know at that time what this place would hold in store for me, what surprises I should find amongst and behind its abominable facade.

At second glance, São Paulo appealed much to my curiosity. I found it an interesting place. At this time, I started to realize a thousand little details, probably since there was so little else to see.  I was fascinated by the city's peculiar system of unwritten rules and obscure laws. It is subject to a never-ending evolution of what goes. See for example the self-proclaimed parking guards who look after your car every time you leave it somewhere in the street. The viability of their profession is based on what they would do to your car if you did not pay. Which you do not want to know, which is why you pay. Or see São Paulo's unofficial second currency, unused bus tickets that are issued to employees according to the legislation. On the street, you can buy almost anything with them.

Of course, I experienced setbacks. One day, we wanted to drive from São Paulo to Rio de Janeiro in a rented car. To cut it short, it was devastating! After two hours, we were exactly where we had started. City, everywhere nothing but city! We just could not find the way out of São Paulo! Two gringos in a rental car lost in the urban jungle. Relentless urban traffic, sometimes on highways, sometimes on dirt roads, between intimidating freight liners and shaky wheelbarrows. The endless expanse of concrete stretched until the gray horizon. It took us another hour until we where on the right way.

One habit I soon adopted was to lock the car doors at all times. The probability of surviving (an assault) because you have locked them is much higher than surviving (an accident) because you leave them open. And when driving at night, you don't stop at red lights. Even the police support this behavior because it reduces crime significantly.

And the city faces a set of severe challenges, with pollution and poverty being the two most prominent. Poverty in São Paulo is different from poverty in many other places because it is more severe. Most evident are the far reaching favela neighbourhoods, some of which are built on concrete, while most are just raw wood constructs, some of which have access to electricity while others don't. Every morning we passed by a few sheds under a highway bridge. A family lived there, maybe two, right besides the constant highway traffic. Their laundry was left to dry by the side of the road. When we returned to São Paulo a month later, the spot had been cleared.

Beggars are also a common occurance in São Paulo. And I cannot blame them: If I had nothing to bite, I would probably do the same. However, beggars in São Paulo are again different. Their poor state is often so striking that the image of their plight will stick for quite some time afterwards. It certainly did so in my case when I saw the pauper who had neither arms nor legs, begging on the Avenida Paulista, São Paulo's main avenue.

I needed to come back and it took me several months. But in the end São Paulo, has taught me the most about cities. There are times now when I think that every city is ugly. That each city is nothing more than a field of concrete and steel, stone and glass, probably not unlike an ant pile when viewed from due distance. Architect's delight that stands alone at night, surrounded by miles of urban sprawl. But this is the beauty of São Paulo: That it does not try to hide this fact, as do so many other cities. São Paulo is an honest city. This city is no beauty, yet it has much to offer. Cities are made for people to live in, and this is secret about São Paulo, that it is all about the people. Some cities impress by esthetics and do so for the sake of esthetics alone. There are these cities where I could venture for the sake of being in that place alone, even if I did not meet anybody there at all. Not so in São Paulo: If you want to understand São Paulo, you must not start with its sceleton of concrete and steel, but you must start with the people. 

Where there live many people as closely together as in São Paulo, they tend to rob the environment of its secrets. Instead then, the people will carry these stolen secrets within themselves. Such is São Paulo: Any traveler who will try to comprehend it without starting with the people will be disappointed. And any traveler who will be lucky enough to get to know the Paulistas, as the inhabitants are nicknamed, will likely be very much impressed by their openess and friendliness, by their energy, joy and spirit. And then he has come to know the true São Paulo, the São Paulo of the people. Then only will he see that São Paulo is actually one of the most beautiful places on earth...