Work, Shop, and Food-a-holic Sao Paulo

The very first morning in Brazil was like most mornings in life. For Steph it meant sleep and for me it meant coffee. She went for a nap and I went straight to the local diner on the corner for a cafezinho which was to become one of my favorite rituals in this country.

Before industrialisation, it was coffee that built this city into the magalopolis it is today. And what could be easier than sliding up at the lancheonette on every corner right next to the humongous metal coffee tank. Before you can even try to ask properly, a steaming hot glass of coffee is supplied with several sweetening options on the side – Brazillians seem to love their sugar. I decided to do a little research from the counter with our two guidebooks. Their would be little time to mess around in the mere week we left ourselves to see one of the world's largest and most diverse country.

What I had read was a little intimidating. An introduction to Sao Paulo read like a list rattling-off records that the mammoth city has eclipsed. Firstly, the 29 million people who live here are only overshadowed by Tokyo. You name it and the Paulistanos probably have the most of them in Sao Paulo. The city is also defined by it's physical size - three times bigger than Paris and growing every day. Everything is enormous.

I'm willing to bet that your first impression will be none too charming on the way into town. You might be met with the world's longest stretches of snarled-up traffic (São Paulo redefines rush hour). Otherwise you will soon be greeted by the endless forest of grey tower blocks across the Blade Runner city-centre. I had read that this may be the ugliest, most dangerous city I'll ever love. What Sao Paulo lacked in physical charm, it was about to make up in flair.

The Mercado downtown - We were staying out in Vila Madelena the city's arty quarter, which is both a bit more leafy and completely safe to walk around. São Paulo does have its share of crime, but unlike Rio the worst of it takes place far out from the centre of town.

There were many reasons for our short stay but I won't go into those now. Steph also had a reason to be tired since our 1am departure to Brazil was delayed until 3am giving us a lot of terminal time in the small hours of the night. When she returned to the world of the living, we headed directly downtown on the metro for a bite to eat at the Mercado Municipal before walking around the old city centre. I asked a man on the platform if we were taking the right connecting train. We then got not only his help, his life story, but also an insistance that if we ever needed any help in Brazil, to call him. This experience (in our first Brazilian hour on the street) was not a one-off at all. It was to happen regularly during a week of warmth and incredible friendliness.

Sao Paulo turned out to be a city is filled with energy and sophistication. The Mercado Municipal blew my expectations away. This was no grimy street market or crumbling market hall. It was a pristine, clean and grand old Victorian building filled with Italian wine, meat and cheese shops. We were here in search of one thing only - Sao Paolo's famous mortadella sandwich! This towering masterpiece of hot meat is the official sandwich of the city. And the terrace of Hocca Bar overlooking the market hall was the perfect place to begin our whirlwind tour of this country. The sandwich melted in our mouths almost as fast as it arrived. Some waitors reckon this cafe constructs up to 1500 of them each Saturday.

Bellissima - piled high with sun-dried tomatoes, oregano, sweet peppers marinated in garlic, and provolone melted between meat layers. The Italians emigrated to Brazil to follow work in the coffee trade. It turns out the Japanese also came in large numbers. After a special arrangement between the two governments, there came to be more Japanese here in Sao Paulo than anywhere outside Japan.

We went to walk off our snack around the Luz quarter to the north. This was once the grandest of all neighborhoods in Sao Paulo. The dual railway stations around a pristine park square then slipped into a red light slum. Today it is just now beginning to regain it's elegance.

“Play me, I'm yours” - The old Luz Train Station greeted us with the sounds of it's centrepiece - a public grand piano that invites anyone to play.

Next we popped into Bar Leo where I heard we could learn how a Brazillian will masterfully pour a chopp glass of beer (pronounced shopee). The objective is to create as much moose (foam) as possible in the glass - a concept that is pretty much opposite to what Americans and English strive for.

Another cafe to try a chopp was the institution that is the Bar Brahma. As everyone will tell you, this is where Caetano Veloso's soulful song “Sampa” starts out. Legend has it that he wrote it from the huge corner terrace outside. We sat inside for warmth to get our first dose of dark Brazilian beer and MPB (Música Popular Brasileira - literally, Brazilian Popular Music).

The next day again started out with advice from our hostel owner and a true gentleman giving us directions when we were totally lost. Both people were so friendly that I think it would be considered stalkerish anywhere else. I had been told about people's passion to be friendly, and that in Sao Paulo this is even more true since it is such a large city that attracts relatively low number of tourists, compared to say Rio.

Now let me then tell you about my favourite place to visit in Sao Paulo. I can only describe The Museu do Futebol as the louvre of sport, built only last year inside the municipal stadium. Whoever dreamt up this interactive shrine to the beautiful game was an absolute genius. It's design led you through the legends of Brazilian football, who are projected in holograms like Greek gods, through chambers underneath the cement stands of the stadio that echoed with chants from the crowd. World Cup history is documented meticulously year by year as well as visual displays of every aspect of how the game is played. There was even a penalty simulator that also measured the strength in mph of your shot - I got up to 97 kph while Steph peaked at 68.

Brazilian football is the best reminder of why this is known as the beautiful game. I didn't realize that soccer legend Pele was also Brazil’s first black government minister.

We now had to rush off to meet, Vinicius, a Brazilian I had met in a hostel in Argentina, who wanted to take us to lunch. True to form – we got lost again and showed up late. Brazilians do talk about “pontualidade britânica” (British punctuality), but luckily for us turning up 20min late is the norm and traffic is usually the excuse. Vinicius had just arrived to pick us up anyway (due to legitimate traffic) and drove us to lunch to introduce his country famous beans. Now I vividly remembered how passionate Vinicius was about Feijoada and would not stop talking about them a few months ago in Argentina. Any beans that could arise this amount of enthusiasm had to be tried. It was great to know a local friend and fellow traveller. But here Vinicious was in his element as a true Paulistano ambassador who took great pride in entertaining us as his guests.

Feijoada - pork stew served with rice and beans. The national dish is served buffet style on Wednesdays across the city while Brazilian families also cook it up at home or their Saturday lunch.

Then came an afternoon of very successful shopping in Jardins (the Avenue Montaigne or 5^th Avenue of Brazil). The neighborhood is not afraid to show of it's bling as the rich and beautiful strut their stuff. Some boutiques are so exclusive that customers even arrive by helicopter. Steph picked up a knockout dress and I opened the floodgates to buying flip flops from the Havaianas shop, I've heard their third quarter earnings were some kind of record).

Custom build your own flip flops in this brand new 3000 square meter headquarters for Brazil's rags-to-riches sandal.

This city reminds me only of New York when it comes to the pace of museums-dining-shopping. No sooner than we could catch our breaths back at the hostel were we due at one of the best pizza restaurants in town. Finding a good restaurant by the way is like finding hay in a haystack or sand at the breach. Tonight we were to meet our friends Kirsten and Dan who incidentally just moved to Sao Paulo to teach at the international school. We learned that their expat arrangement came with incredible benefits, notably a highrise apartment with a pool terrace. Dinner was a chess match trying to extract one another's exciting stories. It was so wonderful to see them.

Let me also tell you something about the pizza in Sao Paolo. Forget the national bean dish. This is by far the favorite food in the city, and it is taken extremely seriously. Apparently there are 6,000 pizzerias that combine to make over 1 million pizzas each and every day. Our restaurant, Braz, is responsible for up to 800 each Sunday night, not to mention the 1000+ that they deliver. I know this is one of the biggest cities in the world, and there is the largest Italian population in South America, but how could they possibly eat that much daily? When I put this question to Vinicius at lunch, he simply shrugged and professed his love for a food that he does indeed eat almost every day.

Today was a sneak peak of what how this was not going to be a cheap place, but the quality would be outstanding. I desperately wanted to stay another day in Sao Paulo but my conscience told me to give the rest of the country a chance. Next time we will take a spin around the Interlagos F1 track (when we can afford it). We still must see the city from the top of the Edifício Itália‎ and the green masse that is Ibirapuera park, Oscar Niemeyer's modernist answer to central park. We return with enough time to hit the nearby Bonete beach - one of Brazil's finest. And I just know we will be back to take another heavy dose of what Sao Paulo does best: museums/shopping/pizzeria/chopp.