Hello Pinmapplers!
Today the trip is different. We are used to seeing impressive photos of places we would like to go, and we take impressive photos of the places we visit. And then many times we share them, but places may not always be so beautiful, inspiring or simply photogenic at first sight.
There are also other trips, other places that are also worth visiting because they arouse our curiosity or because we are simply there. And during my time in Brazil I visited some of them, of course the beaches and the most popular places, but I was in São Paulo for a while, so I was able to discover something of this immense metropolis in South America, I say something because it is almost endless.
And without wanting to offend anyone, but the reality is what we see and possible, this great city, the largest and most populous in the country, is not the main destination to visit, but on the other hand there are many interesting things and the people are wonderful, that's also to be taken into account right?
Well, this time we are going to discover the “worst” part, which curiously is the downtown of the city, the historical center, because it is neglected and in some parts the sensation it produces is one of strangeness and a certain sadness. Everything is somewhat neglected, in its usual heterogeneous mix of styles and buildings of all kinds.
So we crossed the yellow iron bridge, over the Santa Ifigênia Viaduct, looking towards the horizon, full of a bit of everything, traffic, people, gray buildings on a gray day, because not everything is sunny in those places. But the color is added by the trees and some graffiti that color and brighten up some of those walls.
As if from a city stopped in time, as if its splendor of the 70s and 80s had become stagnant. Because the buildings are tall, the tallest in the country (except one), like the "Mirante do Vale" building, possibly the tallest of all, a huge mass that apparently has good views.
But others also compete, such as the Altino Arantes building or actually known as the Banespa tower. This tower is one of the best-known buildings in this peculiar historic center.
And it is a historic center beyond the middle of the 20th century, because among that amalgamation is the very origin of the city, the São Bento Monastery and Church that I was told was founded by two Spanish religious, from the Canary Islands. That is where our origins come together in some way. And next to it also the Faculty. Everything different from everything in this environment.
We notice the streets crowded with people and life, other details where once again the environment changes its style and nothing stands out because everything is different. But as if it were Cinderella, we realize that time has flown by and from the afternoon life disappears, people disappear, and another somewhat strange appears, and a lot of police too. During nights this is not the best place where to be.
Before going completely away from a curiosity, many years ago there was another building that was the symbol of that sad deterioration. A huge building, the San Vito building, a symbol of the development of the city but which was abandoned, was occupied and home to fugitives and criminals, turned into a kind of vertical favela, until it was decided to demolish it back in 2011. This is a memory.
But we left there to discover the most curious neighborhood in all of São Paulo, its Japanese neighborhood. Suddenly, as if transported back in time, we arrived in Japan, or in the Liberdade ("freedom") neighborhood.
Did you know that outside of Japan, where there are more Japanese together is in São Paulo?
And we can eat a lot of sushi throughout the city, but in this neighborhood everything is really original, starting with the decoration of its streets, with the same physiognomy. The lampposts, the details in red, and the oriental garden, also the shops (even the banks) and the eyes and surnames of many of its inhabitants. And more contrasts, the red with the violet of the flowers of the trees. Once again, an unique and different mix that leaves no one indifferent.
As we walk through those pleasant streets of another place, we look again over another great viaduct, the urban panorama, and again the enormous mass of concrete of the great city.
The city of contrasts, of mixed sensations, of visual shocks, of the warmth and smile of its happy inhabitants, of that sensation of a big city where everything goes fast although here less fast, tall buildings, Japanese houses and favelas. Chaos, happy hearts and an European atmosphere, fusion food, people from a thousand and one places, where nobody attracts attention and everything attracts attention.
But there is some more to visit in São Paulo, my missed Sampa!
