Sao Paulo

Well, I can't disagree with many of Igor's impressions of Sao Paulo (reprinted in my previous blog posts). I have been here for three days and haven't been terribly impressed with the city itself. A city the size of Sao Paulo (19 million people) should be much, much more vibrant. However, I thoroughly enjoyed Sao Paulo in spite of traffic that makes Cairo look like Orbit City (The Jetsons reference), Soviet-style apartment buildings that probably account for 86% of the world's concrete, and prostitution that makes Amsterdam's Red Light District appear prudish. My visit was made enjoyable because I stayed with a great friend, Roberto, who actually has to live in Sao Paulo.

Two highlights from Sao Paulo: Haircut and Alex Flemming. After several days of stewing, I worked up enough courage to get a haircut in Sao Paulo. Ok, so it didn't require THAT much courage because its pretty hard to screw up my hairstyle. But the barber and I played a pretty funny game of charades; he couldn't even say "hello" in English and I don't know the Portuguese phrase for "just take two inches off". Something must have gotten lost in translation because I walked out of there with 15 fewer dollars in my pocket and a receding hairline.

This afternoon, Roberto's friend invited us to see artwork at another friend's apartment. It happened to be the apartment of Alex Flemming, apparently a well-known local artist. This guy's work included: a yellow canvas with a creepy mannequin head protruding out of it; a huge, real cow's head painted blue; and a series of pictures/paintings of near-naked body builders. Who said that Sao Paulo doesn't have culture?

Tomorrow I leave for Parati, a beach community halfway between Sao Paulo and Rio. It is 120 miles outside of Sao Paulo, so it should only take me 16 hours to get there....