» Collaboration needed: The sense trails of São Paulo

The text below was the result of a collaboration with Brazilian journalist Nana Caetano. These are 3 of a series of 5 “sense trails” of São Paulo.

Do you want to illustrate this text? Click in the picture or leave a comment.

The noise trail

Rapa! Rapa! Rapa! When you hear that, hide in the first store near you. That’s the code the camelôs (street salesmen) use to tell each other the police is coming. It’s quite interest to see how they pile up everything they have, full loads of backpacks and just disappear. It’s noisy and exciting, and the best place to see that is 25 de março region. Its in the decadent center of SP, region full of people by day and full of silence at night (most of the residential buildings are empty, so it is populated almost only by people from the suburbs). Buy yourself the last soap opera fashion accessory, try some Lebanese food (try Monte Líbano, at the first floor of a shops condominium) and don’t leave the neighborhood without buying at least 1 meter of patterned fabric (Fernando Maluhy, at the same building, has the bests of all – once there, you will certainly understand why this is on the noise trail!). If it is still early in the morning, consider visiting the Mercado Central, with its fish and fruit shops. Quite colored and smelly, it’s worth it. If it is already dark, go to Augusta Street, not very far from 25. Note: everything which is after Avenida Paulista can be considered as our Rive Gauche (lets imagine that Paulista is a river), in the sense it is much more alternative and hipster than the other side, Jardins. Augusta is the red light district, but also the dance clubs region, which makes quite an interesting mix. Vegas is old but very well decorated and the music is super high, Studio SP is where all the bands-to-be play and the music is in a volume you can still hear yourself, Sarajevo is for when you have nothing to loose. Skipped Mercado Central yesterday? Go there now, since it is already the morning again.

The taste trail – a rota do belisco

And then god created the Padaria. And the Boteco. And coxinha, tapioca, pão-de-queijo, espetinho, meia, pão com manteiga, churros, misto quente, pastel, açaí na tigela, joelho de presunto, brigadeiro, picolé de fruta, acarajé, bolinho de arroz. Brasil (with s, to play local) has the best beaches, the worst street style and definitely, definitely, the best snacks. Of the whole world. Don’t even bother to have lunch, dinner or supper (although they can also be amazing), just spend the day eating small things in the street and small places, with your hands, without knife and fork. Prepare you liver to a huge amount of fat (things are often fried in pork fat, oh yeah). If you have a good stomach, just try the closest padaria, ask the chapeiro (always in a bad mood, always a nice gay in the second layer) for the best seller or trust your feeling in the salgadinhos window. To know if the padaria is good, observe the entrance: if they give you a hard card as big as a moleskine with a code bar printed in it, run, it’s an over commercial one (always prefer the traditional ones). Coxinha is like sex and and slice of pizza: even when it is bad, it’s good. For the botecos, be a little more careful. They can be really nasty. Discovering yours is an art: you become friends with the owner, pay special bills, try tira-gostos before they even go to the menu. Mercearia is a very nice place to start.

O fedor

In Paris, it’s all about the light, the same way Barcelona is the taste and Rio is the heat in the skin and the sound. In SP, for the good or the bad, the smell is the thing. Don’t even mind paying attention, you won’t escape. In the first days you will complain and curse. And then… after some time you even feel happy and cozy when you smell it. In the end, it feels like home. For a complete experience, Marginal Pinheiros is the hot-spot. Start your tour by Jockey Club, a nice place were you can see horse runs (and even bet on them) and try a little of the vintage allure of the 50’s in SP (something rare). Have a chope in Canter Bar, from where you see a beautiful skyline of the city. Once in the main salon, look at your right (or left) and meet the old gentleman who used to be rich and lost all his possessions in the 80’s crisis. For your luck, some things remain the same: the tie, the beige shirt, the bold hair and the (once) beautiful woman just beside. Try to talk to him. Marginal Pinheiros also has the ugliest monument to brazilian kitsch ever constructed: walking from Jockey (cof, cof, watch the trucks!), go visit Shopping Cidade Jardim, an elephant born and raised in less than a year. Daslu, the fanciest (lets not repeat kitsch) shop in town, with a second address in Cidade Jardim, has also the best home spray and smells like heaven. Interested? The flagship is only some bridges away and has the same neoclassical style (brazilian typical, like it or not?). After there is Ponte Otavio Frias de Oliveira, our private Calatrava monument. Isn’t it too big for the river, you will ask? Why bother with this kind of detail? It’s pretty in the sunset and colorful by night.