Notes on Brazil (or at least São Paulo)

Satori, Brazil, notes — Stephen on 28 Noviembre 2008 @ 19:20 — 0 comments

Here are a few of the things that stand out to me as I make my way around São Paulo:

- Lots of Santas and Xmas decorations. I know it is “the season” and all, but the amount and sophistication of Christmas displays and dueling Santas is surprising. I don’t remember seeing this many in New York even.

- Lots of cars with tinted windows. I am sure this has something to do with security (and perhaps weather) but there are a huge amount of tinted windows on the cars here.

- Cake is amazing. So far, I am very impressed with the quality of the sweets here.

- An extremely high number of people limping or walking with canes. I can’t quite figure this out. Is polio still a problem here? Are a rather large number of people maimed in accidents? The people in question are all ages, all genders, seemingly wealthy and not so.

- Most Brazilians seem to share the classic American trait of not speaking any other language besides their own, although because Spanish is so close, they can understand some (and so can I). I am hoping to have a basic working knowledge of Portuguese before leaving the country.