but they might be crazy for living here in Sao Paulo. Sampa as the locals refer to their city is a megalopolis cosmopolis metropolis. Big Scrabble words for a big city. I believe its the the third largest in the world behind Mexico City and Tokyo. This morning over a cup of overly sweetened Brazilian coffee I calculated a route from Jardim Paulista to Centro, simple enough I thought. After a walk that took slightly less time than the gestation period of a baby elephant I reached downtown. After some furtive ducking into doorways to consult my map(I didn't want to look like a tourist and my back pack and beach attire from the day before were obviously fooling everyone) I finally found Edificio Altino Arantes. This was long ago the tallest building in the skyline and suspiciously resembles the Empire State Building. The mirador on the 35th floor is the place to "take it all in." If you envision a pie cut into 64ths and the island of Manhattan represented exactly one slice, that whole pie would likely resemble Sao Paulo. It makes the sprawl of Los Angeles look like Mayberry. The coarse concrete geometry of landscape can only explained by the abscence of any sort of urban planning. It's all very Bladerunner, I have to say I like it. I took a snipped of video as I was fortunate enough to be the only person on top of the Altino Arantes yesterday afternoon. You can find it HERE
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