a weekend in São Paulo

I have been told many times to get out of Rio and go see other parts of Brazil. It's a massive, diverse, beautiful, exciting country. Rio arguably owns the latter three of those descriptors, but it isn't Brazil's biggest city. That title belongs to São Paulo (clocking in as the biggest city in the Western Hemisphere with 11.2 million residents), so I went to go see it for 36 hours.

Another girl in my program, Emma, and I arrived to Rio's airport in record time early Saturday morning. An easy 45 minute flight later, we were on the ground in São Paulo's international airport. Another 45 minutes later, we were climbing out of our Uber in a beautiful "Jardim", one of four such-named neighborhoods in São Paulo. We were staying with one of Emma's friends whom she befriended at USC. Gigi, a São Paulo native, studied business in Marshall and just graduated, and I don't know how I had never met her before. Isn't it funny how you have to go halfway around the world to meet someone with whom you spent the last four years in the same three mile radius?

One thing that's not at all different between Rio and São Paulo is that ever-present Brazilian hospitality. As soon as our bags were out of our hands, we were sat down at a dining room table, chocolate cake and coffee being served up for breakfast. Brigadeiro is a traditional Brazilian dessert, made of condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder covered in chocolate sprinkles. The cake version was, well, cake, covered in the aforementioned mixture. It was only like 10 am, but I didn't want to be rude, so I ate the cake (kidding, my sweet tooth is insatiable and I would have eaten that cake at literally any time of any day). It was so good. I think I've found my new birthday cake.

Next came peanut butter, because what goes better with chocolate, right? Gigi's dad runs a confectionery company. Their specialty is a peanut butter called "Dadinho" that tastes like the inside of a Reeses. It isn't used so much for PB&Js as it is in the way we might use Nutella: as a filling, topping, spread or by the spoonful (no judgement). They sent us home with so many samples. I'm eating some right now. Mmmmm.

We joked that this made Gigi the Peanut Butter Princess, and her house the Peanut Butter Palace. She insisted we were ascribing way too much importance to peanut butter. I started to second guess that when we got in the car and the door of her X3 felt unusually heavy; I figured I was just weak. Minutes later we were in one of São Paulo's less-nice neighborhoods, waiting to park to go into a famous market. Just feet away from the car, two "crackheads" (the Paulista's word for victims of Brazil's crack epidemic, not mine) started fighting, yelling and hitting one another. Emma and I watched with a mix of horror and voyeurism, as Gigi and her mom barely noticed from the front seat. "Is this that common in São Paulo, or all over Brazil? Why are you so unfazed?" we asked. "Well, this car's bullet proof. Someone would have to shoot the exact same place more than three times to do anything to it, and what are the chances of that?"

I'm sorry. What? Yeah, we were being chauffeured around São Paulo in an armored vehicle, complete with nearly-black tints, reinforced doors, bullet-proof glass, a siren and an external loudspeaker. "...Is your dad like, important? Wait, ARE YOU AN ACTUAL PRINCESS?" Why on earth would such a normal person need a car with all this? Gigi's mom went on to tell us of the time when she was stuck in bad traffic and robbed at gunpoint for her watch with a very young Gigi in the backseat. She obliged, and mother and daughter were unharmed, but after that, their family became one of the many in São Paulo (and many parts of Brazil) who armor all their vehicles. "It's just too easy here, so we're careful."

Funny enough, once we were out of the armored vehicle (!) and in the Portal do Mercado, that's when I really felt comfortable. I've mentioned that craft and flea markets aren't really my thing, but food markets really are. They engage your senses in ways that other markets just don't, and they especially engage the most important sense of all: taste. We couldn't walk 10 feet without vendors shoving fresh-cut samples of exotic fruits in our faces. I tried fresh pitaya (dragonfruit), carambola (starfruit), maracuja (passionfruit), rambutan (lychee), mamao (papaya), goiaba (guava), jabuticaba (so fun to say), anemia (looks like a baby artichoke), champagne grapes (regular grapes but small), witchfinger grapes (regular grapes but like mini eggplants), cupuacu (I highly recommend), caju (I do not recommend), and that's just what I can recall off the top of my head.

Lunch was traditional Brazilian pastels (fried puff pastries with various savory fillings) from a famous stall at the market. After some more sightseeing and a much-needed nap, we were ready to get out and experience São Paulo's famous dining and nightlife scenes. As we were going to dinner, I was very confused when our hostess opened the doors of a bookstore and led us in. Dinner was at Manioca, a beautiful restaurant on the back patio of the bookstore, complete with string lights and live trees growing up through the floor. The food was as amazing as you would expect from a Michelin-starred chef, the ambiance was enchanting and the company was great.

The next morning, we enjoyed a stroll around Parque do Ibirapuera, which is basically São Paulo's version of Central Park. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning, made even better by golden puppies, fresh coconut water and live music. For lunch, we had hands down the best acai I've ever had. We spent the afternoon wandering an adorable shopping district and building up an appetite (more walking) for an awesome dinner. That consisted of ribeye, heart of palm with capers and mustard sauce, the best rice I have ever had, and watching Ronaldo win the Euro. By the time they brought out dessert (cinnamon apple and dulce de leche crepes with ice cream), we were downright devastated to be leaving São Paulo that night. We reluctantly said our "tchau tchau"s, but I know that wasn't the last time I'll be there.

Check out the gallery for photos, and thanks for reading! GS

Lessons learned: São Paulo is as beautiful as it is big; brigadeiro cake is dangerous; lots of cars in São Paulo are bullet proof (!); the fuit in São Paulo is, yep, unreal; the food in São Paulo is also unreal; I will be back.