Part 4

What did we know about São Paulo?

Before the trip, my first thought was something like this: one of the most dangerous cities in Brazil, homeless people on the streets, drugs, crime, and the risk of getting robbed at any second.

At least, that was the version of São Paulo I had built in my head from all the stories I had heard.

It seemed not only pointless to go there, but also veeeery dangerous.

And I still decided to spend an entire month in São Paulo.

Why?

After Rio, it couldn’t get any worse

First, I had already spent a month living in Rio de Janeiro and thought it definitely could not get any worse.

In Rio, I felt extremely unsafe. During that whole month, I barely went anywhere alone, only with my boyfriend or friends.

So I had nothing to lose.

And there was still a small hope that São Paulo might feel a little calmer.

Second, there was a much more practical reason: renting an apartment for a month cost almost the same as renting it for two weeks, thanks to Airbnb’s long-stay discount.

And I really do not like parting with money.

So, technically, it was a form of saving.

And third, our final destination was supposed to be Florianópolis.

It is an island city, almost more like a village, where we were already planning to settle down.

Before that, we wanted one last taste of life in a megacity.

Those were the three reasons I ended up spending the whole of July in São Paulo.

And you know what?

I fell in love with this city.

Like the straight-A student falling for the school’s biggest bad boy

It felt like one of those American teen shows: the straight-A student falls for the school’s biggest bad boy, and then it turns out he is actually a perfectly normal person.

That is exactly how São Paulo opened up to me.

Yes, there are homeless people.

Yes, there are areas that can be dangerous.

Yes, basic safety rules still matter.

But São Paulo was also the place where I could finally walk around the city by myself again.

I stopped using the little strap on my phone as protection against theft.

I stopped looking over my shoulder at every passer-by and walking through the streets with constant anxiety.

Maybe I was lucky.

And I definitely cannot claim that my experience represents this enormous city as a whole.

But this was my São Paulo.

Stylish streets, coffee shops and an incredible amount of greenery

For me, São Paulo turned out to be a city of very kind people, stylish streets, clean avenues, places for every taste, trendy hipster coffee shops and huge green parks.

In some ways, it reminded me of Bangkok, which I absolutely love.

And by the end of our month there, I even started thinking:

“Maybe we should stay?”

I learned from my own experience that you should not believe everything you read on the internet.

Not because the scary stories are necessarily made up.

They just do not always show you the whole city.

Maybe that is one of the reasons travelling is worth it: to form your own opinion about places and sometimes discover unexpected little gems like São Paulo.

Previous article by Dasha: “People in Brazil”

You can find all articles from the series in the Brazil section.