‘São Paulo Makes London Seem Like a Village’

With its feverish energy, opulent nightlife, culture and chaos, the Brazilian megalopolis is a perfect setting for Joe Thomas’s debut crime thriller

I went to São Paulo for love – a good reason to do anything – and stayed for 10 years. It’s the setting for my debut novel. The sheer size of the city is staggering: it takes a long time to fly in over the urban sprawl. You feel like you’re being drawn into the city on the drive from the international airport. The air gets heavier, the stink of the river stronger, the heat more intense. Flying into the domestic airport, you come so close to the skyscrapers you can almost see into people’s windows.
São Paulo feels like the centre of the world. Though the day-to-day grind is pretty full on – it makes London feel like a village – it’s an energising place. It’s not beautiful, it’s very dense and the traffic and crime are terrible, but it’s so full of life that you feel powerful, politicised and important.

There are more places to find peace and quiet than you’d imagine. Parque Ibirapuera is big and green, with people rollerblading and playing football, basketball and tennis, and two of the city’s best museums. The Museum of Modern Art is a bit like London’s Serpentine but much bigger, and amazing. The museum and park were designed by the great Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, whose work is all over the city. And the Museu Afro Brasil gives a fascinating history of the country.
Another one not to miss is the house of the Maria Luisa and Oscar Americano Foundation. It’s the residence of a family of art, history and nature collectors, surrounded by lush greenery – when you walk in from the street the air suddenly feels a bit damper and cleaner. Oscar Americano established the foundation in 1974, two years after the death of his arts philanthropist Maria Luisa and months before his own death.
If you’re attracted to seediness as well as art and culture, you’ll find São Paulo fascinating – the two live side by side. In the old centre is Pinacoteca, a beautiful gallery, and Sala São Paolo, a classical music venue, just a few blocks away from Crackland, hell on earth in a beautiful part of town.
For extraordinary views (and expensive drinks) go to the 30th-floor View Bar in Jardins. In a lovely old-fashioned neighbourhood, it’s high above everything, the city rolling out below. It’s surrounded by a mix of office and residential blocks, so at dusk lights go off and on around town like some weird morse code as people leave work and go home. Jardins is probably the best area to stay in, too, with lots of great bars and restaurants. The rooftop Skye Bar in Hotel Unique has more great views and would be a perfect place for Bond to parachute on to. There’s a pool and the hotel’s shaped like a big boat.

São Paulo makes London seem like a village was first seen on theguardian.com