BRAZIL - Sao Paulo Bus Ride

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Sao Paulo - 19 million people! It's farther and wider than you can see ... This is a mini photo journal of our 45 minute bus ride across Sao Paulo between the domestic and the international airports. How's this for a start - no, it wasn't raining, the bus turned a corner and all the water poured off the roof just as I clicked the shutter! This type of graffiti is very common down here. Certainly not artistic. Oh, did I mention we managed to get there just before rush hour. Actually, with 19 million people 'hour' probably isn't the best choice of terms. One thing about having a rush 'hour' like this is that it creates employment possiblities. This person works at the signal lights and instead of begging or squeegee-ing sells something, but I don't know what it is. Just buildings. There are many homeless in SP. This one has him/herself set up under an underpass with a wrought iron fence all around for privacy Remember I mentioned about 'just before rush hour'. We managed to experience this going in both directions as our bus took us to the airport and then the shuttle to our hotel took us about 10-15 kms back into to it to get to our hotel. A bit of poor planning on our part, but experiential. An embassy from somewhere interesting but we didn't see a sign. An interesting design on the front of this older building. These next few pictures really show a contrast in the city. I don't have any idea what areas we were driving through but .. ... it really gave some examples of the extremes that are there. If I remember correctly I think this was a church of some sort. I guess if you live in Vancouver you don't have to use your imagination too much here, but ... ... even this is a bit much for Vancouver! And all of sudden back to more typical pictures of a city. By the way, most of these pictures are sequential. A commmon form of delivery vehicle, not only here but in other parts of the world. You have to admit, it's certainly environmentally friendly! Now we're into the shopping district. How's that for flow through ventilation! It's needed! Similar construction techniques but generally the safety requirements don't seem to be the same as ours. This picture really amazed me - it was rush 'hour' but so few people at the train station. No idea why that would be unless the train had just left or something. Back to the shoppers and street vendors. Lots of bargains ... ... lots of people! Wasn't always able to get the shot that I'd have liked to but it kind of shows the old architecture. And the new along with the old and restored buildings. And the unrestored! A pool/billiards hall. I bet some of these buildings were impressive in their day. A tough way to earn a living! Recycling depot. I think the fellow in the previous picture was probably heading here to sell whatever he had collected. Another one of the trafic signal vendors at work. And this is what is known as a <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Favela' target='_blank'>favela</a>. A very Brazilian anomaly, it's what is known as a 'Love Motel'. Rooms available by the hour, I was interested in checking them out but E declined for some reason. (Thank goodness) I don't know if this was just general housing or not ... ... same with this picture. At first I thought it was but after reading the Wikipedia article I'm not so sure. It just looked interesting. I was wondering why all these bikes were parked on the freeway shoulder ... ... and then I found out! It was rain gear time. Some of the luckier ones did find underpasses to park under and wait it out - including the police. OK, so now we're on our way to Chile!