São Paulo

Tuesday 17th May 1988

We arrived at 08:30 hrs. on a gloomy rainy morning at São Paulo Bus Terminal, which was more like an airport. I then commenced a wild goose chase by Metro and bus across the Ibirapuera District in search of the International Youth Hostel. I found the huge stadium complex which once housed the Youth Hostel but was told that the Youth Hostel no longer existed.

I lugged my baggage back passed the huge legislative assembly building and caught a bus into the city centre. Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of people around Luz Metro Station I met Darcy, a Brazilian woman, who took me to the Rua Santa Ifigênia where I got a room in the Hotel Trinidade for 500 Cruzados.

Rua Santa Efigênia is an important road located in the district of República, downtown São Paulo, which over the years became known for the large number of stores that specialized in the sale of electronic items. Darcy gave me her card and told me to ring her later. She also warned me that this was a dodgy area at night.

I got shot of my bags and went for a walk around. I found the Post Office on Avenida São João and posted some cards. I also bought a Portuguese phrase book as my knowledge of the language is practically nil.

São Paulo is a busy, modern, American-style megacity with towering skyscrapers. Umbrellas moved with the mob on the streets as the rain fell. Pavement stalls sold pornographic books of every description. I avoided the many prostitutes and bought a copy of “Men Only” magazine, a Paul Raymond publication, for light reading!

The Metro is very modern and efficient and only costs 35 Cruzados per trip. I picked up some goodies from the supermarket and went back to my room at 18:00 hrs. to catch up on my diary writing.

At 19:30 hrs. I went out to see the city at night. Most of the stand-up or bar stool at the counter bars and cafés were doing a good trade. There were a lot of shops selling books, clothes and several selling guns and all your Rambo gear.

Poor people sat in some of the doorways wrapped in blankets and barefoot tramps rummaged through the rubbish bags. I followed pedestrian precincts between the bright lights and tall buildings. At 20:30 I grabbed a quick Antarctica beer, a Euro Pale Lager style beer made in São Paulo, SP by Ambev. 4.9% ABV. I then went to the cinema to see “Raw Deal”, a run of the mill “cop busts gangsters” film.

Raw Deal is a 1986 American action film directed by John Irvin, from a story of Sergio Leone's screenwriters Luciano Vincenzoni and Sergio Donati, and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kathryn Harrold, Darren McGavin and Sam Wanamaker. The film tells the story of an elderly and embittered high-ranking FBI chief, Harry Shannon, who wants to get revenge against a Mafia organization and sends a former FBI agent and now small-town sheriff Mark Kaminski to destroy the organization from the inside.

Back in my room I browsed my Portuguese phrase book before going to sleep.