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Sao
Paulo overwhelms the senses with its sheer size. With over 10
million inhabitants, it is the world's third largest city and the
largest in South America. Sao Paulo and its rival Brazilian city, Rio
de Janeiro, have often been compared to New York and Los Angeles
respectively. If Rio has gained fame for its striking natural setting,
Sao Paulo's attraction lies in its people and its vibrant cultures. The
Avenida Paulista's canyon of upthrusting skyscrapers only hints at the
city's sources of energy. A more cosmopolitan city than its counterpart,
Sao Paulo possesses significant ethnic minority communities, including
substantial Japanese, Italian, and Arab and Lebanese Christian
neighbourhoods.
The array of nationalities living in Sao Paulo have made it a legendary
city among gourmands: Japanese, Italian nuova cucina, Brazilian,
Chinese, Jewish, and Arab restaurants are all familiar parts of the
city's landscape. Brazil's famously good beef is put to good use at the
numerous rodizios and churrascarias. Succulent, roasted cuts of meat
are circulated around the tables and cut to patrons' order. In fact,
people
often visit Sao Paulo just to dine out. The Jardins district is the
center of the dining scene, and thus the center of the Sao Paulo social
scene. Paulistanos eat late--restaurants often don't begin serving until
9pm or 10pm, and it is common for them to stay open until 3am.
Brazil's most modern, cosmopolitan city has much to offer in addition to
its outstanding cuisines. Its museums are among the finest in South
America, its surrounding coastline is graced with many lovely beaches,
and its entertainment and nightlife have for years attracted some
of the best performers in the world. In recent years, the city has
evolved into a center for Brazil's own martial art, capoeira, whose
dance-like motions are performed to music. The art has its own
traditional instruments: drums and the berimbau, a stringed rod used to
keep time. Originally developed as the martial art of the slaves of the
Bahia, capoeira was banned by the ruling classes. To keep their art
alive, the slaves turned capoeira into a dance, and the berimbau, which
had warned of an approaching master, began to accompany the dance
itself. As late as the 1920s capoeira was still outlawed and practiced
only underground; today, it is a well-known and much-loved spectacle.
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