Yes, I Could Live Here

Hello Everyone!

 

Now that we've completed our tour of South America, which city would I say is my favorite?  Sean and I have talked about this question every once in a while over the past few months and the answers have been pretty consistent throughout, even with the addition of new cities and towns to our itinerary.  However, since we've now seen all that we will see of South America on this trip, we can now answer the question with more certainty.  After 23 cities in six countries, not including Toronto, it is clear that some cities are definitely better than others, while some cities that aren't necessarily favorites still have things that others don't.  For the most part, ranking them all depends on what you're most interested in and what's most important to you.  One can also love visiting a city or vacationing there, but would not necessarily want to live there.  That has been the case for a few cities on this trip; but for me, I cannot call a city my favorite unless I can actually see myself living there.  Most people who know me know that Berlin is my favorite city in the world, by far, and that has been the case since I first visited Berlin in 2004.  I can still say that none of the cities we've visited on this trip have surpassed Berlin's status in my mind, but one city can at least consider itself in the same league.  This city stands out, for me, above all the others we've now visited on this trip, and even most European cities I've visited.  For this reason, I have decided that São Paulo is my favorite city in South America. 

  

As you know, São Paulo is one of the largest cities in the world.  Most estimates say it's population is about 11 million within the city and 20 million in it's metro area.  The city has a very international feel and is very diverse, mostly due to the huge diversity among Brazilians, but also because of the international corporations with offices and employees there.  São Paulo is a business center and has a large, very well educated population of professionals.  Of course, like any city, you have people working in retail or food service, but these people work in support of the people who have professional jobs in business, engineering, computers, art, healthcare, etc.  São Paulo has culture.  From the museums like the MASP, one of the best art museums I've even been to, to the many street markets and urban parks, to Japan Town in the Liberdade neighborhood, there is always something to do in the city.  As mentioned in previous posts, São Paulo has an amazing nightlife scene with lots of great clubs and bars and we couldn't even check out half of them.  São Paulo is also relatively safe compared to other cities in South America.  Unlike Rio where one out of four people live in a favella, São Paulo doesn't even have favellas in the city.  I don't know if I ever felt threatened or unsafe.  Sure, there are more risky and dangerous areas and crowded street markets can make me nervous about pickpockets given our experiences here in South America; but unlike other cities in South America, and especially in Brazil, you don't ever have to go to the dangerous areas of the city because everything you need or want to see is located somewhere else.  If not gay-friendly, São Paulo is definitely gay-tolerant.  Even when touring parts of the city outside of the relatively gay area our hotel was located in, there was never an issue with being affectionate on the the subway or guys giving each other a kiss in the restaurant.  Sao Paulo has a large gay community, which is important not just because I like sex so much, but because it's nice to feel like you have a community.  Even the language would not be so difficult for me to learn and pick up if I were to actually live there.  After spending more time in São Paulo than any other city in South America, I can confidently say that it was my favorite.  I would like to go back someday and see more and if circumstances were right, yes, I could actually live in São Paulo.  So if I never find a way to move to Berlin, then São Paulo would be next in line. 

 

If you had asked me before we started this trip, which city I thought would be my favorite, I might have thought Buenos Aires, or perhaps Rio de Janeiro.  Perhaps because our hopes and ideas about cities are always shaped by what we read and hear from others before we actually see for ourselves.  That's when you realize that everyone is different and again, looking for different things.  There are other cities I would put at the top of the list if I had to rank the places we've been in South America.  Each had a certain quality or atmosphere that I enjoyed, but still lacked something, however minor, that would make it difficult to say the city was my favorite given the other places I've now been.  But since those places did spark something in me and I will miss them, I thought it would be nice to mention them all on the blog so I could always look back and remember.  And years from now, when I'm decided where to go on a future trip to South America, I will have a reference to go by and hopefully be able to return to some of these places. 

 

Montevideo, Uruguay

Whenever I think of a calm, laid-back, relaxing city, I will always think of Montevideo, the only city we've visited in South America where pedestrians are not mere obstacles and targets for cars but actually have the right of way at crossings.  In Montevideo, cars will stop to let you cross even if you don't have the right of way!  But that's minor on my list of reasons why I like this city.  As the first city with a sexual diversity monument, the first city we saw a gay couple holding hands and making out in public, Montevideo is all about letting each other enjoy life in whatever way they choose.  People are friendly, open minded and always willing to help out.  It's not the largest city, but it has beautiful beaches and nice weather.  They also take their mate seriously and they take it wherever they go.  And I love mate. 

 

Santiago, Chile

I would definitely have to have a trick room if I lived in Santiago, or at least a hotel room if I ever go back.  Beyond that, Santiago still has the best drag shows of any city in South America, and we've now been to most of the largest cities.  The nightlife is great and relatively cheap.  The city is clean and surrounded by a beautiful backdrop of mountains.  They have really nice urban parks to relax and enjoy a lazy afternoon.  And the city is only 90 minutes away from the Pacific ocean, close enough for a weekend getaway whenever the urge strikes.  The only problem with Santiago is the language. I'm still not sure what happened to the Spanish there, but if I can learn to get by in Portuguese without ever having taken a class or lesson, with a little more time, I'm sure I could get used to Chilean Spanish.

 

Rosario, Argentina

The best thing about Rosario is the people.  Everyone in the city is friendly, cheerful and laid-back.  I love Argentinean Spanish and their common way of greeting people in Rosario with "Hola Chicos" or "Hola Chicas".  They seem to have a pretty active live music scene and a nice, though somewhat underground, club scene.  Rosario had one of the nicest hostels we've stayed in on the trip and the weather was great, if not a little too hot while we were there.  It helps that I met a really nice guy in Rosario, the only guy I've met on the trip that I actually had a chance to spend time with and get to know personally.  While Sean may complain about his tendency to have more quality dates versus my tendency to have more impersonal sexual encounters, I reminded him recently that the grass is always greener on the other side.  It's unfortunate that Federico and I don't talk anymore; I really enjoyed the time we spent together and would have liked to get to know him even better.  Unfortunately, he was offended by my comments about our experience in Buenos Aires and I was disappointed that he could not see my point.  I guess when you do actually get to know someone, oftentimes you realize you're too different or just don't see eye to eye.  Such problems don't exist in purely sexual encounters, but that doesn't necessarily make random sexual encounters better or more preferable to personal or emotional interations. 

 

Toronto, Canada

Not part of South America, but Toronto was still the first official stop on our round the world trip and Toronto was a great city to visit.  Toronto really is an international city and the best part is that they all speak English!  We had a great time going out in the city and we also had one of the best couch surfing hosts ever.  Our neighbors to the North have always been very friendly I would love to go back and spend more time there.

 

So those are my favorites so far, but São Paulo definitely tops them all.  Some of you might notice that Rio, one of the biggest and most well-known cities we've visited wasn't included in my list.  Well, as much as I enjoyed the beach and the weather in Rio, there really isn't too much else to enjoy there.  They have lots of good-looking men and the bars and clubs are fun, but beyond the beach, there isn't much in Rio that I can't find in other cities.  The most unfortunately aspect and biggest reason why I didn't like Rio is that you have to be aware and on guard constantly; petty crime is just rampant.  That gets annoying after a while because you can never really relax, especially in the one place where you really want to, on the beach.  So Rio was a big disappointment, but I still had a good time there.  The only city we visited that I hated and wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time visiting was Valparaiso, Chile.  You can go back and read my blog post if you don't remember the details of why, but basically, it was a filthy, ugly, cramped town with disgusting beaches and sidewalks covered in dog shit.  Valparaiso also has the distinction of being the only city in South America where I was personally robbed.  Yes, Sean was robbed in other places and I could have easily been robbed in other places as well, but the reality of the experience happening to me in Valparaiso does add a little to my disdain for the city.