SÃO PAULO
São Paulo ranks anywhere from #4 to #8 in largest cities in the world (depending on how its ranked--and it's close between #4 and #8) with about 18.5 million people in the metro area. This is definitely Brazil's concrete city (versus Rio which has many gardens and forested hills), though there is some green space in the city, if you look for it.

A few pics of at least parts of the downtown skyline...





The last pic and the next 2 pics are in Parque Anhangabaú (try pronouncing that!)...





In the city center...though on Sunday (with relatively few people around)...



Note not much traffic on the freeway either on Sunday (this was busy on Monday though)...



Catedral da Sé...



A crazy preacher yelling at everybody in front of the cathedral...



Praça da Sé (looking away from the cathedral)...



Like in many other cities of Brazil, the plaza had many royal palms...



A greener plaza in the city center...Praça Republica...



A little over a mile southwest of the city center is the modern and more upscale (though with less character) Avenida Paulista...



Now to the greenest area of São Paulo...the large botanical garden in Parque do Estado (though with few plants labeled). The gardens included this restored forest with lots of Euterpe edulis (the açai do sul palm)...





Euterpe edulis (açai do sul)...



There were some Tibouchina mutabilis blooming in the botanical gardens.





A pond in the botanical gardens...



All of the above pictures on this page were taken in October 2010 by Brandt Maxwell.

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