São Paulo. Brazil. Saturday August 5th 2006

This morning it is a Brazilian winter day. In contrast to yesterday with temperatures around 23/24 C today it is 12 C. I am up with the lark and it feels like I have never slept since I arrived in São Paulo and I love it!

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The weather has changed greatly as the sun has come up and it is to be another lovely day in Brazil, and not just in the sense of the weather.

This morning I am gaining some 'local colour'. I begin my day once again in delightful company, with Christina, and we head out for the City Cathedral of São Paulo. The city is currently hosting an international delegation of Herald's of the Gospel and I get talking with some of these young people.

The group I begin conversing with are from Portugal and they speak better English than me!
I also spend a great deal of time speaking to Brother Michael who happens to be a brother living and working in London and he lives in Kingston not far from my own school.

It is a joy to meet young people with a belief.

I personally feel that I would rather someone had a belief or a passion for something...however misguided you or I may feel this passion is...than have no belief or inspiration for anything.

Yet again young people who are a breath of fresh air!

From here we make our way to the Mercado Municipal (the oldest market in São Paulo). The area is rich in local colour and downtown São Paulo is awash with bargain hunters. The area is considered by many to be unsafe...I found it a rich tapestry of life.

I was particularly impressed by the ingenuity of the young 'immigrants' who were parking cars on land they did not own but certainly controlled. These 'immigrants' are native Brazilians from the poor North East of the Country who are attracted to São Paulo because of its wealth and opportunity...no different to the belief that the streets of London and New York are paved with gold.

At least these young men were making an attempt to work!

We parked our Mercedes under the flyover, and it was not only perfectly safe, the young "valets" had parked and cleared many cars in the time we were away...this is not light work and they do well. The charges are low, but the young men were wearing the best of tennis shoes.

It is a work of art parking these cars...like a giant chess game.

In the market I enjoy a lunch of the local delicacy Pastel de Bacalhau (a sort of cornish pasty style stuffed with shredded codfish) and a mortadela sandwich washed down with what else but...Guaranã.

I also get up close and personal with the Guaranã seed.

In Vila Mariana I deliver my lecture on Global Citizenship to around eighty people. It goes brilliantly and I even get laughs!!

After the questions session I spend a great deal of time speaking to fascinating young people about our global environment, economics and education. It is wonderful to see the passion in their eyes for this project and the fact that they feel that someone genuine is interested in Brazil and not just another sound-bite politician.

I am interviewed by a local journalist and through it all there is one over-riding question. How do I find Brazil/São Paulo...the people, the welcome, the facilities and infrastructure?

I speak as I find...

Before coming to South America I was as ignorant as the majority of the developed world about this continent. We have prejudices and prejudices exist normally because there is an element of truth in them.

My guide today was telling me about the residential areas and how the security guards on the street corners are generally members of gangs with the real function of "marking out" different gangs territories. If you pay them protection money nothing happens to your home...if you don't you may be robbed and the security guard would have seen nothing.

Such an anathama to those of us in the West...well, not so, if we wake up and smell the coffee. Protection rackets exist in every large city in Britain, just no so obviously.

I have met with British people here who have been victims of violence. One young lawyer was telling me how she was mugged at gunpoint the other evening on her way home from her gym. Another gentleman was telling me about his car jacking just outside his home. Crime happens, but if I am being honest the only times in my life I have been mugged have been in two cities I call home...London and New York.

I can only say that I have found São Paulo to be a wonderful city: friendly people, modern facilities and forward thinking views. You speak as you find and this is what I have found.

There have been elements of the city on show for me no doubt, but the Cultura Inglesa have been outstanding in giving me what I want and that is access to 'worts and all' São Paulo.

It is only correct that I see the wealth and power because this is as much São Paulo as the favela. But I have also been to the poor communities. No matter what level of social standing everyone I have met has been generous with their time and welcoming and most importantly Proud...

Proud of Brazil and Proud of São Paulo...and they have every right to be!!

This afternoon I took my first ride alone on public transport to see the colour of the city...It is a vast and happening place from the poverty of favela districts to the low brow stack 'em high sell 'em cheap stores to the glitz of luxury condos and high end shopping.

São Paulo I have found is simply a city...you need in all cities to be careful...there are areas in Glasgow I have never been too and never will visit. What São Paulo is is mis-understood...don't condemn until you see this melting pot for yourself.

And one factor that puts Britain to shame is that when we have been working on this project the one element we could not get sponsored was the IT.

No company was willing to give us a lap-top that we could use for the project year.

The participants here in São Paulo are so excited by the project, that even in the Favela project I visited, they have been trying to secure me a lap top which would mean that I can interact much more regularly will all participants around the globe rather than searching for internet cafes. Today came another participant with an offer of IT support...

Whether or not this is achieved people here in the Third World are trying to help me, a Scholar from the First...SHAME ON YOU BRITAIN...I wonder at times just how developed we are?

This evening I head off with Christina and Alexandre to Terraço Itãlia, the tallest building in São Paulo (at 160 Metres). As far as the eye can see there is city. São Paulo is after all the third largest metropolis in the world. The view is spectacular and no photograph will do it justice. Looking out over the immediate area what strikes you is that the skyline could be New York at night...a myriad of skyscrapers.

This is no simple observation deck and the elegant dining, dancing and bar areas remind me somehow of the University Club in St Louis. They have the feel of an exclusive members club and again I am surrounded by the chic of the city.

In the Bar Executive I enjoy a Caipirinha, Brazil's national drink made from distilled sugar cane, lemon and sugar...a taste akin to the vodka family.

We then go to see the Copan Building. This is one of São Paulo´s Oscar Niemeyer works of art. The building is naturalistic in its curvature with a shape akin to the shape of the state of São Paulo. It also sits in the heart of the cities red light district and is home to almost 5000 people from prostitutes (although such activities would not be tolerated in the building) to TV and Soap Stars. There are 11,600 apartments and with such a social mix in the same building it is true to Niemeyer's communist ideals of different social classes living in harmony.

From here we head to the Bixiga area to see the spectacle that is the Festival of the Virgin of Achiropita. The streets are awash with the atmosphere of Carnival...this is Brazil with an Italian twist. We enjoy Brazilian pizza at the Pizzaria da Conchetta, the twist is the cream cheese used on the pizza...Just to let you know São Paulo has had a large Italian population since 19th century immigration and like all great cities it has its 'quarters'...tonight I touch on merely one.