Bus Ride From Hell.

While enjoying São Paulo's traffic for two hours today I experienced the city in a different way. Through the small window my eyes saw into the outside of the oven on wheels, I call hell. After staring for a half an hour into the streets, I began to analyze my uncomfortableness with São Paulo and so it began.



I thought to myself in a rather disturbing, split-personality, sort of way: "People all have completely different ways of thinking and rationalizing different situation which happen to arise at their feet. Now it takes a remarkable individual to assess the situation and discriminate one bad thought from the other. A weaker less educated individual will follow their instinct on a certain act or thought. Yet the average non- caring paulista will rather not think of any situation that doesn't involve them personally. This is a matter of culture and survival mode perhaps a mix of ignorance."

With this rather complicated situational thought in mind, I really looked out the window.


While passing different stores, shops and vendors I realized something completely disturbing. Within a 3block radius I saw a meat store, fake Channel vendor, an herb stand and a Tiffany & CO. Perhaps a normal thing for the regular paulista, I mean this is their turf.



But why was this so disturbing, why did this bother me so much?
What is the common factor? Why are they all on the same street and really close to each other?

So a common factor that linked these "vendors" was the common thread to make money, the city of São Paulo, good location for selling, for the most part trying to make a living, selling goods and so forth. Other than these simple differences, what do they have in common? Tiffany vendor wouldn't be caught dead talking to herb vendor, would he/she? Why?



Class inequality is something that the rich, politicians and people in general have taken advantage of in Brazil. The rich to make money and stay rich, the politicians to 'win' votes and make the quota, and the average person to help or destroy their self esteem/confidence. This as a foreigner (that has been taught that everyone is the same no matter what kind of financial situation they are in) sickens me, yet I am merely a judgmental observer.

The vendors have nothing to do with each other, other than the fact that one may not know the other exists. Or, one may not care that the other exists.

Based on these judgments, I defer to the conclusion that perhaps the original theory was incorrect, perhaps they are linked in more ways that I expected it to be. Doubt.

Is it fair to make these assumptions, after all assuming does make an ass of you and me. Similarities are sometimes seen as coincidences and I laugh, because I am believer that everything does happens for a reason. Perhaps meat shop man does frequent Tiffany's and maybe Channel vendor is best friends with herb vendor, dreadlocks or not.

Just perhaps.

After no more than 4hours of sleep, too much thinking doesn't to a body good. Random blabber isn't a adequate state of mind to be paralleling city observations to personal problems. São Paulo traffic is probably one of the worst in the world, at least South America. And once your stuck, you are stuck. Today was the first day that I was really stuck in REAL traffic. I didn't mind it, because I didn't really have anywhere specific to be. Thank you São Paulo traffic your the best.

By this time in my thought I looked down at my phone/watch and only a half hour had passed by. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH...