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Originally Posted by iheartthed
By "party" I meant all leisure activities combined. It's been over 10 years since I was last in SP, but I can see how it would have a bigger nightclub scene than Rio. After all, SP is nearly twice the size of Rio. But Rio's geography lends well to outdoor activities that São Paulo just doesn't match, even if it doesn't match on number of nightclubs.
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I like to stress this party/culture thing as it's probably one of the last things Rio lost and it's arguably one of the most important. The whole culture and counterculture of Brazil was there, even after São Paulo surpassed it in the 1960's. All the famous singers, the MPB and the cultural resistence against dictatorship was there (São Paulo was already big on that, but still far away from Rio).
Now, Rio de Janeiro lost this too. Badly. It has become conventional, conformist, superficial whereas São Paulo, that used to be laughed at for being uptight, rigid, work-oriented, suddenly became the place where everything happens, all the fads and fashion are born. By just going to a party and see how people dress in both cities. The difference is telling. São Paulo became Berlin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by iheartthed
As you said, Rio's layout is also denser and feels more walkable to me, and walkability factors very high into places I think I would like to live. Rio feels more like New York to me in that regard, albeit on a much smaller scale.
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Indeed. Rio de Janeiro was bigger than São Paulo up to the 1960's, so it's expected it has more pedestrian friendly hoods. After that, cars were gave priority. It's not that extreme, but think of NY vs LA.
However, when you look things closer, like transit figures, for instance, you have a completely different picture: São Paulo subway+railway systems carried 1.76 billion passengers in 2023; Rio de Janeiro both systems carried only 276 million. São Paulo bus system is top notch whereas Rio de Janeiro is a mess. Source:
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lista_...anos_no_Brasil
Of course I don't know you and I don't know how well you know Rio and SP, but I'd bet you would change your mind after residing down here. Services in Rio de Janeiro are very problematic, things don't work properly, there is a very strong scam culture, safety issues.
We Brazilians usually think gringos are thin-skinned, not street-smart and even though it's a very simplistic way to see things, I cannot help myself on thinking you would give up Rio very quickly, specially as a New Yorker, which are usually very demanding when it comes to services in general. Just like Paulistanos.