I recently had the opportunity to travel from São Paulo up north to the state of Bahia, to the city of Salvador. The state of Bahia is in one of the poorer regions of Brazil, the Northeast, whereas São Paulo is firmly situated in the wealthier and more developed Southeast, and in fact is the economic center of the country as a whole. This made for a very interesting comparison between the two areas.
My time here in Brazil has been amazing, but São Paulo has not been at all what I expected out of Brazil, for a number of reasons. Salvador, on the other hand, fulfills what I had held as my mental image of Brazil. Without a doubt, I have experienced the openness of the Brazilian people and of Brazilian society here in São Paulo, but the people of Salvador and of Praia do Forte, the beach town I visited, took it to a whole other level. Strangers on the street, complete and total strangers, are called "friend." Anyone else, people you've spoken to even once before, are called "brother," "sister," "tia," "tio," even me.
It was interesting, first of all, to compare the populations of Salvador and of São Paulo. São Paulo is an unusual case in terms of Brazilian cities in that that the favelas ring the periphery of the city, making the downtown areas--the only places that I go with any regularity--solidly middle- and upper-class. I've volunteered in the center of the city, which is significantly poorer than the neighborhoods in which I live, go to school, and hang out, but the poor or homeless live either on the street or as squatters in abandoned buildings, or in one of the two very small favelas that are located in the city center. What this means, more or less, is that it is easy, in São Paulo, to forget the levels of poverty and need that exist in the rest of the country. In Salvador, for me, that was not the case. The "normal," so to speak, people are poor, in particular compared to those in São Paulo. However, from what I saw, they are also happy and beautiful. Early one morning, I saw a line of perfectly coiffed women, in brightly colored dresses, stranding in line to pick up their free bread with their state vouchers. I can say with absolute certainty that I have never and probably will never see something like that in São Paulo.
The cultural differences between the two cities were also striking. My general sense is that São Paulo is an international, cosmopolitan city located in Brazil, whereas Salvador, had I gone there for my time abroad--which I seriously considered--would have been a truly Brazilian city. The culture, which is a specific mix of Afro-European-indigenous influences creating a wholly Brazilian culture. The religion, a syncretic mix of Catholicism and African religions, the love of music, the food, the beaches, the colors all contribute to a culture that fills the city to the brim. São Paulo is, of course, full of so many elements of Brazilian culture, but they don't necessarily manifest themselves on the surface in the same way, and certain elements, like the religion and the music, are in fact confined to the Northeast.
In any case, I am so, so glad I got to see and experience Salvador, to enhance my understanding of Brazil as a whole, and to understand São Paulo better within the Brazilian context.