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English Language
Sizable African American population
Mass Transit System
Familiar Stores (Groceries and Clothes)
2. Mexico City
Spanish Language. (I'm from NYC so I lived around Spanish people and can pick up certain words. But if it was the San Juan, it would be easier for me).
Mass Transit
Familiar Stores (Depending on the American influences).
Customs, Diplomats, Foreign National Agencies
3. Sao Paulo
Portuguese. I don't know anyone who speaks it, so living there isn't going to work for me.
Nationality. Very important, as I can blend into the population. However, not enough to want to live there. The language barrier would be just too much for me.
Mass Transit would be of little use for me, as I will not know how to read the signs.
Familiar Stores (I'm sure Brazil has it's own brand)
Distance from America makes it very unattractive.
Customs, Diplomats, Foreign National Agencies (This will be my only way to coop with this city and I will only deal with it two weeks max.
Considering that I'm black, I have to factor that in. I'm sure Brazil is a nice country, but its racial history is the worse in the Western Hemisphere (Slavery ended in 1898 and they are just starting to acknowledge racism). Any where worse than the STATES has to be so AWFUL that not even an AMERICAN alligator want to set up camp there. I'm not being funny.
Living in Mexico city will depend on how many people I'm connected to (white and mexican). An African American in Mexico is like a black man in the deep south. Dealing with crime will definitely be a consideration, if the people and government don't value you as a person. And to top that off, if anything goes wrong with racist mexican government, you will be force to seek help from the racist american goverment to make things right again.
I don't want to be put through that. It's bad enough to deal with racism here. But at least I have a claim to this country.
Besides that, other countries don't look favorably on immigrants. Not unless you have a lot of money, which would buy you the security to stay there comfortably, you will know that you are a second class citizen.
I'm used to NYC and everything a mega city provides. I've been told by a few Tri-state people that Sao Paulo makes NYC look small. Sounds fun. Anyway, how's the transit system, restaurant scene, culture and neighborhoods of Sao Paulo?
Being from Rio we use to compare SP more to Rio than with foreing cities.
I think SP has a nice transit system, but generally not so used by upper class like in Rio. I think it is changing a little now, because the traffic is really terrible, and the system has improved a lot for the last years.
São Paulo always had a great restaurant's scene, and the cultural is also great and even rivaling Rio's nowadays, but I believe to enjoy it you have to speak portuguese. Nightlife is one of the best and most diverse of the world.
São Paulo has a reasonable area of nice neighborhoods, my favourite ones are those of the West Zone - Alto de Pinheiros, Higienópolis, that would be my choice if I could afford and had to live in SP, and others. Of course this and Mexico City, like all cities in Latin America, has most of the areas unpleasant, being nice areas a minority.
What I do not like in São Paulo is its climate, which in the summer gets very rainy with daily floods.
In winter it gets cold and have many days without rain, making the air polluted and with thermal inversion.
For those who live on the outskirts, life seems to be more boring than in Rio, where although they are also ugly, seem to be more cheerful. São Paulo is considered a business city and most of the people who go live there, go for work, and have the center of their lives in it.
Considering that I'm black, I have to factor that in. I'm sure Brazil is a nice country, but its racial history is the worse in the Western Hemisphere (Slavery ended in 1898 and they are just starting to acknowledge racism). Any where worse than the STATES has to be so AWFUL that not even an AMERICAN alligator want to set up camp there. I'm not being funny.
Living in Mexico city will depend on how many people I'm connected to (white and mexican). An African American in Mexico is like a black man in the deep south. Dealing with crime will definitely be a consideration, if the people and government don't value you as a person. And to top that off, if anything goes wrong with racist mexican government, you will be force to seek help from the racist american goverment to make things right again.
I don't want to be put through that. It's bad enough to deal with racism here. But at least I have a claim to this country.
Besides that, other countries don't look favorably on immigrants. Not unless you have a lot of money, which would buy you the security to stay there comfortably, you will know that you are a second class citizen.
So don't live there BROKE!
Do you really think that racism in Brazil is/was worse than States?
Think that in Brazil have never apartheid system like in USA, black and whites always lived together with same rights. Including in slavery epoch if a black was free or born free they have same rights who the whites had including the right of have slaves.
Always was permitted interracial marriage including in slavery times, because that Brazil has much more mixed people than USA.
We have never kind of KKK firing and killing blacks.
Terms like ‘’white guy’’ and ‘’black guy’’ is not used in Brazil.
Slavery just was so long in Brazil because the country does not have much people, workers.
The problem for finish slavery was ECONOMIC not racism, without slavery Brazil broke in that time because couldn’t increase enough the population. Think that Brazil had only 4 million inhabitants in 1830 half than Ireland for example in the same epoch. When Brazil had the possibility of import millions of Europeans and Japanese workers the slavery finished.
Americans have the possibility of have life of Brazilian middle class only teaching English, those that are able to teach of course. I met a lot of native English speakers training businessmen in big companies in Sao Paulo.
These people travel so deep through the mayonnaise that I don't have any patience o argue with.
Better for us to to have these kind of usamerican far from here.
Sao Paulo is for Brazil what New York is for USA.
Sao Paulo has tons and diverse, restaurants, theaters, museums, nightlife, parks, and etc.
How I don’t know much about Ciudad del Mexico I just will compare Sampa x NYC.
Climate: Sampa (hotter and nice beaches only 1 hour from there)
Scenery: Both
Vibrancy: NYC
dining scene: Sampa (for my taste)
museums arts: NYC
theaters: NYC
skyline: Sampa (most people lives in Skyline there so the city is fully, NYC is more in Manhattan area)
architecture: NYC (Sampa has third world problems)
outdoor activities: Sampa
diversity: NYC (more international and diverse recent immigrants)
shopping: Both (People come from whole Brazil, neighbor countries and Africa specially Angola shopping there)
nightlife: Sampa (Brazilians party more than Americans)
big city vibe: Both
Where I would live?? If I have good money Sao Paulo, worker class NYC of course.
Being from Rio we use to compare SP more to Rio than with foreing cities.
I think SP has a nice transit system, but generally not so used by upper class like in Rio. I think it is changing a little now, because the traffic is really terrible, and the system has improved a lot for the last years.
São Paulo always had a great restaurant's scene, and the cultural is also great and even rivaling Rio's nowadays, but I believe to enjoy it you have to speak portuguese. Nightlife is one of the best and most diverse of the world.
São Paulo has a reasonable area of nice neighborhoods, my favourite ones are those of the West Zone - Alto de Pinheiros, Higienópolis, that would be my choice if I could afford and had to live in SP, and others. Of course this and Mexico City, like all cities in Latin America, has most of the areas unpleasant, being nice areas a minority.
What I do not like in São Paulo is its climate, which in the summer gets very rainy with daily floods.
In winter it gets cold and have many days without rain, making the air polluted and with thermal inversion.
For those who live on the outskirts, life seems to be more boring than in Rio, where although they are also ugly, seem to be more cheerful. São Paulo is considered a business city and most of the people who go live there, go for work, and have the center of their lives in it.
Upper middle class use subway a lot in São Paulo but not train or bus. First because quality of train and bus are worse, second because in most areas of upper middle class have subway close linking main points of the city.
There is a cultural difference between paulistas and cariocas (people from Rio) the last are well gone, friendly, talkative and paulistas colder, closed, individualist so for people from others states of Brazil when here is a shock they think people here are depressed or just think in work but the truth is only another way of to be.
The system has improved and more upper class people are using, but most of upper class areas are still not covered by the subway.
Buses and Trains in SP are still among the best in the world nowadays, not in coverage (trains and subway) but in quality.
Paulistanos abuse of the use of cars and as people joke, they are their "havaianas".
Another novelty is the emergence of apps of private transportation, that use to compete with taxis, are being very popular both in SP and Rio.
5th Avenue, New York (most emblematic avenue of English America)
Paseo de la Reforma, Ciudad de México (most emblematic avenue of Spanish America)
Avenida Paulista, Sao Paulo (most emblematic avenue of Portuguese America)
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