Sao Paulo Brazil Americas Biggest City

here nice wouldn't recommend walking down here by  yourself after dark guys it's time for me to show you where I'm saying I've never been mugged  downtown I've been mugged once I've actually twice yes I have friends that are from  the US buy me an iPhone please I'll pay you they come alive at the night time yeah  black folks nice before they got put they said they got money for war but can't feed  the poor here they don't even have money for war the kids want to learn it can be  versus The Walki

ng Dead that is where I live what's going on guys I'm here back in sou Paulo  in a neighborhood called liba J I've been invited uh for a quick tour with uh n he's not a native  I don't know if you're a native or not I'm not a native I've been here since 2008 but we're not in  liberi we're starting in BH to go to liberi it's just fine bhon what is what is this neighborhood  guys uh we were speaking about this a little bit earlier watch the cars here the variety right  I think you mentioned this a

lot uh last time we saw each other how it's so uh got a little  bit of everything in s Paulo and what I like about this neighborhood it's totally different  you get little squares little bars more houses and it's where I live this is what attracted  me to it's look at all those trees you know like you don't get that in the downtown area and  I get kind of depressed just being around a bunch of buildings yeah but today we are heading to  liberi what is that neighborhood so liberi is a Japanese u

h neighborhood in the city it's like  Chinatown although its roots go back to afro culture it's called liberi because it celebrates  the Freedom From Slavery so it used to actually be a traditionally black neighborhood so one thing  you got to understand about the geography of saalo there's a downtown area which is surrounded by  these rivers and then you get to where we are which is considered suburbs when Europeans started  coming in they pushed all the black people out so that's why sometimes

foreigners when you say  they pushed them out from where the downtown area downtown area Okay so that's why when some  especially Black expats come to S Paulo they don't like it cuz they're like Oh I thought it was an  afro place you know Phil keeps saying it's an afro place but that's cuz you're downtown when you want  to start getting into afro culture and things like that you got to come out to the suburbs you got to  you know and the suburbs extend forever this city there's a huge migration

in 1970 from the people  in the Northeast looking for work and they all came down to S Paulo a lot of folks don't know s  Paulo has the largest black population in Brazil uper Capital that's when you go to Baya but it's  all these folks from the Northeast that came down here and they pretty much built this city where  are these people they're still here but they're where we are and further down here it's still  like maybe 10 minutes from downtown so we're not that far out but the further down y

ou go then you  start seeing Oh this is where the bayos are people from rifi serifi P they're all down here those  are states in the Northeast and then over there you got all these huge highrises man this city  has so many highrises what's up exactly and it's horrible like we were just talking about that now  I was with my friend Alisa just the urbanization it's crazy like I used to live closer to where  the Metro is now I moved because I'm trying to get away from that why you feel like you want

to  get away from that cuz it's chaos it's a chaos IC City man it's over 20 million people it's like  it's it's just a lot after a long day of work going up and down elevators I don't want to go up  another elevator to go home like I just in live in a little box so I started like at the beginning  of B slowly once I got more comfortable with the city I started moving further further down because  in the beginning it's a little weird it's a little scary the geography is a little crazy so I didn'

t  feel so comfortable living far from Society let's say I don't even think I said your name your name  is Phil yeah let me give a little background about who I am so I was born in Brazil but my family  immigrated to the US when I was about 5 years old and I grew up in the US New Jersey Philly  area came back to Brazil in 2008 and pretty much was like a gringo in my own country like there's a  lot here that I had to learn on the go eventually I got connected with a lot of the expat Community  I'

m administrator for worldwide expats in Brazil which is a general expat group but I'm als also  administrator for the black black expat Network on H WhatsApp but then I went into uh YouTube  with the Brazil expat Journal that's on Phil in Brazil if you go on YouTube you can find the  Brazil expat Journal long form interviews with expats that are down here from all over Brazil  telling about their life their experience and I work with music you can find me at Phil ray music  on Instagram so that'

s been another connection just we were just talking about that now cuz I  was with some musician friends the connection between blues and sbas lyrically thematic Al the  connection between the religions when you get into the black church in America in the k um here how  the people dress how they dance so I always try to make these connections artistically and then in  my free time I just enjoy the city it's safe to say Brazil is a great place to learn about the  diaspora 4 million people were br

ought here to become slaves Brazil is extremely about diaspora  so Paulo is extremely about asper because when you start going into the history of uh like famous  Brazilian Liberation movement they a lot of them started here cuz this is the business center this  is the organizational center it's just like I said if you come here especially if you're a black  expat and you end up on Pista which is wonderful we hung out a lot there you might be like what was  Phil talking about once you start movi

ng out into the suburbs which is half an hour from Pista then  you're like oh now I get it cuz that's where the movements are that's where the concentration of  black folks are and seriously like a lot of the really important movements start here so the the  people who listening now all right say Okay Phil I'm coming where do I need to stay like give me  give me two neighborhoods I should check out in terms of maybe um doing some scouting and um you  know maybe I want to stay in that neighborhoo

d or you know see because the city so huge so we  maybe we don't do py py so maybe we do it and then for a couple days then we we move out what's  uh what area you think we should look at man if you're here for if you're here for just a couple  of days I think the neighborhood after bant pus is a great middle ground where you're going to  feel like you're not totally lost cuz you got your little highrises and you find a little Airbnb  in a nice apartment but it's close enough to this side of the

city where a lot of people from this  side of the city go there to hang out so it's a cool neighborhood cuz it mixes it mixes the two  cultures of s Paulo really well it's a nice blend and um and I would suggest Pista man cuz Pista is  like hard of the city there's metros you can get everywhere you need to go really fast or Uber if  you want oh so stay maybe stay in Pista and get to these neighborhoods if you're looking for that  experience exactly like if you're here for a week and I tell you

come to bhan you're going to be  like you don't know anything down here it's like you're in the suburbs after 8:00 9:00 a lot of  shuts down you're going to be bored unless you know the neighborhood and you know where to go if  you're in P you're on Pista man you just walk out the door there's going to be a bar there's going  to be live music there's going to be this and then explore from there you know when I was looking  for apartments when I was here maybe like a year or two I just looked for

something right up the  street and even then I just felt uncomfortable like I felt like I was going to get lost it was  going to take forever for me to get somewhere cuz there's no metros nearby now I'm completely  comfortable here but it took it takes a while I always say this like comparing Rio a lot of a lot  of uh Travelers go to Rio Rio's in your face boom it's there you know where to go we not to go boom  some follow is not like that like you got to work for this city but what I love abou

t it is the  more you put into it the more it gives you back how much to live in this neighborhood it seems  like a cool neighborhood it's saturday see people eating over here we just passed some people over  there eating seems like a really cool Lounge place for people to just to relax on their Saturday  afternoon man around here the the rents are going to range from 1,000 to 2,000 hi you know for the  houses which in dollars is how much I don't count in dollars 200 bucks for 1,000 um real or I

'm  saying it wrong heyi is real hey yeah cuz the r in Portuguese is like an H style 200 bucks is not  bad what we getting for 200 bucks yeah like older places you know you see these little apartments  up here okay those older older older Apartments up on the second yeah like if you're talking like  those high rises there maybe 2 to 3,000 High maybe 4 600 bucks for a spot like that in that area  apartments are always going to be a little bit more expensive cuz then you got the condominium  price

on top of it I prefer houses like if you start going down where we were and just around  like there's a lot of cheap houses like you know that way and up cuz we're on the main strip so  there's more buildings in Commerce what about this there you go there you go apartment right  here yeah that's like an older apartment I'm sure you could probably find something there for  1,800 2,000 hi it's not going to go higher than 3,000 for 300 close to 400 I'm a wow it's a little  bit better quality of li

fe over here and even when I was growing up in the states it's weird cuz  I kind of I made a copy of my American Life in Brazil cuz in the states I live in South Jersey  like about half an hour from Philly and I would love to go out party in the city but then I want  to go home I want to sleep half an hour I'm in the chaos and then next can come back home guys so  we called on Uber to take us where we need to go and it uh this electric car showed up is somebody  driving hello what's up man sou B

razil that goes to show you Brazil um is keeping up with the The  Cutting Edge of uh technology all right so right now we're passing a river or something yeah we're  going to pass the Pinas River I was telling about this division you know from one play part of  the city to the other that's the suburbs you cross this River all of a sudden you're going to  see the buildings this is the famous P River and you can see the difference already if you look to  the right in the left it's like totally dif

ferent landscape so here like in my mind I divide it  as now we're in the city you know quote un quote even though where we were is still salala just  going over this bridge over the river over the river you already see how different it is all  of a sudden we got these highrises it's a whole another vibe the river really divides some Apollo  as far as what type of life you want to live if you're into the agitation man I have friends that  love downtown they're there that's their spot if you dig

it you want to be there I like to have  a little you know balance balance between the two work in in this particular type environment  but get home to uh my dog just chill out got you you'll be able to play my music loud if I want  to 5,000 is expensive it would be like getting a $5,000 apartment apartment you know in Manhattan  or something like so I was just basically telling him how talking about my Airbnb in the area which  is call a v v v oia and it's a more of a expensive neighborhood to s

tay in you know what let me  show you how it looks right now all right guys it's time for me to show you where I'm staying  this is an Airbnb and I want to say the place is called compo Leo I could be wrong but this is  uh business district area I'm actually in a huge highrise this highrise has two pools one heated  nice heated pool downstairs and then another one upstairs on the 22nd floor with amazing views  I'm going to see if I can show you that this is one of the bathrooms I guess this is t

he guest  bathroom decent size kitchen keep in mind it's just me here so I don't need that much room but  I appreciate what this Airbnb offers right here and I want to show you why I decided to stay  in this Airbnb for so long and here we are it's views this place is amazing at a certain time it  becomes rush hour traffic it makes for a beautiful picture and then at night those two buildings  light up let me see if I can show you so this is how it looks at night guys check it out really  beautif

ul man this is the I guess the living area right here you go into the room you can either get  get in through here or get in through here has a TV in here another AC machine comes with a closet  right there and then it has a standin shower right here the water is hot it's decent now I am paying  around 100 bucks to stay here 111 but I'm willing to pay for just this being in this area I love  this area don't get me wrong there are different areas you can stay in some that have a lot more  activit

y if you stay in the poly area that area is really cool and everything you need is there  you have the subway this walking distance major stores malls everything is cool but I like this  place uh better and actually it does have its own mall that way behind those two buildings there  is a mall where I've never seen so much designer where I think that might be like a very expensive  mall but I see ball main Gucci Prada things that I never seen before man Boutique shots where the  perfumes are goi

ng for 400 bucks from France yeah it's a very expensive ball yeah if I if I can say  at least this place also has a gym that you know I ain't using I love this place and I wouldn't  mind staying here for a whole month that's how much I love this place if you look right there  there's actually a place where people like to play volleyball with their feet and hands morning  time and at night it's really full with people and then that bully next to it they serve drinks  food breakfast is it's a cool

place now this area right here has actually a lot of different  nightclubs I know it doesn't seem like it but it does if you walk down this particular Street  you'll come across a lot of different restaurants to eat for lunch dinner and then at the end  of the street there's a McLaren dealership I talked to the people over there they they pretty  much confirmed this was a business area Facebook this way Microsoft that way really Progressive  area a lot of business Personnel running around the c

ity here because the airport is so close to  here uh Executives like to use the helicopter to get closer to this business area because sometimes  there's a lot of traffic getting here it's a cool place to meet some interesting people just  walking around this neighborhood and you're saying for average Brazilian that's may be a  little bit too expensive or not a little bit that's very expensive guys the social the the  wage difference here is immense uh I went to a site once and it's still it's s

till up there where  you put in your your monthly salary here they pay monthly not like in the US uh bi-weekly and you  see where you are as far as the percentage you know of wealth in the city man I am not a rich  person if I work a little bit harder I can have like five digits on my salary at the end of the  month that's not a lot but I'm in the I think 5% richest of the city which is mindblowing like it's  insane for me to think that with the salary that I make I'm with I'm getting to be a 1c

enter soon  I'll get there but but that's only to show like the the the the difference like the minimum wage  here is like a th000 something and uh some people survive off less you know and which is a reason  why in Brazil you see a lot of people living together the mom the dad the daughters you know  adult kids adult kids but they're still living with their parents because everybody chips in to  live in a place it's an expensive place to live for the average Brazilian earning in RI so 5,000  ye

ah that's totally out of the question for most Brazilians I can't even afford to live in a place  what is the average income for a Brazilian in the city what's the average yeah I have to look it  up to give you a good number but I think it's per year was it like around four I'm see I'm thinking  40,000 high but I could be wrong it's not a lot let's just put it that way it's not a lot the the  salary Gap is huge you get a lot of people with a lot of money like where we are right now this  is one

of the richest neighborhoods in s Paulo If you start going down these side streets here  right famous soccer play honalo has a house down here it's super ritzy and then you have the four  working middle class which are going to make about 2,000 a month like the average salary I can think  about it that way like the average salary when you look like for jobs here um like sites like  monster.com stuff like that I see a lot of like 2,000 a month 3,000 a month you know so that's the  average conside

red decent salary here and you're talking about in um um Brazilian money currency in  Brazilian currency yeah and it's like decent jobs like I I I have a lot of Brazilian friends that  sometimes are looking for work so I'm in a lot of these sites and I kind of like send them stuff  and I see some of the the the the the jobs that they're offering and it's like clerical work it's  data uh what is datab base work it's like work that you got to have at least a college degree  for and the the the sal

ary is like 2 to 3,000 sometimes 4,000 you know and it's like that's not  a lot to survival here in Brazil I can't survive well I can't say I can't but it's hard to survive  off of 3,000 ha a month that's just not a lot of money there's an Institute that's looking for like  music teachers stuff like that so I was looking at all the the slots that they have available  for the director of this organization the salary was between 5,600 and 5,800 which for the  average Brazilian is a lot but so that

's like a, 110000 so imagine got a job for $100 but you're  living in Manhattan which is like one of the most expensive cities in the US so you're paying  you're paying close to 1,000 just for rent there goes half of your salary you know or more it's  like that 5,000 hiis to live in V Olympia how are you going to live there if your salary is 5,000 so  what are people doing to afford I'm I'm assuming there's a lot of exps that live there um I see  you have these big companies in that area like sa

w Microsoft in that area like you got this big  big mall I went to it it had Gucci coach all the huge designers were there what do you think people  are doing to be able to afford that lifestyle living in South Paulo one is a lot of folks that  are living there it's generational wealth so their parents help pay for the apartment it's very  common here uh you know parents pay for their kids apartments and then while their kid is kind of  making his own life the family unit is larger so there's a

lot of people that still live with their  parents it's frustrating for women especially cuz they meet dudes here that are in their 30s and  they're still living with Mom and it's like yeah but it just is what it is so there's a little  bit of that and there's a little bit of like what happens in New York where people just want  to say they live in Manhattan or something well even Brooklyn now Brooklyn's expensive yeah and so  they'll pay $800 a month for like a bathroom like an apartment the siz

e of a bathroom so there's  a little bit of that that happens too but mostly it's just these are people that come from money  already these people that are working down there you know it's maybe 2 or 3% are actually people  that have just started from nothing built their way up but but it's very hard to do that in Brazil  uh the way that the system set up to start with nothing and create something what would be like a  really good paying job here and um doctor doctors doctors actually we're just

passing the biggest  hospital here uh um hosp clinicas it's the it's a reference around the world it's the hospital  hosp hospital clinicas this one this exactly it's huge I mean we're on the Main Avenue now so it's  hard to see the scope of it but it's got one of the best cancer research institutes in the world I  mean it's considered like a world famous hospital so yeah Albert Einstein Hospital too is very  famous here in uh in s Paulo so yeah hospitals uh hospitals doctors neurosurgeons busi

ness  owners it's a big city I mean there's a lot of room for business yeah like big Executives I  beat the tax Pro it's there's a lot of tax issues here it's expensive to open your own business so  you don't see as many small businesses but you see a lot of these multinationals like you just  said so people that's where I made my money cuz I'm teaching Brazilians business English so that  they can get these really good jobs at Microsoft Volkswagen JP Morgan I think apples down here  Google has

a huge beautiful building on F Al Lima so all these kids there they want to learn  English to get these jobs but even then a lot of them leave Brazil because they can get double  the salary in the US compared to here for the same job and the money is going to go a little  bit further what's the educational system look like it's terrible it's really bad this is in your  opinion you haven't went to the school right well I I have family here I I've raised a a boy here  you know he's 21 now and the

school is terrible from the kada the problem here is there's very  little investment in the primary school there's a lot of investment in the University so all these  universities are free big famous universities like usie it's free but who gets to go to uspin it's  the kids that I teach I work at a high school it's a private school private schools are much  nicer they're at the level of like a good public school in America as far as you're going to get  a good education good teachers you get a

better better salary if you work there as a teacher but  these kids are prepared I teach a program all in English like I don't speak a word of Portuguese  inside of my classroom so these kids are way more prepared but they're like the 1% of the 1%  of the population to go to these universities average kid that grows up where I we were where  we just were in the suburbs they're not going to have an opportunity to go to usie or we're about  to pass another big university here in McKenzie they're j

ust not they've opened up a little bit  they have like these informative action programs down here that's helped a little bit more and  you see more Black Faces more uh lower lower uh income faces inside the universities but it's  still it's growing it's growing it's not where it should be is considering how many black and  brown people live in the city and how many poor people live in the city but the opportunities are  still not there for them and it it starts with the education the schools at

the lower level primary  they're they're just in shambles the state state schools are a little bit better but there's still  no comparison I like my heart hurts I mean I love my job but when I meet young people that are from  the suburbs my heart hurts cuz I'm like man you just you got to work two three four times harder  if you even want to think about getting into a good University here you just do and getting that  those awesome salaries is it more of the resources these kids are getting or

what they're it's not  breaking I think sometimes it the idea is you got to want to learn it you got to want it you know  what I mean way back in the day Oprah Winfrey did a interesting uh show where two Chicago schools  just across the tracks you know like you know one was a mainly black school of course you know which  had very little investment very little money holes in the wall the music program I think there was  all these used instruments and then right across the tracks in a richer neigh

borhood you know  public school too but these kids had a pool these kids had a full band just the resources  I mean kids want to learn and they did they did like a switch I'll never forget the Oprah show  a few years ago the stark contrast between in the schools that were only 30 m apart just blew me  away was just heartbreaking the naville school had a gorgeous Olympic siiz pool gorgeous gymnasium  the Harper school had a leaking gym ceiling the pool was empty it was filthy the education that 

they were getting was not competitive help did come for Harper in February of 2008 Harper High  School became one of Chicago's first turnaround schools an initiative started by Arie Duncan to  transform struggling public schools that dirty old empty pool is gone we have a swim team so  in 2006 our graduation rate was at 40% now our graduation rate is at 64.1% the changes in  the school are so amazing that it made the students become proud and kids want to learn  man you give kids the resources t

hey're there but like my little my little cousin which is you  know the jelle which I raised I understood like I would push for him all the time stay in school be  in school but how can I push for him to like how can I actually tell him my important education is  when every day he's going to school and he's like the teacher didn't show up cuz the salary is so  bad for the teachers there's a strike every other week the school's closed because the teachers are  on strike for better salary there's

no computers there's no you know they just play soccer every  day because there's no class so it's really hard to tell a kid how important education is when  he goes to school and he sees like what show the schools are like so it there there're always  going to be those special individuals who just something it's in their DNA you can put them in a  box like this is your school and they're going to figure out how to learn if they have to go across  town to the library read a 100 there's but not e

verybody's built like that the kids want to learn  and if you put kids in environment where they can learn they will but that that environment doesn't  exist here all right SOI is famous for its Street Fair on the weekends it's a little bit late now  so it's it's uh settling down a little bit we're going to get a bunch of Japanese food we can smell  it already wow and it's like the it's the saalo chinat toown looks like oh let's go let's go and  there you go Li but I want to show you something d

own here okay cool so this is the liberi uh  liberi Street fan okay in liberi you're going to start to notice well you can already see it's  a Japanese theme right but one thing that I want to make you know just to bring out to the public  is how this used to be a black neighborhood that's why it's called liberi which means freedom okay  cool and this is one of the women that represents that deolinda okay that's her name yes so she was  a SBA percussionist like we said this used to be considered

a black neighborhood before it became  a Japanese neighborhood and she founded a SBA School here in 1937 called lava Pez which means  you know wash your feet yeah and it was founded here in the B of liberi so it's just important  to know that cuz I didn't know that I found that out about 5 years ago that liji used to be a black  neighborhood I'm like now it makes sense with the name liberi cuz I didn't know what the connection  was with the Japanese and there is none and uh now they change it t

o liberi japone you know the name  of the Metro at least but I just thought it very special to uh give her some love give her some  attention and for history to remember that you know who founded this neighborhood was black  folks nice before they got pushed out to the suburbs let me see if I can get a picture with it  all right wow it's so lifelike it is and I bet you she was probably about this tall too man wow yeah  she found it a summer school this is a basically little Japan I just don't kn

ow where I haven't  seen any [ __ ] Japanese per well I mean they're Brazilian but uh with some ancestry Heritage yeah  now I mean they they market like as 100 years and I think 100 years was like 8 years ago of like the  immigration heavy immigration of Japanese people into Brazil especially after World War II why the  heavy immigration man cuz Brazil is one it's not that much further from the US right and there was  a lot of industry here there's a lot there's ways to make money here you know

so it's a rich country  it's a Melting Pot just like the US so Paulo is majority Italian Japanese it's got the largest  Japanese population outside of Japan it's got more Lebanese people here then in Lebanon wow it's  thick here yeah there's a lot of Middle Easterns here so it's a Melting Pot can people come here  for opportunity like they anywhere it's a good place to make money send it back home see a lot  of businesses that are not um run by um I guess uh Japanese for the tourism that comes h

ere I  guess okay lot of Japanese restaurants on the next street down okay yeah let's get let's go one  I'm I want to check one out but let's go this way left all right you lead the way I think you're  like there's a nice view all right look at the landscape just a little bit Trade Center guys this  is similar to Vin seu right where we just kind of walk right right but a little bit different in  terms of color The Vibes we're here late okay this starts like at 8 in morning at 4:00 guys look  how

it looks at 400 this is late wow got people dressing cosplay right there is this street open  every day right or for this weekend best time this is every day like it's a street so I just wanted  you to see this cuz you get a nice view oh nice you're an anime guy oh yeah yeah big anime  got a one piece right here you got Ace Ace right here Luffy this is Dragon Ball Z this is  uh gear five Luffy right here oh yeah I watch and read one piece I'm I I'm really about  that Zoro Sanji Chopper I almost

forgot Chopper's name man then you got popey's over  here got this new series right here I forgot what's it called but this guy's a beast right  here all right that's why you're going to get that mix Japanese because it's been over a 100  years and actually I found out something about this you say the people some of them a lot of  them are mixed Japanese they don't mix as much but they do men we saw some earlier um in the  neighborhood woman with her daughter and what's funny though is the uh J

apanese people from  Japan don't like Japanese people from here Le heard there's a little bit of tension like a  riff between them yeah they don't consider them real Japanese ain't that the case for so many  immigrants living outside the their family's country nice I'm going to get a juice right  here cuz I like this juice store and my throat are little drve it's a really good juice  and then we'll cut cut here so Phil was in the restroom but he was telling me that  this is actually a a popular

juice spot to get the drink if you are coming to Japan  town I was hoping at least we could see uh more Japanese people here Brazilians with uh  Japanese Heritage I want to see more of that um if anything man they're pretty quick at making  the drinks out there right let me just ask a question they can make a lemonade One For Me Lemon guys a little bit of love all right here you go guys these guys are working  pretty fast guys check them out [Music] man Hello friends all right guys so let me try

some of this  juice M really good so what you got here oh yeah we're going to we're going to swing  around and you're going to see more Japanese restaurants but also like I said it it's  not just Japanese town you got the Koreans here you got the Hello Kitty well that's  Japanese but you got a lot let me take a look at the Korean stuff man I love the what I  see online about their food but you know what there's actually a Korean neighborhood in saalo  it's on the other side of the city but they

're kind of everywhere they're popular they have a  waiting line wow there's a line to get into the Hello Kitty restaurant apparently looks like a  really good place to get uh some pastries and stuff what's up man Tri food guys is here all in  the same area so just in case you're in the mood for some Asian food is here and he looks like  he's from Thailand dud how come this tree is not as popular as the other one it's going to be  when we get up W the Gloria which is I almost got an apartment he

re loocks that way I almost got an  apartment here but it gets a little wild at night guys a lot of karaoke bars down that  way you say wow what does that mean like homelessness homelessness crackheads  prostitution all right it get Shady at night wow looks like a good neighborhood in the  daytime though it is that's why it almost wow get all that the views it's crazy here so  what are people doing now like you said like people normally show up here around 1200 so what  are everybody going every

body's going to a lounge right where everybody doing they looking for  food so people come down here to liberi want to eat that's the main thing but also to buy  Asian stuff you know like decoration clothes folks that are into the anime this is where  you going to find you know vhs's even DVDs toys clothes and then at night they have a lot  of karaoke bars you know per Japan right some restaurants that stay open at night and then  that main that first area we were at when we close to the Metro y

eah sometimes I have music  there like just people with like sound boxes dancing what's this got like a lounge here  bubble I see it's those bubble tee oh the bubble tea oh wow it seems to be a famous one  too guys I got all these guys leaving stamps and everything what's up man all right nice  and we got um another place that guy what's going on and he's making um interesting  dings making some octopus rolls can I get one all right okay thank you  can I can I okay all right thank you w oh he's

putting um what is that like a  cilantro right there oh oh that's the octopus OCT wow that looks great name of the place right  here guys all right is this a Japanese dish I think so Japanese Japanese okay okay did he  learn it here or he learned it from over there or okay yeah they brought it from  Japan here now here you're going to get traditional Japanese food some of  it is going to be a mix of like Brazilian IED but you can find actual traditional  traditional Japanese stuff here in Li oka

y okay so he said this is  a street from from Osaka this considered a street okay ask  him he has he been to Osaka before he Liv there what's the biggest  contrast between the two cuz that's a big city uhi F very different yeah they're very  different cultures you know Brazilian cultur yes okay so he said so he said kind of some  stuff I've been saying in Brazil you have that warmth you know and like we're talking here  we're all friends all of a sudden and over there it's not like that it's way

you know cut cut  end yeah you keep your distance a little bit yes and here no I mean to survive in Brazil  man you got to learn I learn how to be like that I'm not I'm not that open you know I've  learned how to be that open since I've been in Brazil it's a good thing to learn anything up  see oh okay here we go guys if you are trying to get go ahead and scan that and come show my  people some love man they you know they let me film man I appreciate it what is that like what  type of sauce is

that but sounds like a sweet and sour sauce it's delicious okay got a lot  a little bit of everything and then they got some mayo I'm not a big fan of mayos Brazilians  love may she oh yeah I I noticed that I went in Burger King and and I went to other restaurants  and they were like saying oh um you have to pay for the Mayo the ketchup no the May mustard no  but the Mayo you got to pay for all right guys te so I'm going to try one of these guys  still warm but I like it a little warm all right

wow definitely has a seafoody taste to it  like I'm tasting a donut and with the cilantro and everything it brings it out and I haven't  really bit into the uh the it has octopus in it man very good I like it nice and warm like it was  it's like a seafood dut for a lack of better word m kind of warm right but it's it's good right  you got to give these guys some love man I was going to pay guys but they said courtesy man  so I really appreciate that so make sure you come right here show these gu

ys some love  man really appreciate them taking the time to let me film and glorious Street glorious  Street Gloria Street and this should help you get there come over here and come get some  um dumpling Seafood dumpling tastes really good thank you so much I appreciate you okay  thank you thank you thank you so much all right so we end up walking into some form of gallery  here this is oh wow and they got more anime um trinklets oh they got the anime books here all  right excuse me got the Naru

to these are manga if for those who don't know it's considered  what in America they call it manga and it's basically Japanese comic books all right and  it's read um backwards in a way I read a lot of these online you can catch these books online  as well but uh if you a really serious collector you'll have your own some volumes just just to  have just to have uh they come in handy when the power goes off so we're in Y kados which has  all the uh manga and we just asked the gentleman here where

the folks that dig some anime hang  out and it's actually where we came out of the Metro so it's going up this actually I think  we saw some people already in Cosplay up there so they're going to hang out more there down  here is more for the restaurants you're going to get a lot of good restaurants down here and  then you go up that's where the concentration of people are that are just hanging out  and like having fun that's it man another line people are waiting for smoothies wow like  this i

s a it's a smoothie line right here look at this line right here no there's not much more  down this way but one of my favorite restaurants is let's go look at it let's go look at it is this  downtown or no we're about to go and maybe like 10 15 minutes to the exact what they call zero of  the city okay like the serious center of the city which is just over there all right we got ricio  right here what is this like a ohu that's a very Brazilian thingu they're just going to keep coming  to your t

able like you pay one price and it's like a round robin you know it just keeps coming  going and going like when you go to the Brazilian barbecue houses so this is but Sushi though but  Sushi this is one of my favorite restaurants oh my God the food here is just delicious the lamon  in here you see it's more traditional Japanese it's not like the mix wow and here they have the  jisu 120 hi per person so then the food just going to keep coming and coming and coming so you're  like I don't anymore

all right cool there's not much else down that way so we'll double back up  and then we'll take you to the uh actual Heart of the City the zero Marco zero they call it the  zero point so you see how um it packs yeah I mean it's a little late but the food here it's for the  food that's why I wanted you to take you down here if I'm coming here I'm staying for a couple hours  yes I'm like lingering here like oh sure I love it I'm seeing what they got for for food and then  when you start going int

o these galleries that are like four or five stories high they're like  labyrinths and then you end up finding this little store that selling like some comic books from the  1950s like this is a geek Zone like if you're into geek stuff this is a perfect neighborhood for  that man look at these lines guys that kind of bright in the camera but man there a bunch of  people waiting to get in all these restaurants hello how are you how are you so much people  coming right might as well walk in the st

reet so like that's why people walk in the street and  I like it here they sell a lot of of international stuffff so if you're missing like Arizona Iced Tea  ginger ale oh you got it here you got it here so we're talking about finding apartments downtown  and you see Apartments like these which are not that nice looking on the outside but then you go  in and they're huge they got those nice wooden floors big walls big you know High ceilings  they're gorgeous so don't go by the like don't judge a

book by its cover if you're looking for an  apartment to stay at sometimes you can find these older ones and they're really nice wait a minute  what's going on here you got the trapping from the van oh nice nice nice this is got all type of  animate items here ly wearing a black uh jacket and then we go around oh man he got the ace hat  he has the ace hat guys and the straw hat right here let me wear the ace hat you got it there it  is guys it's going down baby this is awesome so and uh got the

one piece straw hat which is a  little bit too small for me there's something special inside that hat there's a MPP in  time Luffy's hat or a tracking device nice nice let look at the crowd of people still  here guys and this lets you know it is 5:00 hour since we've been here and the crowd hasn't  really dwindled oh this is like a a Japanese um Supermarket let's let's check it out real quick  let's check it out rice got the rice here got um some candy in Japanese get some noodles to  go just i

n case Dam I like the fact that they have stores like this look like everything  here is in Japanese it's where you go like I was saying if you want some International  products you go into these uh of supermarkets oh here we go look at this I see this the the  monsters the Arizona well I don't see Arizona there but oh yeah there is it actually and then  more noodles I think that's the biggest thing they sell here look at this guys look how fine  the noodles are I love this one this one kill you

r intestines but it's delicious cuz it's hot  oh okay that that one yeah this is not choking hot it's delicious okay cool what are you uh  I'm trying to go up one of these galleries okay this a like a gallery okay like this you  see how there's Little Steps so every level there he didn't get [Music] me oh man so when you start going up there's  different levels although this one is more oh no there's a mango store there let's go  let's go that's what I'm here for I'm here for this let check this

out all right this  is what I love about find little Galleries and they're like labyrinths and then you  find the coolest little store like Stu exist movies Japanese movies oh we got  Kaio parler let's go to us YouTubers yeah hello this a a dragon slayer  um jacket Full Metal Alchemist oh Full Metal Alchemist okay I know who you  talking about ah now when you put that on yeah yeah Saturday night this has which  is weird it's changed here it's like an emo party here like it packs it's  as full a

s it is now with a bunch of young people all emo emo emo and  a few CS place so tonight at tonight yeah yes yes it's like the the what's left  of the extinct species of the Yus Emos cuz I remember when I came to Brazil was so weird for  me when I was seeing all these Emos down here cuz I got here in 2008 I was in emo like in '95 96  you know it's popular down here so they slowly disappeared and they're still here but still here  but where outside they hang out yeah you see at night like it didn'

t used to be this way and then  I saw that young folks started hanging out here a lot it became a point here in Portuguese they  call a PO point you know it's like just an area where they'll just hang out and stay till 11:  midnight 1: in the morning it's it's the place this is the place it says be nice and take  what's your name there you go that's the name of the store up freaky no it's uh up freaky up  freaky yeah that's the Instagram too okay guys check out Zoro is in the the building yeah d

o you  know three sword style you know three sword style centor yeah yeah awesome man awesome you  were right about the laby it keeps going and going you don't know where you're going  to be led to man guys we're we're trying to leave this place but we keep finding new  things to to film so this is actually more of a basement area I guess this is for  artists people who want to like make animes and draw and stuff like that so you got all  these different colors wow yeah for a lot of artists that

come here this must be a dream  for manga creators ask her does she know any authors knows more disne so she said there's there's  artist she gets a lot more artists than like writers like she said there's  actually one of his pieces right here fuk okay he's a f oh there you go fuk  oh nice saling okay so here's more people that draw she said more than people  that write okay right anime oh okay cool look at these bonnets ladies oh a why you  got to show up the GL these bonnets I know they like

bonnets what the heck don't a satin bonnet  look nice know what I mean so now you're going to bring me to the spot that's known as the heart of  uh downtown yeah the heart of the City I heard of downtown it's the actual Geographic Ground Zero  okay just the thing that we came in a time when people were leaving and it's so much people here  so maybe it's good to come at 4:00 if you don't want to deal with the crowd or or per se yeah  in the morning it's like he can't walk it's a lot of people ok

ay I got Harley Quinn here hi  nice can I take a picture of her of course yes all right no it's it's already recording all right  okay Harley Quinn in the building baby thank you thank you all right yeah hello oh yeah Saturday's  a this is a cool place to Lounge man you man even buy none just walk around that's what I do like  I just like to come here and walk around and like she said after the sun goes down it's a different  crowd that comes and then it's the people playing music on the street

with their boom boxes cosplays  the Emos and they just stay out all night when I first came to to Brazil I made my money teaching  private English classes know so that but it was pre pandemic so we would actually go to their  offices and teach them so I ended up discovering the city that way you know I got to go here go  there this was before Google Maps you know had to get directions how to get there sometimes you get  lost and that's how you find places like I think I know this city better tha

n people that have been  living here their whole life cuz we just go out out out out you know cuz a lot of people cuz it's  such a big city the traffic's bad a lot of people that are from here they'll hang around just their  neighborhood and they just go to work and back maybe every once a month or something they'll  visit a friend elsewhere but it's hard cuz it's such a big city and it's hard to manage I don't  have that lifestyle I have the lifestyle like I'm always on the road right right so

sometimes  people that are from here are surprised they're like oh my God you know so much about the city  but just from walking around right right right and it's kind of a weird dichotomy because it's a  huge City but it's a walking City at the same time and it doesn't seem like that would make sense  but it is a walking City for sure there's the boys they're ready oh the oh oh Excuse me yes I had  to I didn't even see them I want to record them had one dude with they had one dude against the 

wall and this is the what is this the biggest this is cedal Cathedral and this is the back end  of it and it's just considered like a landmark of the city it's a gorgeous wow it is huge and uh  on the other side of it is where we're going to go to is pra which is SE square and like I said  guys it's not a place I recommend going going to alone at night especially yeah a lot of you know  even when I'm in a taxi or Uber whenever they say Central they say be careful yes there's a lot  more mugging

you can see there's a lot of you know look at the police are hanging out a lot of  police are hanging out cuz they realize it's also a tourist place right after a certain hour when  the tourists start going home then you're kind of on your own there's still going to be some police  out but you can already start to see you know a couple homeless folks there especially when we  get into the you're going to see a lot of them and uh that's why we say just be careful if you're  walking here by yourse

lf especially at night it can get a little hairy is this the the area where  they said uh the you got like a zombie land they mentioned no that's that's on the other side so  can you speak about that like how did that existed in terms of why is that Lord man it's a it's a  crack epidemic it hit Brazil hit it hard okay uh I mean it's always existed but it just hit hard  and there was an area of the city close to where you filmed uh you went to the municipal Market  you walk 10 minutes I saw some

of that I didn't I didn't film it you walk 10 minutes up and you  get to the official place called crackland what's the problem nobody takes care of it nobody took  care of it and then they they had these Police Operations there where they just split it up so  now crackland is everywhere downtown to the point where I've said this when you say the police spit  split it up what you mean they just went in there and just locked some people up tore down some some  places and they didn't treat it as a

health issue they treated it just as a s security issue so  what happened now you got a bunch of crackheads just spread across city which we're walking right  into them right now and um and nobody really takes care of it you know wait a minute look at how how  nice this backdrop looks wow this is beautiful to do man a lot to do all right beautiful  beautiful Church uh Cathedral is this is this the biggest in the city uh I don't know if it's  the biggest it's definitely the most famous but I hav

en't seen anyone bigger this is what they  call the The Ground Zero Mar okay this is like the exact the very very very Heart of the City  it all this right here yeah this space this is like I live on an avenue called hoso Tavaris and  I live on km 14 why is it 14 because it's only 4 km from my house to the Metro because it counts  starting from here like it's 14 km from here so this is all the center and then everything like  I live down here we were down here we were in P there's Pista Pista is

right there there's  s where we we just rented the spot and we right around here you know maros at logo to San  Francisco which is right over there so yeah in here you have all the different famous States Min  Rio SOS Parana mat this is the start of the city this is where the starting here and it goes out  like if you want to say what is the exact exact heart of downtown so Pao is where we're standing  and this is where everything began is safe to say well there's a lot of old institutions here

  so I would say there's there's definitely a lot of very old stuff that started here but on Pista  too A lot of the the bean bearings you know sugar barings around there interesting symbolism yeah  it's what these states are famous for Minas is for mining Rio for the beaches so Rio arrow is a very  important port about 2 hours an hour and a half south of where we are today ofana with the nature  here the Big Trees those are famous trees there and M U again for industry agriculture especially  m

atu is big for oh and goaz where is goaz I don't know what that is but goaz is famous for a lot of  the country culture the ecotourism the panal is all around that area it's a state I want to visit  cuz it look beautiful it's the oldest part of the city it's Old City you know you you were saying  you're it feels like you're European city and unfortunately the city planning they plan trying  to copy Europe and it doesn't work here because of all the rivers and that's why the city floods  cuz they

try to do exactly like a lot of European cities are they start with the center and go out  but you can't do that in some follow because of the rivers the valleys and everything so they  modified a lot of the geography and then when it rains because a lot of the city is built on top of  water it floods it's horrible probably one of my favorite parts of the city you like downtown but  at night it can get imagine this street at night dark nobody happened to you I've never been mugged  downtown I'v

e been mugged once actually twice but the other time I kind of fought back the other  time it kind of caught me by surprise once close to my house and actually when I first got here I  was here like maybe a month and I was just walking around like 2:00 in the morning and this dude came  up in the front but then I didn't realize somebody had come up to the back I was like ah but I had  my phone in my underwear and I just gave him that like a tip for downtown walk around with like 40  to 60 eyes c

uz a lot of them are mugging you just to like buy drugs they don't want like watches  phones they want something fast that they can just uh trade and buy drugs so should I prepare  to get mug or should I prepar to avoid being mug mug I mean prepare to avoid be smart just always  look around see where you are right like although he keeps telling me don't worry don't worry but  as we're walking I'm watching the whole time cuz it's very very common here snatch and run like  where we were there was

a bunch of people I don't know if you noticed motorcycle and I was looking  at them the whole time and then the one of them kind of waved at you but I was looking at them cuz  that's how it happens it's like you're watching it's fast man like you didn't even see it happen  so you got to that's how you prepare you know be aware of your surroundings and if you're around  at night it's best to be in a group of people not by yourself you can definitely walk around at  night night we did right you kn

ow in downtown s Paulo but be imp pairs uh just real quick this  is one of this is like the premier University for law in s Paulo it's the very first one I actually  watch classes in here you can watch classes for free they're doing some renovation but this is  the spot 197 see it's the class the 197th class so they're doing now so that's how long it's been  over this is the style of these the the inner city like as far as the sidewalks I love being in here  it's like cuz you're just it feels li

ke you went inside some the buildings on each side there's no  sidewalks no cars driving around no cars driving around perfect for shopping yes it is 5 going on  6 so a lot of these stores are already closed let me see what I can show my audience we got shoes  for 40 bucks here right you see it says 100 is 20 99 that's $20 a lot of the stuff is around 20  bu guys we see a lot of homeless people in this area as well got the cops here hanging out I can't  help but think not everyone here is on dru

gs no a lot of homeless so then a lot of people here just  hanging out skateboard 470 years what do people come here for man really it's I mean you can go  inside some of the museums you knowbly walking towards inside there and it's just a historical  part of the city it's like just a it's like going to see the Liberty belt you know just the place  actually speaking of the belt there's a bell there the the peace belt but due to the homelessness  they have put up these little uh barriers so peopl

e don't line up on the windows or doors yeah  cuz before I I have a picture of me like right at that Bell like but you see it's blocked now is it  blocked only on the weekends or it just blocked 24 hours I stopped coming down uh downtown due to  like the drug problems crime problems I've only started coming back down again maybe last year  right I mean I've fallen in love with downtown again I feel a little bit safer a little bit  you know more manageable so I couldn't tell you it's walkable lik

e I said you can already see it's  like a different vibe like I was saying I wouldn't recommend walking down here by yourself after  dark it can be you versus The Walking Dead I can imagine a lot of these guys here they come alive  at the night time yes spend the whole day sleeping and then at a certain time try to see if they can  get a fix or try to make some money or something for whatever reason but I just can't help myself  looking at uh the beautiful architecture this city is for huge high

rises and stuff like that canz  see why the police are here because they know tourists are just like me going to come here want  to take pictures so what do you think is happening to people in terms of becoming homeless it giving  up on life or is this life too hard right now are there any jobs available life's expensive man um  when I first came to super so right I could have lunch at a decent restaurant for like 18 guys  let's let's imagine it's $18 right so imagine you're going to this restau

rant for years and  you're paying 18 bucks and all of a sudden now it's the same restaurant as 32 you know that's how  much inflation is going on down here that's how much and people are still making the same amount  and people are still like even like a can of Coke man some people may say those type of issues are  because of immigration policies we just passed something we didn't film it but it's the imposto  mat okay which shows like how many taxes it was up that way miss it shows H the taxes

how much  taxes you're being charged with everything there's a big taxation uh that's a good we got to go up  is it that far over a walk this guy says a walk is like too like a block he likes to walk like 10  he's trying to not hear what I'm saying he walks so you might walk 20 blocks and that'll be what  he says around the corner but as actually a good thing I'm going to make sure I put his information  in the description if you are like trying to get some information perhaps if he freak can sh

ow  you around um but yeah his information in the description in the description of the video see  that red thing right up there it's perfect time we came back to uh look at the the red sign but  uh as you can see there is an organization here helping out the homeless people and I think that's  a beautiful thing uh they're doing so folks this is not like an NGO or anything it's just private  citizens who are friends of the community and it's similar to what I told you I work this lady Rose  who

did something similar so we came down we were over on that other side of the city and it's just  they always ask for donations because it's out of their own pocket but it's not connected with the  government church or anything just folks that want to do something so there's a lot of Hope in for  the city as well what is the government doing if these guys in here and your opinion wherever  you are in the world watching this think about how efficient your government is and then Brazil  is like goi

ng to be 10 times less efficient they say they got money for war but can't feed the  poor here they don't even have money for war so yeah and that's what what what is frustrating  for Brazilians is how much taxes they're they're charged man it's expensive to do anything down  here there are companies like I'll give you a quick example Ikea everybody knows Ikea Ikea is  known for it's low prices let's not talk about the quality of the stuff but low prices whatever they  didn't open here they were

thinking about doing it because they're like the tax laws are insane we're  going to have to overcharge we're going to have to go against our business model if we open in Brazil  cuz everything's going to be double the price or more so uh you notice actually in fact if you're  moving to Brazil you'll find that some things are cheaper like foodly like I I think you do that all  the time you're like man this is only $10 uh where it can be expensive for Brazilian except when you  start getting to

electronics like anything that's imported like that forget about it like I bought  an iPad when I was in Europe it was cheaper than buying it here like cuz it was just the exchange  rate you know value here it would be the exchange rate Value Plus 30% yeah tax on top on top so a  lot of people do that if they have friends that are from the US buy me an iPhone please I'll pay  you buy me this no for sure cuz then you start to notice how it's expensive you like these cars  at 60,000 80,000 hi that

's a lot of money for the average Brazilian average Brazilian is  not driving because they just can't afford it so what's the government doing man I mean  we have well I don't want to get too political but just on face value we have a president right  now who was in jail now whether you think he was fairly put in jail or not whatever I think the  world is uh gradually accepting uh that type of politician the world and the guy that that was  just our president is about to go to jail you know yeah

I saw I remember I remember seeing all  a lot of interesting stuff happening in Brazil a couple years ago yeah now that you mentioned when  you and then then we had our Insurrection but you guys well yes last weekend on Paisa they had a  big demonstration cuz he was here and now he's going to so again I'm not talking about the Merit  of any of these candidates or whatever you know since I've been here I had a president that went  to jail which was Lula the lady that came after him Dilma was imp

eached for financial whatevers  that she supposedly did we got this bado which was insane and now he's probably going to go  to jail and then Lula gets out of jail to be president I'm like and how could you describe the  the the Democratic process here in your country because it seems like the people can do what  they want to do they get together real strong in this country they do and and I I thought the  demonstrations that we had here like in 2013 or so were really wonderful but then it got p

artisan  and when stuff gets partisan man then it it starts it up like they were talking about real issues  Healthcare education this but then it became a partisan issue like we don't want this candidate  in there we want this and then I'm out you know like if it's General I'm in there you know and I'm  and cuz we we talked about that earlier with about education about opportunity that folks don't have  that live in the suburbs that live in the faas there like there's a lot of money here there's

  a lot of money in this country a lot of it lines politicians Pockets there's a lot of corruption in  this country what's helped I believe is since 2005 2010 around that time when the internet started  to really come to Brazil people have been able to see how the rest of the world work works and  they have been accepting less they've been a lot less uh what do you call it just bow their heads  and say oh that's just how it is that here they have a word aod people just kind of get accustom  this

is just how it is it's never going to get better and I I see a lot of the younger generation  saying no like that's not how it rolls just like where we were saw a lot of young people I'd like  to see this like I didn't see this before when I came here a lot of young people white black  Rich poor they're going everywhere in the city they're trying trying to do stuff that's for me  a sign that they're aware of what's going on in the rest of the world now they have information  via the internet vi

a movies that's important I believe it is man like it doesn't mean that we  want to I I never want Brazil to become America I get pissed every McDonald's I see right but that  doesn't mean also that there aren't some positive things about some other places of the world that  you can bring here and I think the youth culture really pushes for that whether it's Japanese  culture that they're really into or American culture that they're really into um but as it  is now this is it I mean there's peop

le that have a lot and people that don't have a lot and  then us kind of just working through it in the middle