Five more observations from São Paulo
July 23 2008
Today's list is travel-related only... I will have some more business observations after my time in the Lotus Top Gun training class today and in the customer meetings in Rio de Janeiro tomorrow...
1. Down the street from this hotel is an apartment/condominium building with an amenity that is fairly unique to São Paulo -- a helipad on the roof. I have been told there are more helicopters here than anywhere else, used by high profile commuters to avoid the congestion of the streets.
2. Speaking of congestion, I had been lead to believe that sitting in traffic was a permanent hobby here. In my experience so far, while there is a lot of traffic, it's not surprisingly heavy. Also, many cars and all taxis have been converted to run on alcohol/ethanol and/or natural gas, so the smog factor is significantly lower than I anticipated. I'm not sure I'd want to drive here -- there's no grid/quadrant system and street names sometimes are verbose (Alameda Joaquim Eugénio de Lima is nearby) -- but getting around has been pretty straightforward.
3. Twitter followers know that I had lunch yesterday at Fogo de Chao, a rodizio (all-you-can-eat) churrascaria. If you've eaten in one of these elsewhere, then you know the drill -- tons of good food, meat on skewers served by dashing young men, all for one price. The restaurant's business model strives to get you in and out as quickly as possible, consuming as little of the meat as possible. And this is what happened. We held off the meats as long as possible, but once we turned the little discs up to the green side, they were more like vultures than servers. We ended up consuming the meat quickly, and while it was really very good (especially the filet mignon and the lambchop), I ended up hungry a few hours later. One side note from Fogo de Chao -- in the US, some of the churrascarras serve roasted pineapple from the skewer in the same way they serve the various meats. My colleague Ricardo Rossi Neto had never heard of this, and it wasn't on offer during our lunch. However, just as we were readying to leave, another table received several plates of roasted pineapple, straight out of the kitchen. That's what I'm talking about! So Ricardo asked, and he was told that it is not on the menu but they do make it. A few minutes later, we all enjoyed some warm roasted pineapple, topped with cinnamon and sugar. Super yummy.
4. Another excellent meal this week was pizza (yes, pizza) at Quintal do Bráz. I am not sure if I am ready to give up my Chicago deep dish and move here, but these pizzas were very tasty and creative. Another surprise at that dinner was Brahma Black beer. I'm not a particularly big beer drinker, but Ricardo promised me that I would enjoy this. Like Guinness, it uses nitrogen instead of CO2 for a lighter consistency. It was like drinking creamy chocolate milk, and felt lighter and smoother than drinking the Irish stout. I'm still not sure I would have more than one, but I could see where it would be very easy to do so.
5. My only disappointment of this trip has been the Intercontinental Hotel here in São Paulo. I appear to have an ATM sign on my forehead when I use the hotel services. On one trip to the IBM office this week, instead of hailing one of the plentiful taxis, they offered me a ride in the hotel's car. This ended up being R$35 for 15 minutes instead of a R$10-12 taxi ride...in a luxurious Honda Civic (nothing against a Civic, just that I've seen hotels in Japan where the "hotel car" is a Maybach). This is the first hotel I've stayed in in South America or Asia where bottled water in the room (used for, as an example, tooth brushing), is not free (in fact, a bottle of no-name water is R$8). When I arrived at the hotel at 10 AM, even though they had some rooms available, they would not check me in -- unless I paid an additional half day's hotel rate. This is the stay where I'll make the chain's "gold" status level, but no matter. Instead, I was offered to buy some kind of status for US$200 that would get me upgraded. No thanks. Then to add insult to that, all of my colleagues who are here speaking at the class are on the club level.
More tonight or tomorrow from Rio. :)
Post a Comment
- 2
Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 7/23/2008 8:29:02 PM
Odd, now it shows 1 comment, well soon to be 2.
- 3
Luis Benitez http://socializeme.blogspot.com | 7/23/2008 8:45:48 PM
Great stuff! Now I know what to expect on my trip to Sao Paolo in 7 weeks!
- 4
Kevin Mort http://www.theglobalmind.com | 7/23/2008 9:28:34 PM
I remember the "hotel car" from the Plaza Athénée Bangkok cost about the same as a cab from BKK.
The difference? Toyota (not one of the pink ones though) vs 7 Series BMW.
- 5
Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/23/2008 9:32:36 PM
@1/2 - the first six comments disappeared when I had to correct the RSS link earlier today...the tilde on the a in "São" broke the RSS link.
Here they were:
Vitor Pereira:
The heavy helicopter usage is not just to avoid the congestion of the streets, it's also because of security issues.
I guess I'll have to use a different car next time I'll drive you to the airport ;-)
adamclyde:
about the hotel... if you go again and are near the IBM building in ibirapuera, go to the Hotel Sofitel. Very nice and it's an IBM designated hotel. Won't help you with your Intercontinental points, but it's very, very nice.
John Philips:
I live in Brazil.
You think you've been robbed in Sao Paulo? Wait till you get to Rio. Ripping off Americans is a national sport.
You don't need to tip anyone here it's normally included in the price but they'll try it on. If you're eating out in Rio make sure you tot-up the receipts on the back of the bill. You may find that the actual bill bears no resemblance to what you've eaten/drunk.
As you'll probably go up to Cristo while in Rio take the helicopter trip over the city, it's fabulous. Negotiate the price.
John Smart:
I've eaten at Fogo de Chao in a couple of cities and have never felt rushed. Granted it was dinner, and we were buying a LOT of caparinias...
Weird how they swarm that table when you cue the meat isn't it? I wasn't prepared for it the first time. :-)
Scott Marchione:
About the bottled water... it's becoming a trend in the US as well, I recently spent 4 days in San Jose, and there was a bottle of water in my room, for $2.00, not a lot of money, but I could have walked 300 feet to the gas station on the corner and bought one for $1.15.
Ed Brill:
@5 a clarification -- the point is, the water in Sao Paulo is not considered "safe" to drink by foreigners. Any other city I've been to anywhere where that is the case, the hotels provide free bottled water in the bathroom (Thailand, Turkey, Philippines etc.). Here it's US$5. I know you can often find bottled water at a cost in US hotels, but as you say, it's a ripoff (and you can drink the tap water, so it's doubly-so).
- 6
Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/23/2008 9:42:57 PM
@John Philips - I'm only here in Rio for 24 hours... two or three customer meetings. I was at Corcovado on my last visit here two years ago, and really enjoyed that. As for eating out, we're talking about Porcão for lunch tomorrow....would be good to compare with my Fogo de Chao visit from earlier this week...
- 7
Daniel Silva | 7/24/2008 12:11:24 AM
Ed, you should have no problem using the tap water for tooth brushing, provided you don't drink it. ;-)
Not sure if being a brazilian-born gives me the antibodies needed, if that's ever the case, but I've never had any problems. I guess it's just one of those urban miths perpetuated everywhere.
@Vitor, Re: Helicopters: it's mostly the traffic and not so much security. São Paulo has the world's 2nd largest helicopter fleet (second only to Manhattan), and the world's largest bullet-proof car fleet. Yes, more than Tel Aviv or Beirut or what have you. *That's* how the rich deal w/ security issues ;-)
- 8
Joel Demay | 7/24/2008 4:39:42 AM
I don't think most European hotels provide free bottled water either, I (and my wife and kids) have used tap water during a 4 Weeks vacation in Brasil (Rio, Salvador, Sao Paulo) and we were just fine. Also as we are all trying to live healthier / greener lifestyles, We should probably favor tap over overpriced Evian or any other make, just think of the carbon footprint ;-)
- 9
Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/24/2008 6:18:03 AM
@8 Joel, this goes back to a discussion of countries where the water is safe. In reading travel websites about Brazil, the verdict is unclear. Certainly in the restaurant I was in last night, the Brazilians were drinking bottled water not tap. So, while I'm worried about my carbon footprint, I'm worried about my stomach footprint more.
- 10
Brian Benz http://www.softwaresoapbox.com | 7/24/2008 1:33:08 PM
had a similar Experience at the W Mexico City - $10 for a bottle of water, with no real alternative, but the room was very cool....{ Link }
- 11
Kevin Mort http://www.theglobalmind.com | 7/25/2008 7:46:02 AM
@10 - Interesting. A lot of the Starwood hotels are providing bottled water "compliments of Starwood Preferred Guest" these days.
- 12
Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/28/2008 3:12:18 PM
As a DOUBLE BONUS on the Intercontinental hotel, they
1) charged me four nights worth of Internet access when I only was there three nights
2) Charged me a no-show fee even though I told them days ahead of time that I was checking out early.
Thank goodness the Marriott in Rio was so awesome, what a contrast!
- 13
Charles Robinson http://www.cubert.net | 7/28/2008 8:43:39 PM
Ed, Discovery Atlas did a show on Brazil, with a lot of time spent on Sao Paulo. Here is part of the segment about Sao Paulo: { Link } . If I recall correctly, in the full-length documentary they also said that more people commute daily by helicopter in Sao Paulo than anywhere else in the world.
- 14
Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/29/2008 11:02:11 PM
@13 thanks for the link!
Ed, the blog shows 6 comments, yet none are visible.
Sounds like the usual trip. Intercontinentals are nice, but it sounds like they are on an anti-american kick this week.