If Brazil is the Texas of South America, then Delta Airlines is an RV with wings. All I have to say about Delta flight 121 to Sao Paulo is that I arrived in Sao Paulo in one piece. Their one “unit” of alcohol on a nine-hour, transcon flight, along with the fact they played “Hotel For Dogs” earned them a big black “X” in my travel future travel plans, However, Upon arrival I learned that an Air France plane with 228 passengers disappeared en route from Rio to Paris. The sobering news put any gripes I had about cramped quarters to rest.

Guarulhos International Airport was relatively restrained for Brazil’s busiest air hub. The excitement was provided by a clutch of teenie-boppers camped outside the international arrivals hall waiting for reggaeton singer called Rebelje. You can see him in the blue hat.

After snapping some pictures of the hubub, I asked a porter who the guy was and he wrote down the name on a business card. Subsequent Internet searches haven’t turned up any info, and the group of kids who came to see him was small, but vigorous.

Out of arrogance alone, I neglected to write down the cell phone number or taxi confirmation code  I needed to connect with Debby and Jose, my gracious hosts. My assumption was threefold:

1. I would be able to connect my laptop to a wifi network
2. Once online I could retrieve the necessary information
3. Buying a phone card to announce my arrival would be a cinch

Although I was able to complete all of the aforementioned tasks, I should have saved myself the hassle with a little planning ahead. After 90 or so minutes lolligagging in the airport, I was in a cab and on my way to the center of town.

Airports are  almost the same as hotel rooms. Their purpose is the same and beyond the language being spoken inside, they are hard to separate. (When I get to Nigeria, I will demonstrate how this is not always the case, but just bare with me, aight?) To know a city, you have to see it from the street level and Sao Paulo’s streets have a grizzly reputation. There is more than one car for every four people, in this city of over 20 million people and while there is a subway system, surface transportation is the dominant means of getting around.

The interminable gridlock has given rise to innovation of its own. According to the Guardian, Sao Paulo has a fleet of over 469 helicopters, to help those with the means avoid “Traffic jams [that] often stretch to more than 130 miles in greater Sao Paulo.” There are  [Click here for more audio] A hotel with a helipad on the rood is just around the corner from where I now sit. However, traffic is just one part of the equation. Crime is also a major factor. In addition to the boom in helicopter sales, The New York Times recently reported how crime in Sao Paulo is leading to an explosion in armored car sales. Chances are very good I will be taking a ride in one tomorrow.

While street crime seems to have a lot of folks on edge, I haven’t seen anything yet. What should have people worrying is the way people drive here. Motorcyclists zip between lanes of stalled cars with suicidal disregard, and drivers are fond of fishing their front ends before oncoming traffic as a way of merging lanes.

Beyond the traffic, I haven’t formed much of an opinion about Sao Paulo yet. The vehicle culture has dominated my 14 hours in town.  The city is enormous, and garish concrete reach into the sky as far as one can imagine. After a lunch of eggplant parmesan, beef cutlets and salad, I went for a walk up to Paulista, and watched as the sun set just after 5:45. Although summer was getting under way in New York, winter in Sao Paulo starts in two weeks. It was somewhat chilly today, with a slight breeze.

I don’t know whether I like Sao Paulo yet, but once I start meeting more people, I’m sure it will grow on me. Thanks to Debby’s networking prowess and a little social media, I’m starting to get the ball rolling from a business perspective. Tomorrow night I will be meeting the Sao Paulo CouchSurfing group at a bar called Genuino nearby and from here, I am confident that interviewing will really get underway.

I’ve always been averse to making plans and this is even true when I travel. Wherever the wind carries me is where I’m supposed to be. In China, Israel and India, I never bothered to buy guide books or pocket dictionaries because I figured the people I was with would know more than any book. Needless to say, I haven’t gone missing on any excursions yet, but there is something to be said for planning ahead, whether it’s getting immunizations (which I did), learning a little about the culture, or getting to know more about the language.

In the process of gathering research material, I found this this great audio clip about doing business in Sao Paulo produced by ‘The Economist.’ If I weren’t packing I would do a more in depth summary, but here are some of the key points:

Meetings start 20 minutes after the designated time. Traffic is Sao Paulo is so bad that it can always be used as an excuse. Private individuals maintain an extensive fleet of personal helicopters that allows them to hop over the city’s nightmarish traffic. My aunt was recently in Sao Paulo and told me that traveling 5 km can take an hour or more.

Restaurants are to Sao Paulo what beaches are to Rio. Although the correspondent for the Economist recommended some great Churascarias (Brazilian steakhouse), I don’t think I willl be dining at the high end of the fork this time. While many of her reccomendations were for business travelers, a little on-the-ground intelligence is never a bad thing. but I am certainly excited to sample the cuisine.

Keep $100 bill on you at all times in case you get mugged. Street crime in Sao Paulo is no joke, but you stand a better chance of walking away from a confrontation if you have some cash on the ready to give to your assailant. Although shopkeepers don’t accept US$, your mugger will be more than  happy to exchange your currency at a local bank after he is done holding you up.