Without a Traceroute

The above phrase is how one Brazilian described Sao Paulo to me. I’d say it’s a fair characterization. You have insane traffic, valet parking and beautiful people similar to Los Angeles, but also towering skyscrapers, business/financial heft and arrogance reminiscent of New York.

This photo gives some sense of how large and built-up Sao Paulo is. There are skyscrapers and high-rises almost all the way out to the horizon, and then mountains way in the distance. Oh, and from the center, the view looks like this in all directions. Sadly, this photo was not taken from a helicopter, but rather from the observation deck of the Banespa Building, which was inspired by the Empire State Building and remained the tallest building in Sao Paulo for many years.
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To say Brazil has a problem with piracy would be an understatement. With one exception (that I’ll get to) I haven’t seen a single legal movie, album or piece of software for sale since arriving here. Mostly the bootlegs are sold by shady-looking street vendors, but you can also pick up a copy of Windows or Office at a newsstand for 10 reals (about 5 USD).

Avast! Thar be pirates!

However, yesterday, I noticed one street vendor selling the first non-pirated piece of software I’ve seen:

Yes, that is a shady, bootleg-looking copy of Kurumin Linux. I bought it, mostly for the novelty factor, and as a souvenir. But also on the theory that I was supporting free software in some minor way (although probably more directly supporting shady street vendors).
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This is a photo taken inside the Baquedano metro station in Santiago. It’s a little library kiosk, where commuters can pick up books to read on their subway ride. I saw them at several of the larger metro stations in Santiago. It seemed like a really smart idea to me, putting libraries in places where people can access them easily. There’s probably many people who would never go out of their way to visit a library, but who’d be happy to pick up something to read on their way to work. Judging from the books they had on display in the window, it wasn’t all Dan Brown’s airport bookstore fare either. They stocked quite a bit of more serious literature (both Spanish-native and translations) as well.

In some ways, Santiago is an attractive city. Air quality, however, is not among them. Santiago is one of the smoggier cities in Latin America. According to a 2004 World Bank study (PDF link), it even beat out former reigning champion Mexico City in “particulate matter,” which are the little bits of crap that make it hurt to breathe (as opposed to gaseous toxins which just quietly give you cancer).

You might think that 4 years in the LA area would have conditioned me to accept a little bit of grit with my oxygen, but you’d be mistaken. Los Angeles, the United States’ smoggiest city, clocks in with with a measly 34 μg of particulates per m³ of air. Santiago boasts a robust 60 μg/m³, but still doesn’t come anywhere close to the big leagues of “developing” [lung cancer] cities. Cairo puts them all (or, really, itself) to shame with a whopping 169 μg/m³, nearly 5 times the level in Los Angeles.

Breathe deep, son!

One of the best things about traveling is encountering totally unusual situations, and having no idea how or why they occurred. Sometimes, it’s fun to try to puzzle out these mysteries of the universe. Other times, you can only shake your head. This is one of those.

Um…what?

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