Think of the city of Sao Paulo as the Brazilian Big Apple, only sweeter. With 15 million people, Sao Paulo rates as the third largest city in the world, complete with all the problems of an ever-burgeoning metropolis - skyscrapers, traffic jams, slums, pollution, and noise. But there is also a certain kind of charm in the residents of the city (called Paulistanos) that somehow makes these problems seem less imposing. Taxi drivers are honest {mais ou menos), waiters gracious, and shopgirls - always pretty - remain irrepressibly helpful. Finally, it's home to the largest industrial complex in Latin America and accounts for about half of Brazil's federal taxes. Whatever is modern in Brazil can be found in Sao Paulo, South America' largest city
