São Paulo - Latin America's 'Big Apple'

[Iberia Airlines]

Perhaps the closest thing Latin America has to New York City (and in fact also has the Big Apple beat population-wise by several million - nearly 12 million/21 in metro area), São Paulo is a vibrant - some might say slightly crazy - and skyscraper-thick urb which, as the saying goes, never sleeps.

The best place to begin taking the pulse of the coastal Brazilian city paulistas (locals) fondly dub Sampa and SP is its main thoroughfare, Avenida Paulista. This is truly a 24/7 spectacle, always a-bustle with folks from all walks of life and other parts of Brazil as well as various countries - working, playing, studying, laughing, falling in and out of love, laughing, occasionally crying. In short, a swarm of activity - especially of the local and visiting business people who help make SP a hemispheric powerhouse and a forest of imposing office towers. From the top floor of one of them, the famous, 36-storey Torre do Banespa, dating back to the mid-20th century, visitors can get a nearly dizzying view out over the nearly New-York-like cityscape.

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