Parque Ibirapuera. Sunday January 2, 2011

My favourite place in the whole of Sao Paulo is Parque Ibirapuera. I try and walk the dog there several times a week. There are so many paths, roads and green areas, that I reckon it is possible to do a different route every day for a month without having to repeat the same circuit.

If you “Google map” the park and then look at the satellite view, you can see the lake, the green spaces and the Oscar Niemeyer buildings that are dotted around. These comprise exhibition spaces; an auditorium, museums and a huge covered area that stretches almost from one side of the park to the other. This covered area is great for skate boarding, cycling, concerts and above all, somewhere to go when it rains. I have no idea how many people could get underneath the cover but if someone said to me it would hold 100,000 I wouldn’t be surprised. It is quite simply a huge space.

I also love the park because it is a health and safety nightmare. If this park were located in America or even the UK these days, I can honestly say that it would have to be closed down. For example, there are many areas where tree roots have broken up the sidewalks and the road. Instead of trying to fix them, some of them are highlighted with white paint and hey, the kids love to ride their bikes over them simulating some sort of obstacle course.

Recently a tree fell down, but rather than cut it up and haul away the pieces, they made a sculpture out of what was left. For about a month, several people cut, sawed, smoothed and worked away at the fallen trunk and made the most amazing play space with a hollowed out trunk to crawl through, smooth areas to sit on and a rope net to climb all over. Can you imagine the reaction Health and Safety police? Heaven forbid that someone might get a splinter.

On a busy day, which is normally most weekends, there are literally thousands of people there. And here is what I love the most. People walk dogs, roller blade, cycle, walk, run, jog, and picnic and hang out, all in the same space. There is just the most amazing sense of tolerance between everyone. There is a cycle path that the cyclists tend to stick to but often don’t. Similarly, there are always people walking in the bit that is there for the cyclists. The jogging trail often has walkers and they don’t all go the same way. There are numerous basketball courts and five side football fields, none of which have fences round. The result is that often a ball will come hurtling out of nowhere, but no matter, just throw it back in and let people carry on. I love that a basketball court can be used by two different groups at the same time - one at either end. You would think they would join forces and play a real game, but that isn’t the point. Everyone can do pretty much what they like, where and when they like and everyone gets on together.

There is a huge lake but no fence around it and not even a sign warning of the dangers of falling in. The only sign says “please don’t feed the fish because our food is not suitable for them”. There are feral cats, but I have never once seen them chase any of the ducks, geese or black and white swans, so even the wildlife seem to live in harmony.


Here’s another thing that I love about the place. About every 50 yards or so there are bins and people really use them. They clean up after their dogs and so the park cleaners have a lot of their work done for them. Sure there is always litter, but generally it is a really clean space. There are always loads of people sweeping up the fallen leaves and that, it has to be said, is a never ending task given the amount of trees and foliage that is there.

There are several cafes, and about every hundred yards or so, there are vendors with carts selling everything from iced coconut juice, ice creams and every manner of bagged snack you can think of. At the weekends when there are lots of families, there are vendors selling every type of ball, windmill and kite. Photographers wander around trying to take your photo and very occasionally, I see an old man busking with his accordion. What is really good though is that there is absolutely no pressure to stop and buy – no aggravated selling of anything. It is just there if you want it.

Today it was raining when Marcelo came to pick me up. Tessie, it has to be said, doesn’t the rain, but she doesn’t let it stop her if she hears the magic word “walkies”. We got to the park and Marcelo asked if I wanted to be dropped at the covered area so I could spend an hour walking under cover without getting wet. But today I was prepared for the rain, a Barbour raincoat, hat and Hunter Wellies.

I have to say it was absolutely magical. If I passed 5 people I would have been surprised. The cafes were open but there were no vendors to be seen and even the park police stayed indoors. I felt as though we had the whole park to ourselves. We walked in the middle of the road, in the cycle lane and in the joggers’ area. It literally poured with rain – heavy tropical rain – the sort that soaks you in an instant, but we really didn’t mind.

There was absolutely no one around and I loved it even more than usual.

Marcelo must have thought that we were mad.