Sao Paulo is for Lovers?: Traffic? What traffic?

Now, I didn't take this video myself. But I might-as-well have. This is pretty typical Sao Paulo driving. Cars force their way into lanes while the "motoboys" (mostly couriers-for-hire) use the dotted lines AS their lanes. Pretty interesting. When the cars are moving slowly and the motos are driving along quickly, they honk their puny little horns as if to warn the cars and trucks: "Don't change lanes please, I'm coming!" I've been told that on average, more than a motorcylist per day dies in Sao Paulo, and that there are almost 20 accidents per day involving them. Pretty low number in my opinion, given the sheer number of motorcyclists and the seeming recklessness with with they drive.

I've yet to drive in Sao Paulo at all. I ride a bus to my school every day, which is a 5 minute drive. But the several times I've ridden into the city center, the scene below is a common one. I've driven in New York City, Washington DC, Chicago, Seattle, Boston.... none of them come close to the seeming recklessness and chaos on the roads of Sao Paulo.

Of course, once you're out of the city, the traffic isn't much of an issue. My school took the middle school teachers on an overnight retreat last weekend - Friday into Saturday. We went west from the city into the mountains a little bit, to a town called Sao Roque. We stayed at a resort hotel and did some "team building" and a handful of meetings. We drank wine at our meetings (a first for me), and ended the first day there by listening to live music in the lounge and, by the early hours of the morning, dancing (I don't know if it was the music or the caipirinhas that got everybody on the dance floor). Nonetheless, this professional group of dedicated teachers were up bright and early for 9am breakfast and 10am meetings the next day. Then our principal mercifully cut the day's agenda short and we came home.

I've gotta say, it's nice to be treated like a valuable employee. Granted, there is a lot more money in the budget for trips, drinks and hotels here compared to public schools. But there is more to it than the money. There is a sense of collegiality and respect here that comes from the top-down. It's cultivated and reinforced time-after-time, day-after-day. The administration doesn't see itself as a necessary evil that dictates to the masses. Instead, they place the teacher on a level that is equal, or even greater than, themselves. They value our time. They respect our expertise. They show their appreciation, and people here are happy. Of course, the money helps. Here are a couple of pics of our retreat at Sao Roque: