Iguatemi Sao Paulo

We came across the Iguatemi SP mall completely by chance yesterday after an unsuccessful attempt at getting into Hebraica (come on, who carries their passport with them at all times anyway...).

The nearest metro station definitely isn't within a comfortable walking distance.  This is deliberate: the mall was constructed before the metro system was (1966 & 1972, respectively).  Something to do with 'keeping away undesirables', or more to the point: poor people.  Brazil has a lot of those.

The very first thing I noticed about Iguatemi SP, was that there was a valet service for customers to drop off their cars.  A valet service.  Secondly, I immediately felt under-dressed the second I stepped foot in there.  No one was wearing trainers, converse or anything of the type.  There weren't many people wearing jeans either.

It was relatively empty when we walked in, just a few well-dressed people milling around with very well-behaved children.  As we ambled along the white marble corridors past the overpriced shops I thought "this is a nice mall".  Then I saw the Christmas display.

Just to give you and idea of scale: those figurines are people-sized.  And the train is pretty much to scale.  Yeah, I know.  And that ain't all.  It carried on up the stairs, along the wall:

It was the largest and most overwhelming Christmas display I've seen anywhere - and I've been around.  It filled the entire central hall from ceiling to floor - there were six animatronic reindeer attached to a sleigh suspended from the ceiling.

We decided to see if there was a food hall so we could get a coffee.  The signs were all written in both Portuguese and English, so it didn't take us long to find it.  This is what we found:

Ok, now I've been to some really nice malls... I had a couple of holidays in Palm Beach with my ex-step-dad's millionaire parents, went to a millionaire's golf club, visited some seriously impressive 'rich people only' malls and I have NEVER in ALL MY LIFE seen a food court as opulent as this one.  It really took your breath away.  On top of which, each restaurant/cafe had an equally beautiful but completely individual design of it's own - even the McDonald's.  It was just as well there was a McDonald's because we were totally out-priced by everything else on offer.

This is one of the cafes - notice the chandelier.  Again, this picture doesn't really do the place justice:

The opulence carried on in the bathrooms.  The floors, walls, and sinks were made of red and white marble - the floor was like a chess board.  The fixtures and fittings - including the hand drier - were made of solid, highly polished brass.  There was a member of staff in a maid's uniform standing by the basins ready to assist at all times.

Check out the solid brass hand dryer on the wall on the right.

My mother was on cloud nine the whole time we were there, she didn't want to leave - that place is basically her idea of heaven.  I, however, felt... well, a little uncomfortable.  I always feel a little uncomfortable in places where there are a lot of rich people.  It's not that I have a problem with rich people: I have known plenty and some of them have been lovely and some of them have been total assholes - the same as the rest of us.  Politically I'd probably be slightly left-of-centre, so I don't hate rich people or 'the establishment' per se, but I do think certain things rich people do/buy/have are a bit over the top.

Iguatemi was over the top.  It was a bit much.  In fact, it was bordering on insensitive.  The only black people I saw in the mall were staff - and by 'black' I am also including what we in the UK would term 'mixed race'.  I come from a city where it's not unheard of to see black/mixed race people actually buying stuff in expensive stores in expensive areas with their own money.  I didn't see a single one - not even at lunch time when the mall packed out. 

The prices were shocking.  Prices for a lot of things in Brazil are higher than we're used to in the US/Europe because they have to import a lot of 'luxury' items in.  However, I saw a pair of Prada sunglasses for R$1800 - that, translated into GBP is approximately £700.  I saw the same pair of Prada sunglasses in Selfridges recently and they cost HALF of that... and Selfridges ain't cheap.  You get my drift.

Considering just down the road there were a bunch of homeless living in squalor in cardboard boxes during a torrential downpour, and a little bit further down there were thousands upon thousands living in makeshift shanty towns, it was downright outrageous.

Our host Fernando told me about another mall in Sao Paulo, a bit further out, that is only accessible by car - you can't walk into it like you can at Iguatemi.  Parking your car at this mall in order to shop there isn't free, either: it costs around R$80 (£32).  As you can imagine, this mall is frequented mostly by the super-rich.  In Brazil, you don't ever see these people.  They live in large mansions with high security, they only travel by car, they don't go out in public, they have their own private clubs, they go to each other's houses.  They are nowhere to be seen.  They are entirely separated from the rest of Brazilian society.  This is the reason I felt so at odds in Iguatemi: it was merely a small indication of the vast gap between the rich and the poor in Brazil.  The rich here are REALLY rich and the poor here are REALLY poor, and that just doesn't sit well with me. 

On the plus side, I can confirm that I have a fully functioning conscience.