Help ! shall we shant we!!!

Hi Marie! so Sao Paulo is undoubtedly a dangerous city, but almost all cities are dangerous to an extent. SP is intimidating, large, dirty, noisy and has terrible traffic. But it has a charm too. For people of means (as you will be relocating on the tails of a company transfer i expect they'll do a lot of the relocating for you) you will MOST likely be located in a very nice area of the city (you will be in the city, traffic is so bad that to live outside the city and work in it you are looking at 3-5 hours of traffic and commute). To be honest, there are some great locations to live in SP city (as long as you have $$$$) the big cities in Brazil are now among the most expensive cities to live in the world over (just read it in an article, will post it when i find again) but if you can be located in a great spot, then you will really enjoy SP. Great food, great people, new culture, nice weather minus all the rain(DO bring your wellies and umbrellas!!!!) and if you need to get out of the city the countryside with endless towns is right outside the city limits (about an hour outside of SP are great vineyards to escape to).

As far as your children are concerned, they will learn portuguese quickly. and (your husband's employer will probably arrange the school transfer as well, right?) but most likely your children will go to a top private bilingual school. SP has some great private schools. SP is dangerous and has a lot of dangerous people, but it also has a lot of great people to make up for it.

Security will be built into wherever you live. Apartments charge a lot for security, and if you live in a house, it WILL be behind a condominium wall which is watched by surveillance. In Brazil, we say that we wall ourselves in to protect ourselves. which is sad and true, but really is the only option and in the end is worth the payment and walls...

so yes dangerous, but doable. send me a message or email if you have more specific questions

mallory

SP has a great park, nice shopping malls, and the ability to escape on the weekends. if it's not forever, i say you should consider (but maybe visit first!) and after a few years if you are still here, consider moving out to the SP countryside cities.

Hello malloryelise,
There are too many people that says that SP is very dangerous.  I come from Buenos Aires, and also people say the same from there, but I agree with you that always a place with too many people living on is dangerous because you got a mix of everything.

Anyway, after this 2 monts living on SP, I think it's like my hometown.  Also I speak with too many people that lives here about this, and everybody agree that Rio is worst than SP (the reviews I found on internet say the same!).

I think this is because the favelas on SP are not so near from the metropolitan area (I believe, not sure), while in rio you have the favelas very near to the rest of the city.

Marie,
I recommend that you should take care as you should at any place, and also that you should know where you are.

Is not the same if you are walking with your laptop bag at the Jardim Paulista streets that if you are in other neighborhoods.
Is not the same if is day or night, keep in mind this also.

I hope it helps!

Good luck,

Matias