Here in Brazil, if you open a bank account, even if it's a basic checking account, you get a…read morebanker. Lucky for me, my banker is Renato Cruz and he is the nicest and cutest (a rare combination for a banker). How Renato and I met was sheer destiny. The story goes... I needed to open a Brazilian bank account, one that would effortlessly let me transfer funds from my American account, and I heard HSBC was a great place to start. So, I gathered up my documents... -passport -CPF number -proof of address -paystubs ...and headed to the wrong HSBC in Alto de Pinheiros. I was originally aiming for the branch at the corner of Faria Lima and Gabriel Monteiro da Silva. After sitting in a bit of traffic, I made it into this rather small branch. Fearing that I'd be met with non-English speaking bankers, I arrived to find my fears were right. The first person I saw though was Renato. I just sat down across from him and in my broken Portuguese, I explained that I needed an account. For about an hour, he and I worked our way through my documents and I ALMOST set up an account. A running theme here is that I'm *almost* achieving what I set out to do, just missing the mark by a document error or missing item. Sweet and wonderful Renato was very patient and efficient swiftly working away as I tried to piece together some form of proof of residence. Later in the day, I successfully got the account set up and today, Renato taxied to my apartment to get my signature to finalize everything. Brazilian bureaucracy should take note, this is service. Renato is: patient, competent, kind, customer-focused and now... my banker.

This is a bit of a hidden secret of São Paulo, but it's definitely worth doing, and do so early on…read morein your visit. You are first greeted by the wonderful Art Deco chandelier in the atrium, which is a pretty impressive space in itself. But that's not all. Head over to the reception desk and you will discover that for a modest fee, the bank allows small groups to ascend to their rooftop viewing tower. It's the tallest building in the city centre and it provides a fantastic panorama of the city. The (escorted) ascent is made via two elevators and a final couple of flights of stairs. At the top there is a small room containing some exhibits about the building of the bank and a few museum pieces from their past, all of which are interesting to browse whilst you wait for your chance to make the final ascent to the small circular viewing platform. The view is nothing short of breathtaking. It's hard to appreciate how huge this city is until you see it from this height (it's the third largest city in the world by population). Endless cityscape stretches away in all directions. If you're very lucky and the smog isn't too thick, you might catch a hazy glimpse of mountains on the horizon or the fiery burst of refinery flares in the far distance (at night it must look like the opening scene in Blade Runner). There are good views of the nearby Mosterio São Bento (also worth a visit) and the main Cathedral. If I knew the city better I could probably have picked out a few more landmarks, but I had only been there a couple of days at the time. On your way out be sure to check out the enormous antique safe in the foyer, which is a wonderfully ornate piece of work.