Itu is, to quote the immortal Richard Norris, "regionally prominent". It should be regionally prominent for its moderate role in Sao Paulo politics during the period of the young republic. As a coffee and dairy farming town, it was the location of several high-powered meetings between the plantation owners who became the aristocracy of the crownless post-1889 Brazil. Its museum, which recounts the many periods of Itu's historical significance by means of painted tile walls, tries its best to lend some credibility to Itu's fame.
No, Itu's fame stems from a drive by the late Simplicio, a Ituan humorist who, after installing himself as the Tourism Secretary for the city, determined to truly put Itu on the map. The name "Itu" comes from a tupi word which means "big", and Secretary Simplicio determined that the world needed Itu to be the "capital of big things".
O Secretario was tremendously successful, erasing Itu's history in favor of whimsical leviathans. Every Paulistano knows Itu as the "place where everything's big", and indeed, many things are big. Popsicles sold there must be over 1 foot in size. The traffic light can be seen from 5 blocks away. The phone booth in the central park is taller than the trees which surround it. My hat goes off to the hero Simplicio, for he has truly put his charming town on the map.
Not sure what this was . . . on the way to a farm we found a floating glacier of what is either the hardiest ice within 1000 miles or industrial runoff.
This llama was 23 feet tall. Or not. He was just a normal llama.
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