Vale Do Anhangabaú

This guide to Vale do Anhangabaú in São Paulo starts with the washerwomen who once knelt at a stream the Tupi people believed was cursed, earning their living scrubbing linen in the open air while the city rose on the hills above. It follows the valley through the late 1800s, when city planners came to see that same current as an embarrassment, and into 1906, when engineers moved to deal with it for good. You'll also hear about the 1892 viaduct and the park and esplanade that followed, ringed by the domes of the old post office and municipal theatre.