Sao Paulo Express.

UNITED PARCEL SERVICE IS FAMOUS AROUND THE WORLD FOR ITS BIG brown trucks, but in Sao Paulo and other Latin American cities, the delivery company rolls--like Domino's Pizza and other quick-delivery services--on motorcycles.

Sao Paulo's infamous traffic jams make using vans and trucks for deliveries virtually impossible. For that reason, streets and sidewalks in cities like New York and Washington, D.C., have become raceways for bicycle messengers, but Sao Paulo is anything but bicycle-friendly. Pedal-powered deliveries there would be akin to kamikaze missions.

The city's somewhat lax traffic law enforcement, however, provides the perfect venue for motorcycle deliveries and it's common to see pedestrians diving out of the way of a motorcycle driver cruising down the sidewalk, zipping through traffic or taking any kind of shortcut available.

City officials threaten to enforce traffic laws with more vigilance, as well as enact other rules against the "motorboys," as they are called. But without support from the business community there seems to be little hope for increased safety. And, so far, the business leaders would rather have their documents, food or whatever else they need in a timely fashion than safer streets and sidewalks.