I took most of the day and David and I went to the little section of the city called Santa Teresa. ( I'll post oics if I can find it and the acqueduct the trolley passes over.) It's up in the hills just out of the city center. And once you're up there, you realize why these colonial mansions were build on very step, winding roads...It's like 10-15 degrees cooler and has a very pleasant breeze...during hot summer days. Some of the old colonial mansions REALLY are beautiful. If I had enough money, I'd love to buy one and fix it up. Wow, really beautiful.
One way to ascend up into this hilly suburb is on a very old and rickety trolley car-that goes surprisingly fast. But when we got to the trolley loading area, all the seats were taken on the open air trolley, so we opted to hold on the from the sides. Now, this is something that would NEVER be allowed in the US, with their ambulance chasing attornies, but Brasil is not like that, so on the side we stood, hanging on for dear life. And it was our dear lives we almost lost a couple of times. You see, this trolley passes precariously close to POLES, POSTS, FENCES, CARS, TRUCKS...sometimes I was only inches away from being swiped, but thankfully, we made it all in one piece--and loved the thrill of the ride.
Going back down the hill, I missed hopping on the side and David had to jump off to stay with me (as the trolley was moving). He landed well, but then lost his balance and fell HARD on the cobblestone path. Not to worry, he got up and with nothing hurt or cut, proceeded on our way. He took it much better than I would have. David returns to the US in several days and I'm gonna miss him. He's one of those guys that love the adventure of life...and I'm sure he'll have many in life.
THE WOLRD AS YOUR TOILET
Brasilians have much less of a hangup about urinating in public. If you make it through a day without seeing at least one taxi driver pulled over on the side of the road relieving himself, or people doing so on the sides of buildings, at bus stops, etc., you're doing pretty well.
In fact, what pertains to Humans must also pertain to dogs...because they don't do a very good job of picking up after their pets.
Yesterday, I passed a woman walking a dog.
Just as I passed, the dog stopped and well, did his deed. I looked at the woman, and didn't see a doggie clean up bag anywhere on her. Sure enough, she let the dog finish and then proceeded to walk away.
For some reason, all the days of side-stepping "CRAP" kind of boiled to the surface. I stopped, and waited for her to pass me. As She approached, I said, "Mame, are you gonna clean that up?" She looked at me, then sheepishly looked down and kept walking. Not one to let it LIE, so to speak, I followed up with, "It's your responsibility to clean up after your dog, not your dog's". She couldn't pass me quick enough...and be on her way.
The good news is...as I walked by the SPOT where the little gift had been left, it was gone today. So if she did it, or the shop keeper, I don't know.
But I think she got the message.
DOWN ON SUBWAY
I did it. Tonight I couldn't think of any place to eat so I ended up doing what I did a LOT in NYC--and went to Subway and got a Tuna sandwich.
I think it will be my last. They get 90- percent Right, but it's that 10 percent well that kind of ruins it for you.
Not bad, just not SUBWAY FRESH if you know what I mean.
Yeah, no more of those til I return to the states...I should have NOT gone for the fish.
Never go for the fish...that's the moral of the story.
No comments:
Post a Comment