cultural and other observations

I’ve been making quite a number of observations about life here. I posted a couple photos that do not coincide with my text; let's just call them "visual observations."

One is that crossing any street is a pretty perilous task. There are few pedestrian signals at intersections. Cars have the right of way, so it’s imperative that one looks in every possible direction before entering the street. Jay-walking is typical even if there is a pedestrian signal. I have been extra-cautious around crosswalks. I try to cross in crowds (a driver won’t plow over 10 people, right), or at least one other person who knows what they are doing.

Some police here sit in booths at intersections to observe the traffic flow. The first one I saw from behind and I thought it might be someone operating the lights, but it’s actually a police officer monitoring the scene.

Many major companies hire security guards to watch their doors. This would be expected at banks and government buildings, I suppose, but I see them outside the bookstore, some clothing stores, and my hotel.

My Spanish, though not helping me with my conversation skills, has often aided me in reading signs and a few labels on packages at the grocer. I can get most of the headlines off of a newspaper. One in fact, Shaun inquired if I could interpret what the headline saidt was the number of vehicle-related deaths in the last year; many (some 700+) due to those perilous pedestrian crossings. I am encouraged by my language skills which I always consider “poor,” and I’m becoming much more confident that I would be able to get along extremely well in a Spanish-speaking country. Smiles still have to be my favorite form of communication!

There’s a national election coming soon to Brazil and I cannot say that I have ever seen such a plethora of campaign gimmicks. Some people have flyers, some wave flags, others ride bikes with posters attached, still others have stickers, some have a motorcade drive through with banners, some wait for red lights and unfurl a huge sign in front of all the cars stopped there. There are so many candidates that they are issued a number and from that number their campaign is run. Shaun’s favorite candidate is 11. Apparently he is advertising well, and that is his birth date.