Two oddities about South America and one about Brazil...

Hey Everyone,

 

Before the Iguaçu Foz post, I wanted to mention three oddities we have seen on our travels so far.  Two of the oddities have been common throughout South America.  The third oddity has only been in Brazil. 

 

Now, there have been hundreds of "oddities" that we have encountered.  And by "oddity", I just mean something that is different than the States and interests, amuses, or enlightens me.  Maybe "oddity" is not the best word, but it is good enough for this post.  Some of these oddities, we have written about in previous posts, but the vast majority have not been mentioned.  It is a shame because they are the types of things that give me the most pleasure when I travel, but they are often trivial enough that they slip my memory unless I was to make special notes about it.  So when it comes time to write a blog post, I do not readily recall the little things I saw the previous few days.

 

The two that have been observable all over South America in both the "rich" and "poor" countries are:  the lack of concrete pavement for sidewalks and installing broken shards of glass along the tops of most walls and roofs in order to deter birds from sitting there.

 

At first, I thought the lack of concrete sidewalks was charming.  From Lima, Peru to Iguaçu Foz, Brazil, the use of concrete for sidewalks has been nearly non-existent.  If they have improved sidewalks at all, then they are constructed out of cobble stones, stone bricks, or tiles of various forms and sizes.  The use of these materials and the subsequent settling of the ground or the uprooting from adjacent trees causes the sidewalks to be the most uneven and torn up that I have ever seen.  Ozell and I have large luggage bags that include a roller which would make them easy to move around.  However, these sturdy bags have started to take a beating due to the crappy sidewalks which constantly snag and jolt the wheels and hard plastic bases of the bags.  There are so many tripping hazards for able-bodied pedestrians, and I don't think most people in wheelchairs could navigate 80% of the sidewalks in any particular city.  In addition, there is usually a fair amount of trash and dog shit to navigate around as well.  And I do not understand why this is the case.  Maybe people here like their tiled and stone sidewalks, but I cannot see how they could be cheaper to construct than concrete.  The tiles and stones need to be cut and hand laid and then grouted in place.  You just pump concrete into a form and then brush it (for the most part).  It would be a huge improvement for these cities in my opinion.  This picture attached to this post shows an example of a typical sidewalk- actually, this is an atypical example because this section of a sidewalk is actually in much better shape than most.  It still is very uneven and the spaces between tiles are not smooth or flush.

 

I think the broken shards of glass are an ingenious way to discourage birds from settling in for a rest or shit on your walls, but they are aesthetically pretty damn ugly.  While the glass may not line every wall and roof, it is pretty damn omnipresent in every location we have been.  The tops of walls or edges of roofs are spackled with a layer of cement or grout.  Then, broken shards of glass bottles and such are stuck in the cement/grout with there sharp edges facing up.  Admittedly, I have not seen any birds or other animals on the tops of these walls so it is definitely effective.  It just looks bad and reminds me of something rural, white trash Americans might do if they actually drank their beer from bottles instead of aluminum cans.

 

The last item that made Ozell and I cynically chuckle was when we went to an ATM at about 10:30pm when we where in Florianopolis.  We knew we were going to have a large bill for the week at the hostel, and the ATMs in South America only allow us to take out a couple hundred dollars each day so we were trying to get out money that night and again the next day.  However, when we went to use the ATM, it told us the amount we were requesting "Exceeded our daily limit." even though we had not used the ATM that day.  We tried again for a smaller amount.  The same message appeared.  We gave up and decided to try a different machine the next day.  When we returned to the hostel, our experience at the ATM came up in conversation with the Brazilian with whom we had become friends.  That is when he informed us that in Brazil a law was passed that required ATMs to only issue very small amounts of cash $10-$20 after 10pm if they issued any cash at all.   As he said this first statement, I thought to myself, "That sort of sucks, but I guess they decided to due that so that armed muggers could not demand that you take out a bunch of money at a nearby ATM."  (Unlike most of the petty thieves on the rest of the continent who mainly pick pocket you, Brazilians are known to be armed and to have little qualms about using their knives and guns if they are not happy with their take or your cooperation.)  But as I was thinking this law was passed to protect people from the typical street thugs, our Brazilian friend continued with his explanation...  Yeah, the government decided to pass this law so that corrupt police could not force you to go to the ATM and take out a large sum of money for them.  So this law was passed not because of the Brazilian street criminals but because of the high percentage of corrupt Brazilian police!  That made us chuckle- more out of frustration and disgust, than because it was funny.

 

Okay-  that is all for this post...

 

Sean  :)