Sunday, August 21, 2011

Brasil: Musings July 30


Brasil post 3:

A short interim post to keep you hungry for more..

I've made a couple of small observations in Brasil that have particularly struck me. The first is pedestrian traffic patterns in Salvador. Coming from a relatively aggressive pedestrian zone in Boston (we made the J-walk cool) I thought that I would be prepared for reading walkers and runners as I try and make my way down the streets on my morning jogs. Wrong. Instead of the unwritten "pass on the right" rule that many runners and walkers adhere to, Salvadorians go wherever they feel like, which in most cases is as far from the treacherous roads as possible. Runners hold no right of way here and are usually pushed towards the road no matter how much room there is on the sidewalk. It's almost as if someone is saying, "Hey if you're trying to move that fast, then you can take that chance - on the inside lane". It's pretty amusing stuff actually and makes running in Salvador that much more of an adventure every (other) morning.

Another small observation is the use of the polite horn. Cars use their horns frequently down here, something that is commonplace for most cities. However, instead of laying on the horn like they do in the states, Brasilians give a polite horn tap to let people know where they're at on the road. The taps are so subtle to my Americano ears, that I don't usually hear them until the third go-around, which in some cases is a little too late ha. The polite horn usually only makes appearances in the States when someone is trying to get ahold of a friend on the sidewalk, so when I hear that beep here I spin around looking for a familiar face! Oh well, can't win them all, maybe some day I'll turn around to a familiar face, but for now I'll take just not getting hit by traffic.

Tchau for now.

brasil grandma and grandpa on grandpa's bday


the kool kid krew


alec and avo (grandpa)

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