Oddities

Overall, Brazil is a lot more westernized than we expected. Of course we’ve been only in the south, and this is supposed to be the most westernized part. So everything is as it should be =) nonetheless, I’ve witnessed a view things a bit strange. This post is a collection of oddities, so hopefully its possible to follow my train of thought.

I did a post on buses already, and how exciting city ones can be. One I thing I noticed is, the buses don’t always stop at the bus stop. They only stop when a passenger on the bus requests a stop, or if someone at a bus stop flags the bus down. Sometimes, even flagging the bus won’t make it stop. I watched a guy flag 4 separate buses before one stopped to let him on. Also, you have a limited window to exit the bus. I saw one elderly lady trying to exit the bus, and the driver started to take off, luckily everyone shouted and the bus driver gave her more time to exit.

The showers here are nice. Everyone has in-line hot water. Which means, no cold showers in hostels! Something you aren’t always guaranteed when traveling, especially if you like to shower at peak times (mornings or nights). However, the in-line hot water is electrically heated, so basically there is a live circuit on the shower head, with exposed wires. Not a big deal, except to change the temperature means you adjust a knob on the top of the shower head. I adjusted it a little to far and received a pretty nice zap.

No flushing tp. Despite the heat and humidity, the bathrooms don’t smell bad.

Rains a lot! And Leah misses dryers to dry her clothes. Hanging clothes to dry can be difficult when you are in the rainforest.

Some things are expensive! And some are cheap….

Meat…Cheap ($1 for a nice slab of beef)
Mouthwash..Expensive ($8 for a small bottle)
Fruit…Cheap
Fruit Juice.. Expensive (weird)
Cheese… Expensive

And the last oddity…
Bacon flavored popcorn?!? what? Yes, it is true, my life is now complete, I’ve found the holy grail of food. Some inventions are so obvious you kick yourself for not thinking of it first.