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Published: March 12th 2007
So Stef is off taking her SCUBA course over the next 3 days on Santa Catarina which has then left me to my own devices. I opted to bus back into town and wander for a bit, aka. Trolling for Brazilian men. But being as its another sweltering day I´ve sought air conditioning and hammered out our...
Brazilian Top Ten
10. Beach by the office - Imagine after a hard day of work the ability to grab your swim suit and be at the beach in 10 minutes flat!
9. KILO - A standard of price measurement implemented in most commercial establishments, everything from food to laundry service (washed, dried and folded) is based on the kilogram. “Would you like 500g of beans and rice while you wait for your 650g of underwear to be laundered?”
8. No Shirts & Service - That´s right, unlike our service industry of North America, in no way is it required to sport a shirt down here to recieve service. Whether it´s a refreshing drink you desire or a bus ride home one can walk around completly shirtless. While this does not equate with Toronto´s gender equivalent shirt bylaw (females going totally topless in public), a bikini top is just as acceptable.
7. Tiny Bathing Suits - In addition to no shirts, the bathing suit philosophy very much complies to the smaller the better. Speedo clad men stalk the beaches as women rock tiny bikinis of the dental floss variety.
6. Dental Care - In an ironic transition, Brazilians are extremely dental care aware, possibly due to all their kissing. One can readily pick up a toothbrush from a vendor on the steet, locate a dentist on each corner and have access to a healthy supply of dental floss conveniently located on the walls of bathrooms. Whether or not this is for oral flossing or emergency bikini wear, it´s hard to confirm.
5. Kissing - Paris maybe thr city of love but Brazil is without a doubt the country of public lovin´. On any given stroll down the street, beach, alleyway one is sure to bump into numerous lip locked couples going at it like crazy and if you´re a lucky female tourist you will recieve an equal amount of offers from male Brazilian strangers. Just kissing - no strings attached.
4. Food on a
Stick - While this may not seem like such an odditity, as we first experienced chicken and steak delightfully fried on a stick, it started to stick out (excuse the pun) when lying on the beach we were offered cheese on a stick, made even more enticing by the small grill carried by the vendor used to cook this cheese stick. Most recently we´ve also managed to find a place which offers crepes on a stick (picture coming)!
3. Cheese - yup, on a stick, baked, fried, deep fried... you name it and it is sure to come with a healthy supply of cheese, do I need to say more...
2. Bathrooms - I´ll group two bathroom randoms together for this one:
First, is the Brazilian toilet´s inability to flush toilet paper. Instead of tossing it into the bowl you have to place it in the garbage, or all hell breaks loose in the Brazilian plumbing world.
Two, electrical showers, that´s right, against all that I had learned in grade 5 science class, you go to take a shower (aka. Water) and look up to see electrical wiring entering and hanging from the shower head. I greatly enjoyed
my electric shock this morning during my shower as I was pleasantly surprised to have not dropped dead, yeah!
1. Sell, Sell, Sell! - I though I had it hard hustelling gym memberships, but Brazilians trek through the street and sand selling anything and everything they think one would like to buy. I understood the cold drinks and umbrellas on the beach, but feather dusters on the corner? On a walk home you can replace your watch, wallet and fill your pocket with gum, pick up a pineapple for a snack, purchase a change of underwear and track down the latest Portugese Pop music, can you say outreach?!
So there it is our Top 10, we have 4 days left in Brazil and then we´re heading way way south. Ushuaia in Argentina, the southern most city in the world... only a hop, 24 hour bus ride, skip, 5 hours flight and jump away.
XO Tash
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Alberto Azevedo
non-member comment
ONE MORE TIME
Brazilians are not portuguese... Brazilian pop music please :)