Harmless Opportunism!

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So the story goes….. I had to leave the hostel in search of a working ATM. The HSBC one around the corner was only giving out two’s and five’s and since in needed about 1000 Brazilian reals, getting them in those denominations was not going to work. Off I soldiered through Ipanema for an ATM and ended up having to walk very far to get one. I didn’t mind that much as it was a wonderful morning and it wasn’t too hot. On the way back to the hostel as I passed under some tree’s I had the misfortune of a bird going to the toilet on my sandals. I thought not so bad, at least it wasn’t on my hair or clothes. I crossed the street like some weirdo flicking my foot continuously like I had some kind of twitch. When I got to the other side I found a small pillar and like any dog marking his territory, I raised my leg and started to wipe it off. Fortunately for me a shoe shine cleaner happened to be walking by and offered me some tissue. I thought to my self, ah this fella is nice. He then put his box on the ground and put my foot up on it. He started to wipe the No.2 off my sandals and toes. He then took of the sandal and gave it a clean and a polish. Now, all of the above happened in approximately 30 seconds and it soon started to dawn on me how it was such a coincidence that a shoe cleaner was just walking by as a bird did his business on my shoe’s. Also, he spoke very little English but was able to say ‘bird shit’. It dawned on me that he some how threw this muck like substance on my shoe and then waited to pounce and offer his service’s. In my head I was kind of laughing and praising him for his opportunism. We talked the universal language of weather and football. I’d say Kaka and he’d put thumbs up. He’d say hot and I’d fan my face. We had an understanding. He finished off by cleaning my other sandal and as I was close to the hostel I was getting paranoid any one would see me getting my feet cleaned by this little Brazilian guy. Imagine what they would have thought. Me travelling the world for nine months and able to get my sandals cleaned. When he was finished I said to my self I’d give him the equivalent of €3. This is where our understanding stopped. He pointed to the price on his box and wanted the equivalent of €10 for his service’s. I offered him the 10 reals and told him it was the only money I had. Again, if he wanted my other money, it was on inside of my shorts in side a Velcro pocket. He pointed me in the direction of a bank and I said no. I said I would see him tomorrow and thanked him for his service’s. He was not impressed. On any other day of the year this guy would have probably got a boot from me or a least a strong verbal conversation. He was lucky. It was sunny, not too hot, I had been out of bed about 2 hours and I was in very good form. The conditions for this guy were just right, except I was just not parting with any more than 10 reals. Later that day as we sat in a café having lunch and wine(sounds good doesn’t it!) I saw this guy in action from a distance. He would pick his tourist and then take of down the street, with the aid of his bird gun and he’d snare another victim. Harmless opportunism is what I call it. Any way to make a living. I suppose it’s just another way to bring in the customers. Just like Ryanair and their website. People just need an incentive to get there shoes cleaned and he was providing it!
Meeting new people is as much fun as it is seeing new sights. If I didn’t tell you about the strange characters we meet I don’t think it would be as good. Also most people that I will put in my blog will be odd because nobody wants to hear about the ordinary guy/girl. So please don’t think that I only meet weirdo’s!

Anyway, back to what we’ve seen and what we’ve been doing. After our marathon day on Saturday we decided to take it handy on Sunday. We got up at about nine and had breakfast which consists of bread, cheese, ham, fruit and a good old cup of Barry’s tea. You can eat as much as you like but we generally just have enough to do us for a few hours. There was a hippie market just two blocks up from us in a square so we decided to head for that first. We walked through all the stall’s which displayed many different things but nothing really unusual. Michelle needed to buy flip flops so we had a look around for them first. Michelle purchased got a nice pair for about €7 and really likes them. After that we headed down to the beach and had a stroll along the waters edge. The waves crashing in on the beach were huge and lots of people were swimming in them. Some people just waited for a big wave and let it hit them to see if it would knock them over or, more so, to see if they could stay standing. After our walk we returned to a nice café/restaurant just up from our hostel. Here we had our first traditional Brazilian food which was a plate of shredded beef and deep fried something. We weren’t actually sure what it was but it was some sort of vegetable. I had a glass of wine with mine and I could have sat there for the day watching people going by. After resting there we went back to the hostel and got our stuff for the beach and headed off in search of a light beach towel. We didn’t bring one with us from Ireland as it was to heavy to carry and plus, we had no more room in our bags! We found a towel and then found our spot on the beach and as we lay our towel out the clouds moved in and covered the sun. we didn’t let this bother us as it was still warm and we could sit and read our books. People approach you every now and again on the beach to sell you stuff but luckily in Rio No means No. The people just move on to someone else. We stayed there for about an hour and returned back to the hostel with out things before heading out to a Per Kilo restaurant. Here we could pick how much we wanted and could have a bit of each. Both of us had a good dinner for about €7 all together. We had eaten early with the intention of having a few drinks later that night. We started in the bar in the hostel but that closes at 10:15 and everyone has to be out so that there is no noise made that would P-off the neighbours. We headed down to the Copacabana with a few others from our hostel and had a few drinks in a bar there. Then we moved to a beach front bar that are situated along the prom and had another there while swapping stories about travelling, home and many other things. We finished up at about 2am and headed back to the hostel. All the beaches are completely flood lit and they are really bright. We did meet a few people who pestered us for money but no one was ever threatening. Some guy reckoned he could make noises like the way that guy in Police academy does but his party trick didn’t really work on us! We had a nice relaxing day and tomorrow (Monday) we head to the Sugar Loaf mountain to see some spectacular views of Rio.

In a bit. DH

Song of the blog: Africa - Toto

PS the songs have nothing to do with the blogs in case you think there is meant to be some theme.

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