The dreaded SETT

A vague memory of the little heart skip when you pass a cop parked on the side of the road in the States - was I speeding? did I use a blinker when I passed that car? Or when one comes up behind you and follows you for 5 miles, making no attempt to pass, just waiting for you to do something wrong. The dreaded BLACK AND WHITES. But in our lovely land here, no one worries if they are drinking and driving, speeding, or cutting someone off when a cop is around - cops have no authority to enforce traffic laws. They could of course stop you and hold you for a time, but they can't write you a ticket, make you pay a fine, or arrest you for breaking the laws of road. But look out if you see that ORANGE AND WHITE! Not only do they set up automatic radar that takes a picture of your license plate and issue you a speeding ticket, they hide at intersections where people make illegal lefts, U-turns, and issue tickets for using your cell phone while driving. They even occationally give tickets for illegal parking, although rarely during Carnaval I am told. Driver beware.

Driving off the edge

Your very own thrill ride right here in Salvador. Countless roads like this one (found in Rio Vermelho) angle down steep declines, seemingly strait into the ocean, yet at the last minute you will see there is a road to save you from certain wetness. The degree incline that some of these roads have make me worry about the longetivity of the clutch in the cars traveling up and down them, and the driver's ability to master that break/clutch bounce with use of the parking break to keep yourself from barreling backwards into the motorist behind you. If you drive here, you must, absolutely MUST be able to do this, and stand the buring smell your engine will make in the process. This is probably one of the main reasons I don't drive here. That, and the amount of these types of roads that I have seen that DO actually end with no warning, either sending the unsuspecting driver into a building, a large walled off trash heap, and in one case, a road that becomes a stairway that empties on to the sidewalk below.

I promise I promise, new pictures tomorow!

Moving

Geocities is too much of a hassle to maintain. As much as I love doing HTML, I am going to move the "This week in Bahia" pictures and stories to post here from now on, in the hopes that this will enable me to actually update it on a regular basis. Lets see if it works. You can see the previous posts at their original page here.