You know it's election year if...

You can always tell if there is an election comming up, unlike in the States, even in low traffic areas. All the lovely graffitti I never took pictures of is being covered with these types of paintings of "vote for X" generally the same colors, so one gets so used to seeing them, they kind of blend into the background. I wouldn't doubt that the commitees for the candidates pay much less for this boring version of graffitti by the same artists. For those who don't know, all parties in Brasil have a number and a name, but since the number is shorter, it appears more often. 13 is the number for P.T., Lula's party (the current president ) - partido dos trabalhadores: the worker's party. There are actually so many parties that Brasilians can't keep track of them all, each with a number. I would have thought there would be an order to the numbers according to left or right wing, but no, they are rather haphazzard in their numerical choices.

Now, another fun job, if you want to earn R$10 a day, is to stand on the side of a busy road wearing some kind of propaganda, or waving flag. This poor girl is standing in a median between 5 lanes of traffic on one side, and another 6 on the other, all going the same direction (with a bus station and a another 6 lanes going the other direction on the other side - who says we don't have progress here!). More elaborate displays may include people wearing matching t-shirts, waving in the back of a truck, driving down the road with loud music playing so everyone will turn and look, with or without the candidate speaking. I even saw a guy sitting in a coffin secured to the top of a car, speaking into a microphone and waving at the people on Orla.

A room with a View

Although be it not such a sought after one. But what a view it is, of 3 lanes of traffic in each direction, full and loud at all hours of the day, complete with graffitti and guys selling bottle of water in the cement median. This hillside actually is quite clean, compared to most dwellings of this type I have seen. Usually it serves as a place to throw trash and refuse of all kinds because favela neighborhoods usually lack good sanitation service. What you can't see in this picture is the narrow staircase that goes up this steep incline to reach the houses at the top. In another 15 years or so, this hillside, or should I say steep cliff, will probably be filled with other house like structures, waiting for the next big rain to dump them all into the street in a big mudslide.

The other 70% or more

Favelas are everywhere. Over 70% of the Brasilian population lives in poverty, so I am told. Many of them probably live in places like this, small, brick, open holes for windows, built into hillsides, on top of one another, with thin little dirty alleys for streets and paths between then. This one happens to be located just a jump from a 3 lanes in each direction road promising lots of noise and pollution most of the time. Still, that would be better than living on the street, so these people are at least that lucky.

O Posto

I remember when I was about 8 and my grandmother drove away from a gas station in GR without her gas cap because she, GASP, had to pump her own gas. I, on the other hand, grew up having to freeze my ass off pumping my own in 20 below February weather, having one hiccup in Jersey where someone always does it for you, which at the time seemed very strange to me. Here you never pump your own gas - it's always done by uniformed gas attendents, which there are many of at each station. I suppose it's to keep you from driving off without paying, considering the price of gas here, or perhaps it's also a safety issue. Sometimes they even do the air in your tires for you, although often it's a street kid or someone of the like who mans that area.

Reading material

Lack of QD or 7eleven can get to you down here. The closest thing besides your common pharmacy that you can find is the banco de revistas that dot the various streets. It's about the equivalent of a newstand, with so many things hanging from it and around it that the person inside usually remains hidden from view. You want cigarett papers, gum, phone cards, A Tarde, Mulher Abusada, you got it. You can even pull up in your car and ask them to sell you what-not through your window. Convenience at it's best, but without some other basic necessities, like tampons or canned peaches...

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.