mandarm
What could be the greatest dangers in Brazil? Thieves? Gun-toting gangsters? Or, supermarket steps? On New Year’s Eve the lethal combo of flip flops and a wet tiled floor conspired to send Amanda crashing to the ground. Her left elbow caught the force of the blow and split open (see pic). The right buttock also took a bruising (no pic available). Amanda momentarily blacked out and came to with sea of faces looking down, just like in a film. Staff gathered around, one looking nervous with a clipboard and a medic was called for. We had only been in the country for an hour and Ricardo had just picked us up from the bus station.
‘Is this the worst thing that’s happened on your trip?’ he asked sheepishly. ‘Yes’. As the store’s PA system belted out information about the latest offers Amanda had her elbow sewn up. Shoppers passed by with squeamish expressions that appeared to say, ‘I wish I hadn’t looked’. (In Portuguese)
The supermarket is called BIG and it is so big some of the staff get about on rollerskates. It’s owned by the American group Walmart, just like Asda. As we left they were taping off the steps like a crime scene. This experience didn’t really set Amanda up for the usual New Year’s Eve high jinx. Still, we went to Fernanda’s family house at the sea and had a big meal, drank fizzy wine at midnight and went to the beach where the custom is to jump seven waves and make seven wishes.
mandwavericfan
It made a nice change to swim in the sea on New Year’s Day and then relax with fresh coconut milk. But, like Uruguay, the weather was bad and it rained a lot of the time. This didn’t seem to bother the Brazilians who sat on the beach in the rain under their umbrellas, like British holidaymakers squeezing the most out of the dying days of summer.