Wednesday January 27, 2010

I have decided that the Brazilians are a very happy bunch of people, very tolerant and very sociable. Any excuse to have a celebration or a party and they will do so.

Take yesterday afternoon for example. There was a spectacular thunderstorm which resulted in the inevitable flash flooding. As a consequence, once the rush hour started, the roads around the hotel turned into car parks. This is a very common occurrence. In fact, most days from what I can gather, the roads turn into car parks.

Today was a bit worse because of the flooding but next week it will be worse still as the children go back to school after their summer holidays.

But coming back to my initial observation. Outside the hotel is a spectacular bridge. If you Google, "pictures of Sao Paulo city bridge", I can guarantee that this bridge will appear. I marvel at the feat of engineering and although I only did physics for a very short time at high school, the phrase of “equal and opposite pressures” definitely applies.

This bridge, and I have no idea of its name, spans the river in two directions so you have one "A" frame structure supporting two roads carrying traffic north and southbound. I think it is spectacular and at night when it is lit up, even more so.

Well, yesterday, with the traffic at a standstill, people just got out of their cars and started talking to one another. It all looked immensely good humoured. One truck sat there for 45 minutes before moving and the driver just chatted to everyone around him.

Several people decided that they had had enough and simply turned their cars around. Now, given that the traffic is supposed to go only in one direction, this in itself is no mean feat, but the other drivers just pulled over a little bit, enough to let the return drivers through. Even the police just stood by and watch this happen.

So, I hope that when my turn comes to be stuck in such a traffic jam – and I am sure that I will - that my Portuguese will be good enough to join in the fun.