Reality check 4

I have a friend in the States, well actually several friends all over the place, who think I was mad to move to this country. Why give up my very gentile, suburban lifestyle in the States for the concrete jungle that is Sao Paulo. Throw in the pollution, language, traffic jams, cultural differences, and security issues, not to mention the separation from the children and I’m sure that my friends thought I was totally off my rocker.

So far, everything has been manageable. I have a really great group of friends, a house that is close enough to the office that means Steve’s commute is very easy and of course I have Marcelo. The children come often enough and I travel often enough to see them, that we are all pleased to see each other when we do meet up. They are both in great places and it fills my heart with happiness when in answer to the question “how are you?” the answer is generally “Fine.” I have found enough bridge, have started flower arranging (how middle aged and middle class can one get?) and am struggling to keep the weight off with all the lunches and dinners that I have.

As I type this, Charles and Steve are both home, dinner is in the oven and a glass of wine is going down very nicely thank you.

But this week there was yet another security incident that brought home the reality and the proximity of the dangers of living here. So far, everything I have heard about has been “somewhere else”. This week however, there was an incident right on my door step. In fact, it was at the other end of my street.

It seems that a gang of armed robbers decided to rob a house, and, having neatly parked their car, waved their guns, including a rifle and entered a house. Two residents inside the house were tied up and, I guess, the robbers set about their task. Fortunately, someone saw what was happening and alerted the police so by the time the robbers were making their get-away, the police were waiting. I’m not sure if they waited until the robbers were in the car before shooting or whether the police shot them as they were exiting the house, but in any event, a fire-fight took place, the window of the car was shot out and one of the robbers took a direct hit.

The other robbers it seems managed to escape. Give me a clue how that happened? According to Marcelo - who it has to be said was beside himself with the details - the police will be able to trace the rest of the gang by the license plate of the car they abandoned.

Now, it turns out that at the point at which this had literally just happened, a friend was driving down the exact road where this incident was taking place. At that time, the robber on the ground was still alive, but according to my friend, he really didn’t have long to live. She is a nurse, and in good British style - or maybe a moment of temporary insanity, was all set to stop and see if she could give any assistance to the man on the ground. Good thing she thought better of it – the man on the ground wasn’t going to live and getting involved with the Sao Paulo police is probably not a good idea. She turned the car around and headed off in the opposite direction pretty quickly.

Yesterday evening, a student at the local university had just started walking back towards his car when he was approached by a robber who wanted, I guess, wallet, watch, credit cards etc... The student, who was walking with another guy, didn’t hand them over and by all accounts started to protest. For his troubles, he was shot in the head, and, not surprisingly, he died. It turns out that there is a general feeling that security at this university is a bit lax to say the least, to the point that the father of the dead student had bought him a bullet proof car.

Just think about that, a student being bought a car by a parent is nothing new, but a bullet proof car – well that is something different. The bullet proofing alone costs around US$ 18000.00. Trust me I know as we have just had a new car which I am happy to say is bullet proof. I guess in the end it didn’t do Felipe any good.

So, more vigilance, more places on the list of where not to go to, and another prayer that we are never in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Whatever they are paying us, it really isn’t enough.