Xixi revealed

February 7, 2013

Caught a sheepish young man urinating next to his all terrain mountain bike in the bushes by the Dunes while jaunting to the beach with Pipo late morning. Unfortunately I had to pass him again since the trail led to an impassable ditch…you know how I feel about those treacherous yawning holes. They are ankle breakers.

There is a current persistent commercial with infamous actors and artists who sing and dance a message about not peeing out in public. If you have to go, find a restroom! There are so many street events during Carnaval and it must be a prominent and unsightly problem throughout the country for them to display this memorandum during peak hours on the tv. I suppose it isn’t a pleasant issue for the local police to deal with, they have far too much on their hands already. No pun intended.

The button to flush the toilet broke. It is prominently inserted into the tile wall above the commode. Several gangly boys crept uncomfortably out of the bathroom, skulking along the hallway wall to avoid being spotted as the culprit of a dirty bowl. I showed the family how to fill a bucket with water and slosh it into the privado and wala, problem solved. I felt like David Copperfield since they clapped and hooted in amazement.

Since we are on the subject of the water closet, it is unusual to have a bathtub here in Brasil. Hot water usually only comes out of the shower head, all other water sources have a single cold tap. More often than not the restroom smells a bit moldy since towels tossed over the shower curtain rod rarely dry within 12 hours because there is little air circulating. Surprisingly, since used toilet paper is placed in the small wastebasket next to the toilet, the room infrequently smells ghastly. Floor to ceiling is tiled. Glass sliding doors or partition are more common than a cloth curtain. Overhead fans and heaters are non-existent. On the odd occasion there is a decorative item, it doesn’t stand out from the necessities. Lavatories are seemingly an insignificant room in the house. They are typically turn around in size and bare bones.

Just discovered an agency, Bredog (brecho is flea market in English) whose volunteers capture, shelter, spay and neuter stray dogs and cats in the community then find them appropriate homes. How cool is that? All around Florianopolis, scary thin mangy dogs await tasty scraps outside restaurants and grocery stores. I notice they adopted the airport and hang around gas stations as well. This organization has a Saturday bizarre every week in February to sell off donated goods. I am excited to attend and see what goodies I can bring back to my friends and family!

Denise and I will peruse the open-Saturday-only shop this weekend. It is the end of summer here so I anticipate a lot of lightweight things up for sale. Buying used items is definitively not customary yet there are many people who are struggling financially and may well take advantage of the high end bits and pieces at reasonable prices. I am hoping I don’t have to resort to using my pointy elbows to wrangle with anyone!

And remember NO PEEING IN THE STREET!