An Afternoon in the Baxia (or downtown, as we would say)

Today was a culture day and we went downtown to meet with a few people for lunch and say goodbye to a colleauge. We went to an Indian restaurant and then went looking for a straw hat for Don. Didn't find the hat but we had a good time looking.

I took a lot of pictures and Don would sit and wait for me sometimes when I would want to step into a store. We also saw some really interesting things as we walked around and even had to cross the street right in the middle of a political rally parade. The banner said "social service - yes; privatazation - no!" They had a car with a bullhorn leading the parade and they were leading the people in shouting slogans and such. People who wanted to cross the street would wait till there was a thin space in the crowd and cross over.

There was a guy playing the accordion who had a little dog holding a cup in it's mouth for donations.  Lots of beggars - one with a really nasty looking wound on his leg that we wondered later if it was just a really good makeup job. If he could get up and walk on it, it would have been a miracle and he can't stay there all day every day. It is sad but there are places that will help the beggars but from what we are told they don't go there because they can make such good money off the tourists.

We carried around leftovers from the restaurant that Don intended to eat later but with the heat we were in, I just wondered how it would hit his stomach later. That was one reason we didn't give it to the beggars.

Last September we were down in the Baxia with our Portuguese friends and it was strange to be there today, just the two of us, knowing our way around, being confident of getting what we wanted (even if we couldn't speak well), navigating back to the metro and knowing how to get home. I used only Portuguese to order when I found a really good lime ice cream on a stick that is like the orange dream cycle. It tasted so good on a hot day with your mouth all dry from the heat and the wind.