There were a few things we had to get used to when we moved to a foreign country, even one as developed as Brazil: driving next to horse-drawn buggies, learning how to say "ice cream cone" in Portuguese (casquinha) and milk coming in plastic bags instead of jugs or bottles.
Yesterday, we ran out of trash bags. But unless you want to spend half your paycheck on trash bags, you don't buy them at the grocery store. There is a special guy that stands on the side of the road or at intersections, selling trash bags. For the last two days, he was standing at one of the main intersections on my drive home from work, right outside my window. Last night, when I actually needed trash bags, he was working the cars stopped at the other corner.
I had to loop around at a retorno (u-turn) three times and even then I had to honk my horn to get his attention, slow down and swerve into oncoming traffic and throw him 10 reais while he threw me a sack of garbage bags, all without stopping the car.
They come in one size. No pulls, twist ties or cinch sacks and they're pretty crappy quality, but everyone gets to have their own favorite garbage bag guy that they see and recognize as they are driving around the neighborhood.
3 comments:
Just put 4 cases of garbage bags on my Costco list. Want some?
It's amazing how hard it can be to do something we take completely for granted in the states, like buying garbage bags at the store.
I am making a note it we go to Brazil, bring trash bags!
Kate be sure you're stocked on garbage cans, too! A simple plastic garbage can costs a small fortune here, too. Well anything plastic or cloth or aluminum or cardboard or well everything ;)
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