Sights in Brazil

My final post about Brazil - here are some of the other things I saw!

• A mouse scuttles out of a shop onto the footpath. Some girls shriek. A young man rushes out behind the mouse, chases it, stamps on it, and kicks it out into the road. "Ooh, couragi," coo the girls.
• A woman on the gay beach at Ipanema, determinedly chatting up every man she could find, with raucous laughter, coy glances and a huge bottle of wine.
• Muscle milk muscle growth supplement on the menu in a cafe. The Brazilians do take their muscles seriously...
• A bar playing only the hits of Toni Braxton.

Love in Brazil

In Brazil, passengers get on buses, say hello to the drivers and pay attendants before passing through little turnstiles.

At one stop in Rio de Janeiro, an older woman boarded. Most likely in her late 60s, she wore chunky jewellery and a long tight black dress - very Shirley Bassey in warm weather. She caused quite a kerfuffle at the turnstile, holding up other passengers while she searched amongst her many handbags for money.

Eventually, exasperated, she tossed several of the bags across the turnstile, hurtling them into an empty seat.

Gesticulating wildly, she seemed to be berating a younger, burly black man who was hovering behind her.

Once she'd paid - with a flurry of hands and dramatic utterances - and was through the turnstile, she turned to the man, embraced him, kissed him full on the mouth and then took her seat.

The man jumped off the bus, waving goodbye to the woman. She blew him a kiss through the window, as he made the "call me" hand-sign to her from the street.