Yesterday a car exploded in front of a big building here. It was 0530 in the
morning, so luckily the damage was "mostly" material. Or I think I should
say that the most noticeable damage was material. Buildings all around it
have broken windows, all the way up to floors that are very high up from the
ground. I can only imagine the force of the blast to cause such damage. As I
have written on my previous entry, the mental and psychic damage in this
country is already very serious, and incidents like this one certainly don't
help.
I have driven by the place twice while going places. My cab driver alerted
me against taking pictures; he said we would be lynched. I understood. This
is not a tourist attraction for me to be taking pictures of. It is a true
tragedy. We drove by it in silence and I said I silent prayer. Thank God
nobody died.
Yo Pito, tu pitas, el pita..
Pitar, in Spanish means to honk the horn (of a car), and boy do they ever
like doing it here. I don't know.. there must be some sort of excitement,
heat or whatever that they feel when they honk that horn. Maybe it is their
way of relieving all their accumulated frustrations. Since they can't go out
on the street and yell, maybe honking the horn is the next best thing. I
really don't know. What I know is that it is very annoying and after a while
it loses it's purpose of alerting someone to something, since you are just
filtering the sound out of your head.
The other day we were stopped on a traffic jam (as usual) and there was an
ambulance somewhere behind us with the siren on. Since cars don't fly, there
was absolutely no way of moving the cars out of the way for the ambulance to
pass. So, what is the logical thing to do? Well, if you are Colombian, to
honk the horn! So, a horn concert started until the traffic started to move
again.
Canadians are the complete opposite. Even when they have reason to do it,
they don't. For example, in Canada, if there is a red light on an
intersection, you can still turn right as long as there is no car coming.
You just need to stop at the light, signal, and turn. Because in Brazil you
always have to wait for the green light, I am often waiting for the green
light even when I could be turning right. I just forget about it. You would
think that the person behind me, who also wants to turn right would give a
little beep to wake me up, but no. Nobody has ever beeped me. They just sit
behind me and wait for me to make up my mind. That's just the way Canadians
are I guess, very patient people.
morning, so luckily the damage was "mostly" material. Or I think I should
say that the most noticeable damage was material. Buildings all around it
have broken windows, all the way up to floors that are very high up from the
ground. I can only imagine the force of the blast to cause such damage. As I
have written on my previous entry, the mental and psychic damage in this
country is already very serious, and incidents like this one certainly don't
help.
I have driven by the place twice while going places. My cab driver alerted
me against taking pictures; he said we would be lynched. I understood. This
is not a tourist attraction for me to be taking pictures of. It is a true
tragedy. We drove by it in silence and I said I silent prayer. Thank God
nobody died.
Yo Pito, tu pitas, el pita..
Pitar, in Spanish means to honk the horn (of a car), and boy do they ever
like doing it here. I don't know.. there must be some sort of excitement,
heat or whatever that they feel when they honk that horn. Maybe it is their
way of relieving all their accumulated frustrations. Since they can't go out
on the street and yell, maybe honking the horn is the next best thing. I
really don't know. What I know is that it is very annoying and after a while
it loses it's purpose of alerting someone to something, since you are just
filtering the sound out of your head.
The other day we were stopped on a traffic jam (as usual) and there was an
ambulance somewhere behind us with the siren on. Since cars don't fly, there
was absolutely no way of moving the cars out of the way for the ambulance to
pass. So, what is the logical thing to do? Well, if you are Colombian, to
honk the horn! So, a horn concert started until the traffic started to move
again.
Canadians are the complete opposite. Even when they have reason to do it,
they don't. For example, in Canada, if there is a red light on an
intersection, you can still turn right as long as there is no car coming.
You just need to stop at the light, signal, and turn. Because in Brazil you
always have to wait for the green light, I am often waiting for the green
light even when I could be turning right. I just forget about it. You would
think that the person behind me, who also wants to turn right would give a
little beep to wake me up, but no. Nobody has ever beeped me. They just sit
behind me and wait for me to make up my mind. That's just the way Canadians
are I guess, very patient people.
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