I've been in Brazil's Bahia region for the past week or so now, and in addition to enjoying the beaches and indulging in caipirinhas I think I've come closer to understanding what 'Modernity' stands for - very roughly it goes something like this:
Here, in Bahia's regional capital Salvador, in dense areas a man will always rush to you as you are in the process of parking or while you are attempting to find a spot. As you park he will help (with hand gestures "a little to the left, the right, back, stop") and while you are away he will 'watch' your vehicle. But really nothing is required or set as to what his functions exactly entail. Sometimes you'll find him sitting next to your car, other times napping, chatting with friends or even washing your car after a rain. In exchange for this service he will ask for change. He can ask for 10 and you can easily bargain to 2.
In Montreal in dense areas when you park you are required to pay with your credit card a parking meter with a fix hourly price set by the city (an abstract concept embodied by elected humans that are hopefully clean). The parking meter does nothing that comes close to watching your car and you can't ease the pain of paying through bargaining with it, you can just grumble to yourself as you are paying a machine. But the rate is fixed and the money goes to the community's greater good.
Both are means of making money by taking ownership of the conveted public space. And both have questionable legitimacy and different pros and cons. In Brazil it's an annoying human that gives directions, a chance to practice your Portuguese and a smile, and in Canada it's a horribly annoying machine that hopefully feeds a fair bureaucracy that than feeds a human in need...
Here, in Bahia's regional capital Salvador, in dense areas a man will always rush to you as you are in the process of parking or while you are attempting to find a spot. As you park he will help (with hand gestures "a little to the left, the right, back, stop") and while you are away he will 'watch' your vehicle. But really nothing is required or set as to what his functions exactly entail. Sometimes you'll find him sitting next to your car, other times napping, chatting with friends or even washing your car after a rain. In exchange for this service he will ask for change. He can ask for 10 and you can easily bargain to 2.
In Montreal in dense areas when you park you are required to pay with your credit card a parking meter with a fix hourly price set by the city (an abstract concept embodied by elected humans that are hopefully clean). The parking meter does nothing that comes close to watching your car and you can't ease the pain of paying through bargaining with it, you can just grumble to yourself as you are paying a machine. But the rate is fixed and the money goes to the community's greater good.
Both are means of making money by taking ownership of the conveted public space. And both have questionable legitimacy and different pros and cons. In Brazil it's an annoying human that gives directions, a chance to practice your Portuguese and a smile, and in Canada it's a horribly annoying machine that hopefully feeds a fair bureaucracy that than feeds a human in need...
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| Salvador de Bahia, Brazil |
