For a foreigner, there are some interesting jobs here in Brazil. Let me show you a few that I see around Rio de Janeiro.
The Corn on the Cob person. You can buy fresh, and extremely tasty, corn on the beach or the street.
The Street BBQ dude. This is very weird but quite common. These guys set up their on bbq, bring the meat, and sell it on random corners. Get this, people buy it! Hell, I have too! Eat meat, chicken, chicken hearts, sausage, and more.
The beach Mate Guy. One tin lime juice, the other a Brazilian ice tea called Mate. You take a cup and mix the proportions yourself.
Knife sharpeners. I think the picture says it all
Beach Empada guy. He sales salty cupcake type things filled with meat/cheeses/etc. Random beach food but a job with a view.
Massages in the park. Go to Aterro in Flamengo and you'll see a couple of massage tables set up. You can also find them on the beach. Sorry guys, I prefer licensed people rubbing my body parts.
Called Flanelinhas because they used to carry flannel and clean your car, these guys are the unofficial parking meters of Rio de Janeiro. You pay them to help you get your car in the spot and make sure it doesn't get stolen. Not government regulated but culturally accepted and hated. You leave your car in neutral and this guy pushes it up to make room for more.
This is the abacaxi guy in Ipanema. If you are standing on the beach there and get the crap scared out of you buy some dude screaming "AAAAAAAAABACAXI!" you have met this man.
Amazingly nearly all these job exist here in Egypt too! I especially like the fact that Rio also has the human parking meters and the men with big drums of juice!
ReplyDeleteEmpanadas on the beach? Amazing!
ReplyDeleteThe knife sharpening guy near us screeches out a tune with his grinding wheel and a metal strip to tell us when he is in the area. The problem is with serrated knives - he talks a good game, but he's slowly grinding off the serrations. He did a good job on our apple coring/slicing doohicky, though.
ReplyDeleteI did a post about the pan-fixing guy who sits under a tree near our house. Once he fixes one of your pans he knows your name and says hello every time you walk by.
http://qualidadedevida-jim.blogspot.com/2010/09/dont-discard-repair.html
I love Brazil.
btw Rachel... how is this post "wordless"?
ReplyDeleteJim, how could I post these and not explain! I think I need to start calling my wordless wednesdays less words wednesdays.
ReplyDeleteDaniel complained that I didn't mention the knife sharpeners little tune. But now you did so all is good !
He he he I was wondering the same thing...
ReplyDeleteOr wordy Wednesday. Then again, I think that'd scare people lol
ReplyDeleteLove it =)
ReplyDeletePS--A tip from my Sogra and husband...never never drink the lemonade in Centro.
Typical of a country with millions of unskilled people and lots of unemployment.
ReplyDeleteBtw... I like the mate guy and the empada guy. I hate flanelinhas though.
Totally hate flanelinhas!
ReplyDeleteI love LOVE the abacaxi guy, he is so funny because he sneaks up and scares people. Also love the acai guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfkADFKCuoI
ReplyDeleteI HATE the parking mafia guys!!!
ReplyDeleteI also hate the MAFIA parking flanelinha crew, and what was my surprise when I found them in Portugal as well!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt must be one of the cultural things we imported from Portugal, hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they imported this one from us :)
The barbeque guy in Sao Paulo is known buy "Churrasquinho de Gato" :) or "Cat Barbeque", if they really ever serve cats on a stick is still a mistery to me, but I think they got that reputation for serving lower quality meats on a stick, very popular around soccer stadiums where they can mingle in the crowds. City sanitation have cracked down on them in recent years and we see less and less nowadays.
My favorite of all is the Mate Guy, in Sao Paulo beaches they also have super chilled Pineapple Juice that is awesome!!!
I miss beach junk food so bad!!
Whats a good site to go to to look for work in rio
ReplyDelete