Dangerous side of town.

 Monday February 2.

Today was back to work. On the way we came upon a homeless guy gathering up his stuff to move on for the day.

He had more baggage than a senior sister missionary, which proves that we keep acquiring regardless of our situation. We next passed a yellow suv. I thought yellow banana and Logan and April were here. Not so much.

When we arrived we found out we had a quarterly devotional. It was for all church employees and yes the missionaries too. The head man what’s in charge is quite the speaker and it was obvious that everyone likes him. Sort of looked like Don Johnson from Miami Vice. After the meeting we were back to work. It has become apparent that grandma is walking slower and with more of a limp all the time. One of the young ladies working in our department was hit by a motorcycle over a year ago and still limps and uses a cane. I asked her where to buy a knee brace. She said we needed to go to a section of town called Bras. Then everyone started telling us how dangerous it is. They will steal your phone out of your hand or pocket. They get your money. Don’t carry a backpack. Well now I wanted to go. Since we were having a slow day. We took only one cell phone each an umbrella each and wallet all but the umbrella in front pocket or hanging around grandma’s neck. We are right next to the metro here at work and so we set off. We rode the yellow line to the end and transferred over to the coral line which is a train line. We rode one stop and we were there. We were warned to go early and be gone by 1:00. The directions were sort of vague so we set off walking asking many times along the way. First up I asked the calvaria.

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There were more police officers in our walk than I thought were in Brazil. Did a little to make me feel more secure. We were hunting a store whose name means look and find. I was expecting a small shop but we found a huge building bigger than the biggest Walmart and 5 stories high. Now there are many stores or maybe departments here on each level. I asked everyone where to find a knee brace. There are stores that sell electronics, makeup, cooking gy. Power tools. Suitcases yeah a huge department for suitcases, cell phone accessories. Drones, shoes. Office supplies, the bottom level is clothing stuff. And cheap. Everything is cheap. Finally on the third floor we hit pay dirt. It’s not a really high end knee brace but it has the elastic straps that wrap around and velcro to the top. And $2.00 we got 3 grandma had to grab a few other items, but I didn’t want to carry more than 1 bag. They control entry and exit of each section when you go to enter they tape your bag or pack or large purse shut so you can’t steal. Now we headed back to the train. The street vendors spread out on the sidewalk that walking becomes difficult. A squad of police passed so I fell in behind them and headed out it was now past 1:00 and I could see that the numbers were increasing rapidly. So many street vendors and carts.

We stopped at a huge barn like store just before the metro full of women’s clothing. Big. Again divided up in little squares with a gal running each square. Grandma brought a dress she wanted for just under $10.00. One of the more expensive. This area reminds me a lot like Mexico counterfeit watches, name brand jerseys, nikes, and high end sun glasses, oh and fancy purses. I don’t know what the appeal or market is for socks but so many vendors of socks. I had to be careful taking pictures so as to keep my phone. I took a couple of pictures from the train station of the skyline. 

Also the train tracks. We traveled back to work and they were perhaps surprised we had done so well. We had FHE and then a quick stop for some items we were out of and home for supper. Stew with fresh dinner rolls. Life is good. Grandma said her knee was doing better with the brace so let’s continue. She did walk a long way today. Love to all.16713