10 UNUSUAL THINGS...

10 Things that are unusual, entertaining and just a bit odd ball that we have consistently come across in Brazil...
(this will be completed over the next couple of days before we leave)

1/  TV AERIALS
No matter where you go in Brazil, streets are lined with people hawking wares - from umbrellas to pirated CDs to fly zapping tennis rackets and underwear, however, the most unusual thing (and the most abundant) is those selling TV AERIALS...hanging from trolleys or make shift carts, bundles of aerials!
Heaven only knows where they get them from OR, for that matter, where they end up (as we havent seen lots of aerials on houses here)...WEIRD!

2/  THE ONLY WAY IS LOUUUUDDDD
At any given hour on any given day of the week, particularly in Santarem, there will be a cacophony of sound, all coming from the RIDICULOUSLY huge speakers tied (literally) onto the roofs, racks, backs, sides and tops of anything that can be wheeled around.  Cars, motor bikes, trolleys and push bikes!  With no apparent sound restrictions here, people park up along the river, meters apart, doors akin, speakers on the only volume they know, FULL, having mini parties (a couple or a few people) sitting on the pavement screaming at each other to be heard, all oblivious to each other (apparently, or perhaps all competing) and unaware at the ear exploding distortion being generated.
We cant quite get over it and wonder why noone has cottoned on to the idea of just turning it down a touch so the music is actually clear, OR just shutting up altogether!

3/