Two more sleeps and then the three Musketeers from Stockholm will arrive. Some 10 days of keeping me company in Rio where I’ll try to get started on that list of touristy things to do as well. We’ll start off right away with a weekend trip to Buzios to enjoy some cleaner water, nicer beaches, cosier bars and whatever else the place might have to offer. A town about 3 hrs away and trusting the web sites, water sports should be big, so some wakeboarding or snorkelling wouldn’t have to high odds.
So far, my impression of the Brazilian general skills of using maps, road signs or various navigation devices, hasn’t been that stunning. I haven’t seen a single map in a single car yet and planning ahead for turning and shifting lanes etc is normally not based on any information you might get from overhead road signs. The usage of GPSes is normally seen as a challenge to make the poor thing recalculate the route as many times as possible by doing the opposite to what it recommends. Having said that, I don’t want to state that the Brazilians don’t know where they are when driving. Most of the time they totally know where they are in relation to where they came from or where they’re going, and sometimes both, which after all, is what’s most relevant. I guess we’re getting a bit carried away with advanced systems, satellite maps and way points in Europe when driving boats and cars at times. As long as the screen is telling us we’re on the right path, the windsurfers, old men fishing from small rowing boats, tractors and new exits, which opened last week, are being swooshed past with eyes locked on the screen instead of the reality.
Anyways, I quite like my maps (and paper calendars as well still) and I also like to know where I am and where I’m going, not only in reality but also on a piece of paper. Therefore, yesterday’s mission after work was to find a proper road map for the state of Rio de Janeiro, including the roads we’ll be using to go to Buzios for the weekend. Since I’m a “jag-kan-själv” person I went straight to the shelf for travelling books and maps in the bookshop to find what I was looking for all by myself. Lots of maps there, all in sealed plastic covers and not too obvious what they were actually covering. Ruled a few out which seemed to be for the city of Rio only and of course also all the ones on the shelfs for maps for other countries than Brazil. No luck. Ah well, better ask for help then. Even if the shop assistants might not be world champs in reading maps, they should know what they’re selling and where to find it I assumed. Using my very best Portuguese I explained that I was looking for a map for not only the city of Rio but for the whole state of Rio, with Buzios as a very suitable example. She took off right away to show me where they were and started looking.
No Brazilian road maps by the Lonely Planet books apparently, and not by the city maps for Asian capitals either. Patient and polite as I was I didn’t say anything but waited and let the girl keep looking. Perhaps things would get misplaced every now and then at the end of the day as in most shops and libraries. But when the shop assistant started browsing through the Michelin road map book for the Benelux countries to find Buzios I gave up… Might be a town just outside Brussels also called Buzios but that’s not where we’re going this weekend. Pontus, we’ll stick with the road signs instead and I’m sure we’ll get there and back just fine.
So far, my impression of the Brazilian general skills of using maps, road signs or various navigation devices, hasn’t been that stunning. I haven’t seen a single map in a single car yet and planning ahead for turning and shifting lanes etc is normally not based on any information you might get from overhead road signs. The usage of GPSes is normally seen as a challenge to make the poor thing recalculate the route as many times as possible by doing the opposite to what it recommends. Having said that, I don’t want to state that the Brazilians don’t know where they are when driving. Most of the time they totally know where they are in relation to where they came from or where they’re going, and sometimes both, which after all, is what’s most relevant. I guess we’re getting a bit carried away with advanced systems, satellite maps and way points in Europe when driving boats and cars at times. As long as the screen is telling us we’re on the right path, the windsurfers, old men fishing from small rowing boats, tractors and new exits, which opened last week, are being swooshed past with eyes locked on the screen instead of the reality.
Anyways, I quite like my maps (and paper calendars as well still) and I also like to know where I am and where I’m going, not only in reality but also on a piece of paper. Therefore, yesterday’s mission after work was to find a proper road map for the state of Rio de Janeiro, including the roads we’ll be using to go to Buzios for the weekend. Since I’m a “jag-kan-själv” person I went straight to the shelf for travelling books and maps in the bookshop to find what I was looking for all by myself. Lots of maps there, all in sealed plastic covers and not too obvious what they were actually covering. Ruled a few out which seemed to be for the city of Rio only and of course also all the ones on the shelfs for maps for other countries than Brazil. No luck. Ah well, better ask for help then. Even if the shop assistants might not be world champs in reading maps, they should know what they’re selling and where to find it I assumed. Using my very best Portuguese I explained that I was looking for a map for not only the city of Rio but for the whole state of Rio, with Buzios as a very suitable example. She took off right away to show me where they were and started looking.
No Brazilian road maps by the Lonely Planet books apparently, and not by the city maps for Asian capitals either. Patient and polite as I was I didn’t say anything but waited and let the girl keep looking. Perhaps things would get misplaced every now and then at the end of the day as in most shops and libraries. But when the shop assistant started browsing through the Michelin road map book for the Benelux countries to find Buzios I gave up… Might be a town just outside Brussels also called Buzios but that’s not where we’re going this weekend. Pontus, we’ll stick with the road signs instead and I’m sure we’ll get there and back just fine.
To be honest - I've never before laid my travelling plans in someone else's hands to this extent, dear. That indicates trust. We're all yours.
ReplyDeleteI'm the best passenger seat driver, and DJ!
If I'm looking forward to seeing you? Words are not enough...
Time to start packing!