I am in Rio holding down the post. All three of our American PA officers are out. Our Brazilian colleagues can well handle most things, but we need to do the representation and sign things, so I am here this week. It is also a good way to get to know the posts. I have responsibly for all of Brazil, which implies I need to know about all of Brazil. In any case, I can’t complain. My big work of the week was finishing EER and getting ready for the Biden visit, both things can be done just as well from Rio as Brasilia.
Rio is truly a marvelous city. I take the shuttle from my hotel to the consulate and today I got off about a mile early and walked along the ocean. On the way are lots of little places where you can get a tap beer and look out over the beach and the ocean. I stopped today. It was nice. This is Copacabana after all.
My reverie was broken a few times by people selling things. I was offered a selection of hats, blankets, bags and little statues of Christ the Redeemer that flashed alternatively in yellow, red and blue. I bought a hat I didn’t want from a guy who told me his kids needed the money. I didn’t really believe him, but I figured I could afford it. A few minutes later, a different guy showed up selling the same sorts hats. I told him that I already had a hat but didn’t really want it so I gave it to him to sell to some other sucker.
The waitress laughed at me and told me that if I wanted to waste my money it would be used to better purpose by giving her a bigger tip. These kinds of “transactions” used to bother me, but they don’t anymore. Brazilian beach salesmen are usually light-hearted. I told the guy with the plastic Jesus that nobody in his right mind would buy such a thing. He laughed and pointed out that his little statues would light the way to heaven, but admitted that he didn’t own one himself that he wasn’t trying to sell.
My picture is the view from my seat. Brahma is really good on tap, and tastes even better in situations like this.
Reverie – that is my word for the day. I am usually not an Emily Dickinson fan, but her short poem is kind of nice here.
To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee,—
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
If bees are few.