Obsurdities of South America

There are a few things that are absolutely, head-scratchingly, obsurd about life here. We have been fascinated by them ... so i will share.

1. Intersections without any right-of-way or stop signs. Two 1-way streets come to an intersection. Cars wishing to cross, as well as pedestrians wishing to cross, literally have to attentively wait for enough of a break in the flow of traffic to force their turn. It's crazy! Taxi drivers are the worst, of course. You just watch people fully inching .... inching .... then going for it. Seems to work, haven't seen a wreck or casualty yet. Efficient and exciting, yes. But it definitely doesn't seem very safe.

2. The garbage-management / removal process. Step one: Put your un-separated garbage out on the street every night before 8pm. Step two: Poor people slice it open and go through it pulling out recyclables. Literally, they root through your trash for paper and plastic containers. Step three: Dump truck [in BA] or poor people in horse-drawn wagons [in Montevideo - see photo below] grab up the bags. Step four: Street sweepers collect the straggling pieces of garbage. And this is done EVERY NIGHT ... except Saturday. I guess it creates jobs, but it seems hugely inefficient.

. . . . . fascinating