I recently asked my husband if I could have the car for the day. There were errands to run and lunch to go to, so I thought, instead of my friend having to drive me around like she always does, I will reciprocate. My husband agreed.
The day started out not so good. So we get to the large French grocery chain here and park the car in their "secure" parking area. Well, this grocery store is right next to the crack street. There was a fire behind it the week before because the junkies were burning junk. I didn't think anything of it. Happens all the time. So we go to park and my friend says, "Jen, that guy is coming this way." I thought he was going to his car next to us. No. He was coming to my window and demanding money. Now I have an armored car, with alarm that I could press if under duress. I forget about the alarm and freak my friend out by yelling at the guy through the window. He is not going away and his eyes are bugged out like he needs his next hit, bad. My friend is telling me to drive away. So I reverse it to run him over. Yes, I am prepared to do this. When he leaves. I watch him walk away and decide to park closer to the entrance. My friend just wants to leave, but I need stuff. At this point she thinks I am crazy. The security guard comes out and forces the guy to leave. Okay, we can get out of the car now.We were both a little flustered, but we got through shopping and dropping off the food before our next errand. Which was lunch.
Now I have not driven much here. I am usually the navigator. However, I usually am not allowed to navigate. What woman is allowed when their husband is driving? He will tell you he knows where he is going as he tries to go the wrong way down a one way street. So, my navigating consists of talking. We have a GPS we call Stella (because when she sends you to the wrong location it is great to yell at her "STELLA!"). So she navigates for me. Well my friend has a GPS too. So talking has become my past time in the car. I never thought about helping with the GPS and giving the turns or telling the driver how far bridge entrance is. Never crossed my mind. It is also important to be a good navigator here because there could be road hazards. Some examples are: your lane ending suddenly; two lanes merge on the other side of a light; the lanes do not match on the other side of the light; a man hole cover is gone and a large 2 by 4 or large branch is sticking out of the hole to let you know it is there; the lane could become a section of street parking without notice; there could be construction in a 20 yard section; the GPS could tell you that you will be turning left or to stay left, but in a 100 yards you need to turn right; or a sink hole could open up because the ground under the highway was washed away from too my rain and there were no supports built to prevent that from happening.
So I am driving my friend to lunch and I start talking. That is what I do in the car. So my friend is trying to navigate for us, while I chat and maneuver through the streets. I don't think my friend wants me to drive again. Because as I am being a Chatty Kathy we hit the road problems in Sao Paulo. Our lane ends, then it merges, then it becomes a street parking section, then there is a construction section, then Stella says to stay to the left, but we really have to turn right so we have to cut across 4 lanes to get where we are going. But we did get to the restaurant in one piece. My friend, bless her soul, survived and had a beer or two at lunch. Most likely to give her confidence to get back in the car with me. I did do better on the way home though - less street hazards.
So now, dear friend, I understand that I need to pay more attention to my driving in Sao Paulo. You need not fear getting into my car. That is if I can ever convince my husband to let me borrow it again, and I can convince you to get in.
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