This past weekend we traveled to Araçatuba in São Paulo state to attend a wedding. I really had no idea that I’d be traveling to incredibly random towns when I moved here, but I kind of like it. It is nice to see real life in Brazil and not the typical tourist destination.
Just an aside – Despite how small the town was there is one thing it had and I bet you can guess it. Yep, big ol’ Mickey D’s arches right in the middle of the city.
So far the places we have been to have had direct routes. Unfortunately this one was a little different. It was pretty much a straight shot northeast, but the highway changed names a few times and there were some areas where we had to exit to jump on another main road. This was a bit of a disaster at times.
At home I find there are two types of people when it comes to giving and following driving directions - landmark people and directional/compass people. I am a very directionally oriented person.
In fact, landmark directions drive me crazy. You know, when someone says turn left by the red barn. Well, in my experiences there usually ends up being about 4 red barns in a row and I have no idea which one the person meant. Either that or it has been years since the person made the trip and the landmark was torn down long ago.
I need left, right, street names, north, south, east or west! Lucky for me this is how driving is designed in the US. If I get lost I can easily see what direction I am traveling and go the opposite to get back where I need to be. When I come to an exit the signs tell me which direction is north or south and what cities are in that direction.
Well, Brazil is all about landmarks. The people here admit to not using directions and it is reflected in all of their road signs. There are no directions listed on anything along the road.
There are signs for cities along the way, but there are so many small towns between where you are and the main city you need to get to so that doesn’t help. Basically when you get off on an exit you have to use your best guess which is the correct direction.
So our trip consisted of my husband pulling up to a turn or exit and our seeing the cities on a sign with arrows pointed right or left. Then I would frantically look at the road map to see which one of those cities was along the path we were traveling to get to where we were going. Then I would yell out a city name and say, “Follow that one, it is on the way.” This would all happen traveling at a fairly decent speed in a matter of about 15 seconds.
This process doesn’t lead to a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive. At least we got to where we were going, though. We got lost several times and by some miracle ended up on the road we were supposed to be on. The thing is we never really figured out what we did right or wrong so if we ever make the trip again it is a guarantee we’ll get lost.
It is very beneficial to be a lucky guesser. Let’s hope no one ever asks me for directions on the street. I will get some crazy looks when I start saying turn left at this street and right on that one. The truth is I hardly pay attention to landmarks at all. I wouldn’t be able to tell you if there was a coffee shop where you needed to turn left even if I tried.
Oh, Brazil travel. It is truly an adventure! I guess it could be worse if there were no signs at all.
I’ve got a lot to say about the wedding too, but I’ll save that for tomorrow.
Just an aside – Despite how small the town was there is one thing it had and I bet you can guess it. Yep, big ol’ Mickey D’s arches right in the middle of the city.
So far the places we have been to have had direct routes. Unfortunately this one was a little different. It was pretty much a straight shot northeast, but the highway changed names a few times and there were some areas where we had to exit to jump on another main road. This was a bit of a disaster at times.
At home I find there are two types of people when it comes to giving and following driving directions - landmark people and directional/compass people. I am a very directionally oriented person.
In fact, landmark directions drive me crazy. You know, when someone says turn left by the red barn. Well, in my experiences there usually ends up being about 4 red barns in a row and I have no idea which one the person meant. Either that or it has been years since the person made the trip and the landmark was torn down long ago.
I need left, right, street names, north, south, east or west! Lucky for me this is how driving is designed in the US. If I get lost I can easily see what direction I am traveling and go the opposite to get back where I need to be. When I come to an exit the signs tell me which direction is north or south and what cities are in that direction.
Well, Brazil is all about landmarks. The people here admit to not using directions and it is reflected in all of their road signs. There are no directions listed on anything along the road.
There are signs for cities along the way, but there are so many small towns between where you are and the main city you need to get to so that doesn’t help. Basically when you get off on an exit you have to use your best guess which is the correct direction.
So our trip consisted of my husband pulling up to a turn or exit and our seeing the cities on a sign with arrows pointed right or left. Then I would frantically look at the road map to see which one of those cities was along the path we were traveling to get to where we were going. Then I would yell out a city name and say, “Follow that one, it is on the way.” This would all happen traveling at a fairly decent speed in a matter of about 15 seconds.
This process doesn’t lead to a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive. At least we got to where we were going, though. We got lost several times and by some miracle ended up on the road we were supposed to be on. The thing is we never really figured out what we did right or wrong so if we ever make the trip again it is a guarantee we’ll get lost.
It is very beneficial to be a lucky guesser. Let’s hope no one ever asks me for directions on the street. I will get some crazy looks when I start saying turn left at this street and right on that one. The truth is I hardly pay attention to landmarks at all. I wouldn’t be able to tell you if there was a coffee shop where you needed to turn left even if I tried.
Oh, Brazil travel. It is truly an adventure! I guess it could be worse if there were no signs at all.
I’ve got a lot to say about the wedding too, but I’ll save that for tomorrow.
5 comments:
haha, can't wait to hear about the wedding! was it two brazilians getting married?
trying to find places in brazil sounds sort of like costa rica...they don't have street numbers in San Jose so they are ALL about the landmarks. It was impossible to find anything there. Good thing the people there are so nice and are very willing to walk a lost tourist to her/his destination.
Yeah, the wedding was for two Brazilians. It was a blast. It lasted until about 4:00am.
I'll have to remember that about Costa Rica. If my husband ever has to go there for work sometime hopefully I'll be able to tag along.
hehehe It took me a few months to get used to "west, east, south, north", especially when you don't know where the heck south is! LOL But it's a better way to give directions than the landmarks Brazilian method. To this day I have a hard time with my husband (who is also Brazilian), who would say to me "eu estava subindo a hwy 410", when what he was really doing was going "south" on 410. That, for me, is "descendo a 410" and not "subindo".
E o "vai toda vida, toda vida...?" LOL
realmente .. no Brasil pontos de referências são nossa "bússola"...hehe
really .. Brazil points of reference are our "compass"
Definitely think it is an inside thing. :)
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