You got a hole in the road?

If you live in Brazil, you just fill it with stuff. This one actually has a sign. 'Operation "tapa" Hole'. I didn't know what the world 'tapa' meant, so I just now google translated it. It says it means slap. Haha, Operation Slap the Hole. That's right, they just don't like them here. Holes. I don't even know how holes this big get in the roads in the first place.

Holes tend to stay for a long time. For the first few months (like 4?) we lived here I walked past a leaky hole on the way to the grocery store every day. It ran a consistent stream of water for like 4 months. Then for like two weeks there were guys in the hole fixing it. It's still a little bit of a hole, but they fixed the leak.

But where I was getting, normally, if there is a hole (I guess this one was big enough to warrant a sign) they just shove some stuff in it until it's tall enough to stick out of the top. Like palm branches is a normal thing. It's so people don't see the hole and drive into it. Makes sense, right?

Driving...

 This isn't the best photo, but if you look up ahead you will see that little car making a right hand turn in front of other cars from the left lane!

This picture is a little bit better...same thing the truck tried to make a right hand turn from the left lane and clipped the bus.

Driving in Brazil is nothing less than an adventure.  On the decent roads (which there are more bad roads than good roads) their are lane markings and traffic signals, but they seem to mean little or nothing to the drivers.  

Sarah and I joke that the white hash marks that divide the lanes are seen as a Pac-man game by most drivers.  People drive in the middle of the road, turn from the wrong lanes, pop in and out of traffic.  It is really quite the adventure.

So when you come to visit be prepared for an exciting car ride...think Indy 500 with no rules!