The Mystery of the Rambling Rock

Mystery Solved!! I figured out why the rock has been moving. I really do enjoy the walks to and from work each day, I will miss that when I leave Sao Paulo. The walk gives me plenty of time to notice and then contemplate the location of rocks. Over the course of a few weeks, I have noticed and seen a lot of things that genuinely impress me.


As an example, the traffic cops here are among the most fearless people I have ever seen. Without pause, they hold up a hand, blow a whistle and step out into three lanes of traffic that is speeding by. This reminded me of a riddle I read Q: Who is the strongest man in the world? A: A Policeman because he can hold up a line of cars with one hand. Okay, it was funny as hell when I was 8, and it stuck with me. It truly is amazing the way cars, pedestrians , motorcycles and the police all work together. There are two spots where I cross traffic and at times, there is no cop there. They way it works is that when a large enough group gathers at the crosswalk, a car in the nearest lane will stop and they hold their hand out of the window to let the next lane know to stop and then they repeat the gesture. They are so used to pedestrians here that it is second nature.

This afternoon we had to go into another section of the city to another bank building. We were waiting for a taxi when an armored car pulled up. Two guards got out, with pistols drawn. At first, it scared the crud out of me, I thought something was going down. When the two guys got out, they opened the back compartment and another guard got out, he had an empty money pouch in one hand and his pistol in the other. They fanned out in a big triangular pattern, with money pouch guy in the lead. I know that is pretty boring sounding but I was intrigued by this while scene. Also, while we were waiting, a helicopter landed on the roof. The bank has five copters that they use to shuttle executives from building to building within the city. It is not only for expediency of travel but also security.

So, back to the rock. One of the things I noticed on my walk was that in the afternoon when I am leaving, there is a lot of litter, especially close to the bus stops. In the morning, it is all cleaned up. Occasionally, in the morning, I would see plastic bags filled with trash, waiting to be picked up. This morning, I went into work about an hour early and found that the rock had once again moved. There it was sitting on the side of the walkway, on top of a bunch of plastic garbage bags. It was being used as a paperweight of sorts. Mystery solved. Next I will move onto the Mystery of Nancy Grace – human or zombie with a bad hair-do.

One more thing to mention. I could walk all over any city of the US and nobody would say a word to me. In the last two weeks, I have been stopped and asked for the time of day twice (pointing at an empty wrist is the universal sign for “what time is it?”), stopped by someone for spare change (shaking a plastic cup with a few coins in it) and twice I have no clue what people wanted. They said “A sua fecho ecler é para baixo “ or something like that, I shrugged my shoulders and we all laughed.

Two more days and I head back to Austin for a couple of days, then to Bentonville Arkansas and then Conroe Half-Ironman. When did things get so crazy?