Well, just when I’ve made it my personal goal to try every kind of snack food in Brazil, it looks as though our weekly road trips are coming to end. Barring any changes of heart or collapse of the Federal government, my husband will be able to take a position in Vitoria starting in September.
This means one apartment in one city and all our possessions in a single location. Eventually. Of course, we have to decide whether to sell or rent the apartment in Rio. We’re going to rent an apartment in Vitoria as we get to know the city and decide where we would like to buy. Some of our stuff will probably stay in Rio until we buy our apartment in Vitoria, because only masochists want to move all of their furniture twice in one year.
But, eventually, at a now foreseeable date in the future, we and all of our stuff will be in one place.
With this happy day in mind, my husband and I spent the weekend in Vitoria strolling around the neighborhood of Praia do Canto. We wandered up and down the streets, taking note of the restaurants, shops, traffic, noise levels, and the many coffee shops. My husband also literally noted down (always thinking, he had brought a notepad and pen from our hotel room) the address of apartments for sale that had the quiet street and netted balcony we are looking for.
Praia do Canto is very, very promising.
It wasn’t just tranquility and friendly cafes, that gave me hope of finding a home in Vitoria. At one point, I realized I was walking around staring up at apartments without any consideration as to where I was putting my feet. In Rio, if you take your eyes of the sidewalk for ten seconds you’ll probably be lost forever in a pot hole. At the very least, you’ll have a sprained ankle.
Not the case here in this tranquil, little hamlet of only 4 million people. The sidewalks are almost entirely free of pot holes and garbage. The city is new and the people calm. Drivers stay in a single lane and use their blinkers when they want to move to a different one. There was so little horn honking I wondered if the population was sedated. When a car slowed down, came to a complete stop, and the driver waved at my husband and I to cross the street, I almost fainted in shock.
I didn’t faint because I wanted to hurry up and get across the street in case this was some sort of trick. Perhaps, the driver was going to floor it right when we hit the middle of road just to see us leap to safety. But he didn’t. He waited patiently, until we reached the sidewalk, and then slowly eased around the traffic circle. I was amazed.
After this series of events had happened a dozen more times and I realized coming to a stop for pedestrians was the rule as opposed to the exception, I knew this was the city for me.
