Ninth Posting
Autor: Buster Hale | Publicado: 2011-06-03T08:32:00-04:00

The Americans are coming! I can almost hear the plane landing at the little airport in Bolivia from my apartment. A team of about 30 people from Columbus and Oxford are scheduled to arrive on Friday, June 17. The group will fly from Miami to Santa Cruz, Bolivia and then on to Puerto Suarez, Bolivia, which is across the border (about 20 minutes by car) from Corumbá, Brazil. ( Google Map ) I talk to Carl King, the team leader in Nashville, almost everyday and I can hear the excitement in his voice as he deals with the myriad of details around the trip. We continue to pray that their trip through Bolivia is uneventful and they arrive here ready to go to work. There is much to be done and I am ready to see all of them.


Roberto in front of the terminal of the Puerto Suarez airport.

Buying stuff online in Brazil. I actually bought a book—a new Portuguese grammar book—using my bank account. Although most Brazilians do not consider the Internet secure, the Brazilian banking system is very secure. After the bank approved the opening of a checking account with a debit card and a MasterCard, Renata went to the bank and took care of everything. She arranged for automatic drafts for the water, lights, and Internet and also enrolled me in the online banking system. But I had to go the bank to sign for a token (toque) to use for buying things. ( RSASecure  ) This little gizmo generates a 6-digit random number that you use to buy something. Its serial number is linked to your account and when you buy something online, you enter the random number (the number changes every 60 seconds) to secure the transaction. It takes a little time to do it but it works and transaction shows up immediately in your account.

Another big difference in the banking system is that the bank charges a monthly fee (about $US15) for all accounts. But the bank pays interest on deposits of money into your account from another bank when it is not immediately available. For example, I sent some money down last year to a friend in Campo Grande to cover the expenses of my visa. When I opened my bank account, he transferred the remainder of the money from his account to my account. I received interest on the money while it was “pending” and not available to me to withdraw immediately. I feel so Brazilian in not having to pay cash for everything and using my cards.

Driving in Brazil.  I continue to be thankful to my grandfather Emmette Hale Sr. (Papa) who made me learn to drive a manual transmission truck when I was 16. Automatic transmission vehicles are unheard of here. But I still have to remember to do things like set the parking brake and remember to press on the clutch before I start the vehicle; I have had several experiences not doing both these things. In addition, the traffic laws are interesting. Seat belts and red lights are compulsory but stop signs are not. Right on red is not allowed and it is OK to blow your horn at any perceived infraction by the other person. Pedestrians have absolutely no rights except when I am driving and motorcyclists follow no rules. (There was a piece on the Campo Grande television station about the local public hospital having to suspend elective surgeries because of the flood of motorcyclist injuries.) Every time I get in the truck I remind myself that I am not in my big SUV in Oxford and need to watch everything and everyone!

More later.