Raphael, our taxi driver said, "Look over there!" We craned our necks over snarled traffic to watch the driver of a truck mounded with "spiders" clamp a metal contraption the size of the raccoon trap in our Caledon garage onto the wheels of an illegally parked car.
Billboards advertise "Hugo." Bent over elders sweep the streets with heavy straw brooms. The narrow streets are filled with vendors a little like those in Bangkok. Third worldish buildings mingle with those of glass and gleaming metal.
We took a circuitous route from the airport to the hotel because of mass demonstrations in the city centre -- opposition to changes to the electrical workers' unions and wage issues.
I can't believe that getting here was so easy. I expected delays and frustrations in this enormous city with a daytime population of 30 000 000. But services are smooth and orderly and people amazingly friendly.
You might be able to see puddles of water in the photo of our hotel's courtyard. Strangely, the heavens opened tonight -- oddly because we're in the dry season now. Off to the pyramids tomorrow. Hasta pronto.
