The Importance of Having Air-Conditioner
3 August 2005 (Wednesday) – Manaus, Brazil
The tourist office had written down the address of the Venezuelan Consulate and suggested a few buses. I hopped onto one, and showed the piece of paper to the fare-collector, requesting her to tell me when to get off. There was a woman standing next to the fare-collector and she, I don’t know how, must have caught a glimpse of the address and she got the fare-collector to show it to her. Yep, she would be going to around the same area and she would show me. Wow, that’s lucky of me, muito obrigada!
You know, some consulates like to locate themselves in fancy residential houses in the suburbs that frankly, are very difficult to find. At first, I thought the woman would just wave me in the general direction. But, nono… she accompanied me through an area with great-looking properties (I peeked into several through the gates and found swimming pools, wow) but there were no street signs. Then, after several blocks, she indicated that I would be able to find the consulate to my left. Meanwhile, after my thanks, she turned right and headed off. Again, I counted my lucky stars. There was no way I could have located this address by myself. I was so damn lucky to run into this woman!!
After talking to the guy at the consulate, I had to walk about 8 blocks to the nearest Banco do Brasil to make my payment of R75 and return with the receipt. Gosh, it is not that the whole thing took a long while. In fact, I settled everything within 1.5 hours. I had expected long queues at the consulate, waiting for several hours even. But, gosh, walking up and down really dehydrated me. I kept drinking water, but still, I was thoroughly exhausted and I developed a headache.
Manaus is 3 degrees below the equator. Singapore is 3 degrees above the equator. The weather here feels a lot like Singapore’s, but in fact, I suspect it was WORSE! Much much hotter and much more humid! Well, in the first place, I HATE the weather in Singapore. In the second place, the difference in Singapore is that we have many air-conditioned places everywhere – shopping malls, offices, metro stations, buses, taxis, cars, etc… and we have a lot of trees and shade which we could duck right into or under. And in the third place, in Singapore, I usually spent nearly 8 – 10 hours per day cooped up in an air-conditioned office. So, here in Manaus, I just found it difficult to cope.
My consolation was that today, I finally got to eat Chinese food back at the Restaurante Mandarim. And it is not fake Chinese food, but REALLY GOOD Chinese food!
Leonardo picked me up and we headed to his home. As it turned out, because it is an absolute need to sleep in an air-conditioned area here in Manaus, he told me it was impossible for me to sleep in the living room. It would be too hot. I would just die there. There was no wind here in Manaus as well. So, I would have to share the room with him, sleeping on the extra mattress.
Later, I called Beatriz. This is a lady from Manaus who replied me only today, and she apologised for her lateness but asked me to contact her anyway for we could perhaps do something together. When she learnt that Leonardo just lives merely 5 minutes away from her house and that I had to sleep in the tiny room with him, she suggested that I stay over at her place instead. After discussing with Leonardo, we agreed with the arrangement. So, Beatriz would come pick me up on her way back later tonight.
She brought me to her house and again, because of the issue of air-conditioner, she said that I would have to share the room with her mother whom she had already spoken to. Gosh, I had a fright when I met her mom. She looked at me, unsmilingly, suspiciously, even. She was a big, stern-looking woman. Her room was enormous – the size of the living room and dining room combined! She is a true Dona. Dona Bia, to be exact. She actually had a photograph of herself blown up to a really large size (nearly the size of a window) and framed. I was very nervous. I trembled at the thought of spending a few nights, sharing the room with this intimidating woman, but my other option costs R35 – R45 per night!
Later, when she started to warm up to me a little, she turned out to be quite alright. I hope things go OK between us.
Gosh, I recalled how Isa’s mother smothered me with kisses, at how Katha’s mother made me the mango pudding and was always giving me the worried look, at how Gisele’s mother offered me everything in the kitchen and I miss them very much suddenly!!
Tags: 04) A River Runs Through It, Manaus
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