The Brazilian Chameleon

So, I came from the Amazon, where it was sweltering (although not as hot as in India) to the south of Brazil, where it's in the 50's, and tonight I head farther south, where the temp has been dipping into the freezing digits....

So, with only shorts and short-sleeve shirts I need to do some retrofitting...

Now, I had been feeling like I stood out a little, but I wasn't about to go Native, as I think Brazilian clothing styles are absolutely atrocious (I imagine the Natives think the same of my zip on pant legs...oh well)

And then a fellow hosteler was getting rid of half his wardrobe in front of me...and I scored this marvelous gem!



Now, I was not going to go whole hog and buy the pants to match it, which would have been jeans with zippers and doo dads in strange places, acid washed, and with strange non-sensical english words scralled on them....

So instead, i headed down to the equivalent of China town....

and retrofitted myself again....





For US$ 20, not bad for jeans (which lack all of the culturally-appropriate acouterments, sorry) and a long-sleeve button down, now who looks legitimate.....

except for that stuff on my face...no it's not dirt, i didn't fall. I just decided it was a lot easier to trim my "neard" (neck beard) every once in a while, and embrace the beard than actually shave proper style. Whether I come back with said facial hair will depend on the number of electronic requests I get, and who they're coming from!