The price you pay for paradise!

When I decided to buy a house in a small town in rural Brazil I chose a quiet location, well away from the centre of town. It is in a suburb, but could hardly be described as “on an estate”, since we have a dirt road access, are not yet on mains sewage (yes, in 2012!), and the houses are not even numbered, let alone built in anything like a plan. But that is part of the charm of the area – I am not overlooked, and the nearest house to me is unoccupied, others are hidden behind 8 foot walls, so it is a quiet, secluded area.

When I first moved in rubbish was collected almost every day – the truck stayed up on the main road and a couple of men with wheelbarrows came round collecting the rubbish that everyone left out. Now, we don’t have anything like wheelie-bins here, or even skips (or dumpsters), but rubbish is simply bagged up (plastic so very un-environmentally friendly!) and left out to be collected. Back then – three years ago – there were not as many people living here, and we didn't seem to have a problem, but a couple of years back the council bought a new truck, which now comes down into the suburb. There does not seem to be a regular collection cycle, it comes when it comes, and at first it used to hoot the horn profusely to announce its arrival, but I guess someone complained (it can be any time between 7.00 am and 7.00 pm!) so it no longer warns of when to put rubbish out – not that many people took any notice! When your house bin is full you don’t really want to keep it indoors longer than necessary.

Rubbish collection point

So now rubbish sometimes sits out in plastic bags for two or three days  – in the heat here the smell soon follows, as do a variety of animals who rummage through it for titbits. There are about a dozen large lizards (not your monitor lizard, but up to about a foot long) who scavenge, and regular visits from a couple of donkeys (one of the problems here is that many people own animals but cannot, or will not, feed them so they are left out to forage), who rip open the bags spreading the contents about. There are also neighbourhood dogs and cats (not strays, but in most cases well-fed, and looked after pets) who make the most of this “bounty”, spreading the contents still further afield, especially into gardens nearby – and seem to be favouring mine at the moment (though now I have a chicken-wire fence round and this keeps them out!). I wouldn't mind too much – no, that is not true, I do mind a lot – but as well as the usual domestic garbage one of my neighbours (and I have yet to discover who) puts out used nappies, which get ripped apart and spread around the garden too!!!!!  Apart from the smell, and the downright disgusting-ness of it, I am sure that this must be a huge health hazard – but no-one seems to be bothered by it. They “tut” as they pass, but it seems to be accepted as the norm here.

Dirty nappies - spread by dogs

In the town centre there are many businesses on  back street, where the rubbish truck cannot get close, so they have to keep their waste indoors (not many properties here have gardens or yards) and only take it out to collection points nearby when the collection is due, though I think they do have collections daily there. The local dogs have learnt when this occurs, so “feast” on this pile of rubbish until the truck arrives. Often I see dogs chewing on plastic bags, trying to get at whatever tasty treat they can find inside, and I am sure they often end up eating it bag and all.

As a Gringo (foreigner) I have no voice at all here, but I do wish that someone would stand up and start campaigning for better waste control, but then again there are so many other equally important aspects of daily life that need attention (education, health, transport, etc.), the task for the local politicians is almost impossible to tackle.