Walking home from the train station I noticed how fast everyone was walking – way faster than me and I always thought I moved quickly. Then I remembered being somewhere where people did the opposite, walked really slowly, so slowly that I had to slow myself down to fit in and not feel like I was rudely rushing through the city. I thought – where was that? Then I remembered – Rio de Janeiro, specifically. South America in general.
No-one rushes in South American cities, it’s a totally different feel to New York, London or even Dublin. In Rio people saunter through the streets, they stroll along and slowly parade along the beach fronts, to see and be seen. Buenos Aires is the same, no-one rushes, buses come when they come so no-one panics. You get to work a different time each day. In some places in Chile there aren’t even bus-stops, you just hail the bus where you are. Life moves at a totally different pace. Which is better? Hard to say.
