Brazil!

When I first came to Brasil (many years ago) I bought and watched Terry Gilliam's film Brazil. I was confused when I found a film more in common with 1984 than Rio, being as far as I recall a story of mindless bureaucracy amongst other things. I now think he must have tried to extend his visa.

When I tried, the website said I needed to take a form (printed from the website) to the Federal Police Station. I needed to pay the fee in advance and said that I could do this at a number of different places. The first two post offices said I couldn't do it there. The third told me to go to a bank. The bank said that I was missing a form which I needed to print off a website, but he showed me which site I needed to go to. I found an internet place I could print at, but then the website was down for an hour. Then I had to decipher what codes I needed to access the site, after finding these online, I hit the impasse that pursues foreigners in Brasil trying to get anything done - I don't have a CPF (the national ID document which you get asked for pretty much everywhere). So I went to the Federal Police station to find out what I needed to do, to find out that the foreigners' department moved to the airport 8 years ago. At which point I gave up.

Then I went to my happy place - not meditation, but a place with books. In this case the Royal Portuguese Reading Room (Real Gabinete Português de Leitura), an absolutely stunning building moments away from the chaos of the central market. The sort of library I imagine when reading Borges and like Umberto Eco's unread book collection, where the enormity of human knowledge and experience makes itself felt (especially in comparison with what I've acquired). It's a definite challenger for my favourite library (previous number 1 is the library at Chatsworth House) and I thought it would make a great wedding venue (ceremony, not party) if you worship knowledge rather than a big person upstairs (although no idea why that came to mind).

PS - It turns out that I'd been looking at the wrong website (although the bank pointed me to the wrong one as well). Maybe I'll get it done tomorrow... I think that's me gone local - amanhã...

UPDATE: I did eventually get it done, after my second trip to the airport (the foreigners bit is only open until 2pm) and proving that I had the funds to get out of the country if I needed to. I now have about 5 weeks to get out - the clock is ticking...