 |
| Dramatic display |
Fireworks vendors set up shop on street corners to sell a variety of products imported from Brazil and Germany. In our Parque Rodo neighbourhood, there's a ten year-old boy who does this in partnership with his younger brother, as a source of income during the school holidays. Their grandmother tells us that they save every peso and re-invest their earnings in new stock for the following year. They have become experts in pyrotechnics, and can describe the special effects inherent in each of the models they carry. Grandma takes great pride in the boys' growing business acumen. When we tell her that children are not allowed to buy - let alone sell - fireworks in Canada, she is shocked. "Your country must be very uptight," she says, casting an I-feel-sorry-for-you look in our direction.
  |
| Held together with a shoelace, waiting for repair |
From the 25th floor restaurant at the Radisson Hotel, we admired a spectacular display of fireworks over the skyline of Montevideo just after midnight on Christmas Eve. There were bursts of red, green, gold, silver and blue exploding over the harbour, in the streets, and from every balcony in the city. It was an amazing sight. But the downside of this tradition was brought home to us very clearly the next morning, when we were jolted out of bed by an incredible BANG! and our power went out. Shards of plastic blown from the electrical meter attached to the facade of our house were scattered all over the sidewalk. Someone had apparently lit a firecracker, placed it inside the box, closed the door, waited for the boom, and then quickly dismantled the exposed, damaged guts of the equipment. Why would anyone do such a stupid, dangerous thing?
Our friend Jorge, who owns the hardware store just around the corner, explained that the culprit's motive was to steal copper from the meter. Copper can be traded for cash, and apparently it's common practice for drug addicts to engage in this activity as a means of financing their habit. The availability of fireworks at this time of year makes the "copper harvest" easy.
So the adults and children who sell fireworks for fun and profit and seasonal excitement are partially responsible for a lot of damage to electrical meters in Montevideo, and a subsequent high annual repair expenditure that's added on to individual household bills. I don't want to be a party-pooper, but I would suggest that some sensible government regulations prohibiting the casual sale of fireworks on the street would help to cut down on this type of vandalism. A word of advice to Grandma: try to get the boys interested in selling strings of coloured lights next year.
