Don't discard - repair

There is a very distinct element of everyday life that separates living in Brazil from living in the United States. Back in San Francisco, if something broke or got damaged in some way, we would simply buy a new one. No big deal.

Here there are two dynamics that interrupt this impulse. First, shit costs, relatively, A LOT more here. A cheap toaster oven at Best Buy costs three to four times more here IF you can even find one with comparable functionality. Usually stuff is as basic as it comes – and is still very expensive.

Second, getting things repaired is very commonplace here – and assumed. Why buy a new mixer when some guy can fix yours for a fraction of the cost?

Today we acted on local impulse and had two cooking pans fixed by the local guy who sits by the tree near the park at his little pan-fixing stand.

One little pan needed the handle re-connected. It had broken through the metal moorings. The other was our small pressure cooker which suffered an extreme situation while cooking beans some time ago. The water ran dry and the pan EXPANDED before we took it off the stove. (Lucky us it did not explode.) Now it had a rounded bottom and lid, no longer making the seal necessary to be functional.

Mr. pan-fixer guy repaired our little pan for R$5 – rather than our buying a new one for R$20. He also brought our small pressure cooker (bought for R$45) back to life for R$10.

I love the entrepreneurs who position themselves on the side of the road. In this case we came out winners.