Cultural producer Jones MFjay says that in Madureira, a neighborhood in the north of Rio that was immortalized by Arlindo Cruz's samba, there was always a fable: two people go out into the street every day, a trickster and a mané. When they happen to meet, the rascal returns with lunch, and the mané returns with nothing.
The 58-year-old was born and raised in the region but something surprised him Monday. Jones had to put his glasses to make sure he saw correct. "In my hand it's is a R$50, in my hand it is a $R50, it is Covid's cure!" He heard as he passed the sidewalk that is in front of the Império Serrano school.
"Galo" in Rio slang means that it costs R $ 50, one of the numbers representing the animal in the animal game. He thought it was some syrup.
But when he stretched his neck over the vendor's shoulder, he came across a box with (in what appears to be) Chinese writing. Underneath, it read "SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, Inactivated", a supposed vaccine against the new coronavirus.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon