About three days earlier, while charging the laptop and the intercom at a gas station, there was a fluctuation of electricity and both chargers got fried. So, at this point we were looking for replacements. Throughout our journey we discovered that, for some unknown reason, in Latin America all businesses of the same type are usually grouped together: all lawyers have offices on the same street, another street full of hardware stores, then many clothing stores together and so on. From a local guy we learned that on Santa Efigenia street we will be able to find our replacements.

When we got there we found at least twenty stores all selling AC and car adapters for laptops, cell phones… OEM chargers, aftermarket replacements… anything! The whole deal set us back R$99 (~US$55).

Then it was time to get a hair cut. So we moved to another street, filled with beauty shops and barber shops. I picked a really big beauty shop, spanning the whole eleven stories of one building. The hair cut was good and cost only R$2. I tried to tip the guy but they didn’t accept, probably not customary.

The conclusion is that the hair cutter is in net disadvantage over the person selling adapters. Assuming he keeps 1/3 of the R$2 for each hair cut (the rest being for the business owner and expenses) he will have to work a full day for a basic car adapter and the rest of the week for a laptop charger. At the same time, the charger seller could get a hair cut each day and still be able to save some money!

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