on any given stretch of straight, downhill road in rio de janeiro, one will find children flying by in improvised boxcars, known locally as carrinhos de rollimă. fashioned simply from a board and caster wheels affixed to small planks, the carts are steered - often quite shakily - with a string or stick attached to the front axel.
other wheeled diversions abound in the hills surrounding guaranabara bay, including scooters assembled in a similar fashion to the boxcars and small, handmade toy cars fashioned from wood, tin, spools of thread and rubber sandals.
