A common sight on the streets of Porto Alegre is sleeping men and women who appear to be homeless. Sometimes they stretch out with nothing between their bodies and the pavement. Other times they have cardboard. Often though, they lay on mattresses. I'm curious where they find these mattresses. And, I find myself wondering if this complicates movement from one place to another. Once I saw a mattress stuffed in a tree, perhaps waiting for its owner to return. I imagine it must require effort to maintain possession of one's bed. Passersby (myself included) just walk around the people on the ground, more often than not, barely noticing them or pretending not too. They are usually sleeping and so there is no eye contact. It seems accepted that they use this public space like this - I haven't seen anyone asking these people without a roof over their head to move along.
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