Movember

It was in London that I was first exposed to the sponsored charity culture. That's basically people who set themselves challenges. Then they ask friends to sponsor them to do it, and the money will go to some charity organization. Examples:
Attach a cable to your ass and jump off a bridge. (some call it bungee) People will sponsor your idea because they wanna see you make pie out of yourself and they know the money will feed a good cause. Very simple.
Attach a rocket to your ass and run to your death (some call it a marathon). People will sponsor your idea because they wanna see you limp for a month and they know the money blah blah blah. Hopefully you got the general principle.
Of course, the english and aussie contingents reading this blog will know what I'm talking about, so I guess I'm focusing on any portuguese soul that trips over these lines.

Aussies came up with the most brilliant plan. Its called "movember". It's a yearly tradition that consists on growing a ridiculous facial hair lump above the lip (some call it moustache). People will sponsor your idea because they wanna see you looking like either the Beastie Boys or a complete idiot. It does have a flaw. Only men or gypsy women from the north of Portugal can do it.
You see, Portugal has a proud moustache tradition. I can say with so hesitation that we fight toe to toe with the Iranian and German moustaches! If you pick up a shaved taxi driver in Lisbon, leave the car! Chances are he might take you through the shortest most convenient way! What you want is an old school driver that takes you from the centre to the airport via Stalingrad, while telling you why Benfica needs to improve on defense. You're gonna pay 2 months rent for that ride, but will have the infinite joy of staring at that crown of facial hair with the occasional shrimp hanging off of it. Oh, how I miss the football and the porn of the 80's.... man with strong proud moustaches bouncing those balls! The good days! (at least for a Benfica fan!...)

Back to Australia, the result is the landscape becomes dramatically harry when movember hits Australia. And some of them just look so ridiculous you KNOW its a movember guy. The good thing is on average, each person gets 500$ for charity, which multiplied by all the braves out there, amounts to a lot. Not just money, but awareness. The great thing is the cheap laughs on every corner. Oh, such a simple way to keep one's spirit on a high! Brilliant!

I thought about it, but the longest I managed without shaving was 2 weeks, while in South America, and I couldn't take it any more. Like having cacti on my face! I didn't resist the temptation to keep the moustache however, and went out in Bolivia one night, looking like this:

A colombian drug dealer? A cuban gigolo? An islamic radical wannabe? A movember victim? A Lisbon taxi driver? I was going for Lech Walesa's bushiness, Emperor Hirohito's subtleness, Trotsky's intellectualness and in my wildest dreams Mr Mercury's class. I didn't quite pull it off. I looked THAT RIDICULOUS and didn't even raise a couple of dollars for charity to show for it...