That didn’t happen, of course. It was removed at São Paolo and turned up – after a lot of help from the guys at BH – some six hours later.
Filming went well the following day and you will be able to see the ACE films we produced later this year. BH is a remarkable airport serving some 11m+ passengers a year, the majority domestic. The landside retail operation is exceptional, redefining what ‘sense of place’ at an airport can be.
The same night I was downtown for dinner with Rene Baumann and his colleagues (A, C & D). After dinner I shared an Uber taxi with two of the team to return to our respective hotels and homes. We had to take a detour to drop C off so she could collect her car which had been left in what turned out to be a very insalubrious area – darkly lit, semi-industrial and with hookers on almost every corner.
‘I thought you said this was a safe area?’ D said. C answered: ‘I was told it was.’ D quipped: ‘Maybe in the daytime.’
As we approached C’s car, from nowhere, two motorbikes appeared and parked in front and behind us. Suddenly a gun was pointed at our heads.
‘Oh s**t,’ someone said – ah, it was me, sitting in the back.
The guy holding the gun shouted something in Portuguese and C translated: ‘He says ‘Get out of the car with your hands on your head’.’ D, who has a pale complexion anyway, turned an even whiter shade. C was visibly shaking, and I was in a controlled panic.