More About Brazil

The topic of ice cream in Brazil needs more explanation and if I was wise, I would open a sorvecharia here in Phoenix. Getting ice cream is self service. You choose the size of your bowl and then move from freezer case to freezer case scooping out however much you want - mixing and matching the flavors. Toppings are also available. The weigh it and you pay - and it is a bargain compared to American ice cream - a moderate sized bowl with two or three scoops costs less that three dollars. There are at least forty flavors - the standards like chocolate and strawberry - morango, pistache, lemon, chocolate chip, but there are lots of others like Romeo and Julieta which is made from guava and cheese. It sounds bad, but it is really pretty good. I had it more than once. They have caipirhina - which is actually better than the drink - at least for me. There were also lots of flavors from the various fruits and several with coconut mixed in. After you purchase your ice cream, you can sit inside or outside at small tables and enjoy.

Campinas, where Lindemberg lives, was originally home to tobacco barons and there are many beautiful old houses tucked in between the high rises. Most of them are no longer private homes, but offices or restaurants. We went to one last Saturday and it was very beautiful. The house had been coverted well and we enjoyed seeing it. But the real show-stopper was the food. Different areas of the restaurant were set up as buffets. One had about twenty kinds of salads, some recognizable, some mysterious. I liked the quail eggs which were very tiny and hard boiled and mozzarella balls which were fried. Talk about calories! There were choices of meat, steak, salmon with shrimp, my favorite picanha, chicken with cheese sauce. Another area had sushi. Toward the middle of the room, there was a table with eight large black cauldrons. They contained different parts of the feijoada - which is made of black beans and pork - ears, tail, feet, bacon, pork ribs, two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef - loin and tongue. I passed on this but David and Lindemberg had a plateful. There was also a table of desserts - my favorite - dulce de leite - made from milk and sugar that are cooked until the mixture carmelizes. It is the typical dessert of Minais Gerais - which is Monica's home state and her home made version of it was better than the restaurant's. We ate an enormous amount that day, at a leisurely pace and thoroughly enjoyed it. Dining out in Brazil is about half the price of dining out in the US.

Before I left, I offered to bring back Brazilian bikinis for anyone who wanted them but we American women are much less comfortable with our bodies. We saw all shapes, sizes and ages on bikinis on the beach - with all the lumps and bumps on display. The bikinis are quite small but no one seems the lest concerned about coverage! How different cultures can be!

We had a wonderful time in Brazil - it thoroughly exceeded our expectations. Monica and Lindemberg were wonderful hosts and did everything they could to make our stay memorable. We were sad to leave, but our visas are good for five years, so we hope to travel there again.
Tchau!

Rainy Day In Sao Paulo

It is easy to understand why all the best Brazilian race car drivers come from São Paulo after a day in the city. The drivers there dodge and weave and won´t give an inch. It is all complicated by the ´bike boys´- men on small motorbikes who deliver documents, food and just generally spend the time weaving in and out of the frantic traffic, pulling in front of cars that are going sixty miles an hour and sliding up in between rows of stalled traffic. Lindemberg says they are necessary to the econonomy, and also, they help by being frequent organ donors.
We had to cross the Tropic of Capricorn when we drove from Campinas to São Paulo - and there is actually a sign that marks the spot. We went first to Avenida Paulista -one of the major streets for business. It was very modern and would fit in with any big city. We walked around the MASP - the art museum of Sao Paulo which is a modern builing suspended in the air on four red columns, really a striking building.
It was starting to sprinkle rain, but Lindemberg assured us that it would be a light rain called "garoa" that is common this time of year. We entered the subway - again modern and much like those in Paris and London. The maps in the wall looked almost the same with the colored lines headed in different directions. Many of the stops are named for famous Brazilians.
We walked for a while after the subway and found the large city central market. It was remarkable - stalls with things hanging and piled everywhere. It was crowded but we managed to get a table and eat the traditional mortadela sandwhich. It had about three inches of a spiced ham interspersed with melted cheese on a crispy french roll. It was delicious but so filling that there was no room left for all the beautiful desserts that were on offer around the market.
Unfortunately, when we left the market, the "garoa" that Lindemberg promised us turned into a pelting rainstorm. Thank goodness for entrepreneurs. At the door of the market, a man was selling a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch packet - for only $1.25. It was a clear plastic Brazilian raincoat which had a hood, and long sleeves and reached below the knees. Thus attractively garbed, we slogged off into the storm through packed streets, past the open air market that was very busy, past historical buildings to the monastery and church of St. Benedict. The monks have been there since the 1600s, and they bake very good bread to raise money. Of course, we bought some.
Back to the subway to the Catedral da Sé - the large cathedral in the exact center of São Paulo. It has a large dome like St. Peter´s and flying buttresses like Notre Dame - quite an amazing sight. Directly in front of the cathedral was a marker that indicated the exact center of São Paulo. Very beautiful despite the rain.
Back to the subway to the car with a brief stop at a chocolate shop for sustenance to help us manage the traffic - which was even worse on the way back - as it was Friday and the end of the workday.
Before we left the city, we drove by the city park which was enormous, with lakes and ponds and paths and trees. Very beautiful. It front of the park, there is an obelisk and an enormous sculpture that depicts the Bandeirantes - the early explorers who first went into the interior of the country.
Lindemberg gave us a nice sampling of Sao Paulo - the city that never sleeps- despite the rain. Tchau!

Life in Campinas

A little bit about daily life in Campinas. Monica and Lindemberg live in a high rise apartment in Campinas on the tenth floor. There are two elevators and one stairway which is only used in case of fire. The have a large apartment with a living room - dining room combination, kitchen, playroom, large utility room and four bedrooms, each with its own bath. There are small balconies off of each bedroom and a large balcony that curves around the living room which has floor to ceiling windows. All the balconies are covered completely on the outside with netting for safety with the kids and the cat. The cat is a Persian that Lindemberg loves and that Monica wants to send to the country to live with her parents in Minais Gerais. That is the running joke - the cat wants her freedom.
The neighborhood - Cambuie - is very nice - with everything they need in walking distance - including Monica´s office. Starbucks is even across the street. There are cafes and sorvecherias (ice cream places) and many, many drogerias - drug stores - two on every street. Like Walgreens, they carry things like milk and baby food so people are in and out of them all the time. There are also boutiques which are very expensive. There are parks every few blocks. Yesterday, we walked to one which was full of parents and children as it was a holiday.
The grocery store is very interesting with lots of fruit that we did not recognize. There are many good kinds of bread that are tempting. Soda and beer come in singles not in six or twelve packs. There is an area where you can buy prepared food and bring it home - which we did yesterday, fish, eggplant, and mixed vegetables. The prices are about half of what we pay in the US for fruit and vegetables. Most of the fruit that we know is much sweeter, especially the bananas. The have lots of flowers at the grocery, and prices are less than half of what we would pay. The very best thing about the grocery store is that there is a special shorter line for old people like me.
The big meal here is eaten at noon with a lighter meal at night. It is mostly a Mediterranean type of diet. The problems come with dessert. Monica made dulce de leche which was amazing. Frequently, at night, Lindemberg goes out for ice cream. He asks everyone what flavor they would like - I favor morango - strawberry. Everyone chooses something different. He comes back with a round styrofoam container with all the different scoops of ice cream nestled inside. No leftovers to tempt us.
Yesterday we went to the bookstore at the mall. The only thing that made it different from the US was that some of the signs were in Portuguese, but not McDonalds or Starbucks.
The kids have been great. Thiago is a very good little boy who loves video games but loves more to have a friend come over to play. He is amazingly affectionate to his sister and learning English through his Pokeman game. Fernanda is a charmer. She smiles all the time and does not mind traveling or being hauled around from place to place. She is just starting to walk, and jabbers continually. Her favorite words are ´que´ which means ´want´- because her parents ask her that often, and `Chi´which in the first syllable of her brother´s name.
Today we are headed to Sao Paulo when Lindemberg comes back from checking his patients at the hospital. Monica has gone to work. The nanny will be taking care of the kids while we are gone. She is a very nice older woman, Neuce, who clearly loves the kids.
We are very relaxed and enjoying our time here and - before our visas expire - may meet them again in a more northern part of Brazil. Tchau!

The Story of Motels - Brazilian Style

Starting with our original drive from the airport and on the drive from IlhaBela, we saw many, many motels with exotic names like Fire Nights Motel or Arabian Fantasy Motel. Turns out that that are quite different from Motel 6 and the Holiday Inn. In Brazil, motels are used solely for the purpose of meeting for sex. They are designed to meet any fantasy with round beds and mirrored ceilings and decorated in the theme of the name. They can be rented overnight during the week but for shorter periods during the weekend when the demand is high. The cost ranges from $20 for the cheapest to $50 for the fanciest ones which might even include a pool table and a jacuzzi. So when you visit Brazil, head for the pousada or the hotel unless you are looking for excitement. Tchau!

IlhaBela

Preparing to travel with a one year old is a little like preparing for the D-Day invasion. But Monica had everything well in hand and we left in two cars for the drive to Ilha Bela, an island off the coast of Brazil. For the first couple of hours, we could have been in New England with rolling hills, covered in trees. The only difference was the occasional village - always with the church poised on the highest part of the hill.
The second part of the trip was a road that was like the road to Panajachel times ten. It started in the mountains with fog crouching over the road, and wound down, around and back again for about forty five minutes. The easy curves were ninety degrees, but a turn to the right was almost always followed by a turn to the left - and then a series of 180s. It was mildly terrifying in the daylight.
We took a short car ferry ride to the island - which has the last part of virgin Atlantic forest mixed with palm and banana trees and tropical flowers. The roads are all cobbled and on every side there are´pousadas´- (guesthouses) and open air restaurants. Tiny picturesque beaches hide around every curve, and since we arrived during the Rolex regatta, crowds of sailboats raced from one end of the island to the other. Every little beach has its own restaurant, and as you loll on the beach, someone brings you Coke zero, Atlantico or Itipava beer, or my new favorite - Guarana zero. We ate all kinds of interesting things, but the piece de resistance was the calderata - a black cauldron filled with things from the sea - fish, squid, octupus. Lindemberg would not tell me what they were until I had already eaten them. But it was excellent to sit on the wooden deck with a thatched roof overhead, eat calderata and watch the sea.
We spent the days eating on the beach, and the nights eating in the town. David will have to carry me home in a wheelbarrow. The kids loved the beach and Nanda would crawl like a little crab right into the water. Thiago was more adventurous and he and David played some adaptation of soccer in the water.
We hated to leave IlhaBela, and so we did not get on to the ferry until five - and got to ride the mountain road in the dark. How twisted was the road? Well, the moon kept changing sides, first in my right, then on my left, then back to the right, then in the rear view mirror. Terrifying.
We had a great four days on Ilha Bela and recommend it. Tchau.

Around Rio

Yesterday morning started with a trip to Ipanema. Cab? Bus? Or something else. We chose the something else - a van with a pretty good looking guy hanging out the window and waving. We leaped in - the stop is pretty quick and you have to move fast. Despite dire warnings, we lost no major organs and were deposited right where we wanted to be - Ipanema beach. Unfortunately, I believed the books that said it was too cold to swim in the winter and did not bring a bathing suit, so we waded in and David got soaked. The morning was a success as he saw several of the vaunted ´dental floss´ bikinis but the thrill passed quickly as some of the buns were not worth looking at.
We took in the National History Museum and the center of town in the afternoon, a street fair in the evening and David ate fezuouada - the traditional Brazilian bean and meat stew. The waitress actually had to pull up a second table to serve it from a round iron pot. He liked it - but I stuck with chicken - which describes my attitude toward unusual food exactly.
Today we went into the mountains to Petropolis - the summer home of the emperors of Brazil. We visited the Imperial Palace which had the shiniest wooden floors you ever could see. Why? Because, as the throngs entered the museum, a guard puts a pair of slippers over your shoes. The bottom of the slippers was made of a chamois-like fabric and the effect of wearing them was a lot like ice skating. I was hoping to pick up a dozen pair in the gift shop for use at my house, but, alas, they did not sell them. The ride down the curvas peligosas (new Portuguese for me)in fog and rain was a little frightening, but we comforted ourselves by eating the candy we bought at the obligatory tour shop stop - a chocolate factory.
Time to go for a night time wander along Copacabana - they have kiosks every hundred feet that sell beer and these great limon ice creams. Everybody is happy!