(Post 2/2)
Whereas my dining experience was a giant failure my time spent sitting on the bench was a lot of fun. There was live music, the weather was great and of course the people watching is always fun. It wasn't until I was sitting on the bench for 15 minutes that I realized the band was covering Dave Matthews Band. Not that I am a huge DMB fan, but I have heard them play that music frequently in Brazil and apparently the Brazilians like it because it translates to Portuguese rather well.
After listening to the band play their whole set, they packed up and started to leave and I heard more live music from just around the corner. The funny thing is they were playing the same DMB songs, I thought for a moment that the band had finished at one bar and just moved around the corner to play at another but upon investigating further I found that it was just another band altogether, playing the same songs in English.
The bar around the corner is one that I have been to a couple of times and I had taken Megan and her friends there when they visited. If you have never seen the “beer towers” you might want to check it out. Back home we have a bar that uses them and they are a pretty cool novelty in addition to be a pretty good deal economically. The group that we took to the bar (called Barrel 8000) had a little competition to see who could guess how many beers were in one of these towers. Here is a picture of the tower, take your guess and I'll post the answer after the picture.
In case you were wondering, this tower contains sixteen eight ounce glasses (number written to avoid cheaters) and I think it was R$55 if I recall correctly. When we did out the math everyone was satisfied with the deal. I'm not sure that it's better than the “all you can drink” beer but you have the bonus of never having to wait for your next one, you just grab your glass and pour it yourself at the table.
Having cool things like beer towers, all you can eat Mexican food, awesome movie theaters and live bands can sometimes make you forget that Brazil is still a developing country. Even in a city like Rio De Janeiro sometimes you see things that just blow your mind. There was a group of us walking to the beach when we saw this.
Seeing a horse is not something that would typically make me balk, as I've seen them in other big cities around the world (including NYC). But to see a horse, pulling a crude wagon stacked to the top with cardboard boxes makes me double take. I have actually seen this particular horse/wagon combo on a number of occasions. Typically it is driving directly down the middle of the road with a man standing on top of the boxes and holding the reigns in his hands. He doesn’t even sit down, he is in an almost surfing stance and the horse plods along like nothing is out of the ordinary. I cant think that collecting cardboard boxes is a lucrative business, but then again he is riding around in a wagon so my guess is he's beyond reasoning.
If you know me, then you know I don't particularly care for the beach. In all honesty I detest sand but while Megan was here I made an exception. Between this trip and my last trip I've been living in Brazil for about 10 months and I think I've been to the beach four times (including with Megan). Seeing I don't really care for the beach, I had not truly experienced it until Megan's trip. It was while I was there this time that I noticed a few things about the beach.
The experience is totally different than any other beach that I've been too. In addition to the weather being awesome and the bathing suits skimpier, you have every need being catered too. If you go to the beach on a weekend when there is nice weather there are people waiting on you hand and foot from the moment you step foot on the beach.
When Megan and I stepped off the sidewalk there was a young man waiting with chairs for us. All I had to do was point and he plopped down the chairs. Then he asked if I wanted an umbrella (which I did) and he went and got that and set that up. Then just as we were sitting down I started to say to Megan that I was bummed out that I had lost my sunglasses the day before. Before I could finish my statement a vendor with sunglasses is standing right there. I look over his wares from my beach chair and pick out a pair and then another man comes up and takes Megan's drink order.
The stay on the beach was pretty amazing as far as I was concerned. After I sat down everything was brought to us. After the rest of our friends showed up they were given chairs and everything was kept on a tab (chairs are R$2 or R$3). Hell, the beers even had beer cozies to keep them cold and another man comes by to collect the cans.
While having everything that you could possibly want brought to you I saw one vendor that I found very cool. There were multiple people trying to sell kites on the beach. I wasn’t interested in what the kites actually looked like, nor was I interested in owning a kite. What set these guys apart from the others was the way that they displayed their wares.
In this photo you can see that the kite salesmen have long strings with a bunch of kites (usually 8 or more) on one long string. They walk up and down the beach selling them to children. I thought this was not only very cool, but also very effective.
I have talked on a number of occasions about the “agua de coco” which is typically a whole coconut with the top chopped off and a straw inserted so that you can drink it. Not only does it make for a great picture, but the process by which they prepare these is often worth the R$3 it costs to purchase one. From what I can tell (and I've seen this done probably 20 times) you are in fact buying a lottery ticket for the chance to see a Brazilian laborer chop off his hand, fingers, or both.
The coconut is held in the hand at which point they pull out an old and rusty hatchet and swing it at the coconut. This is repeated between 3 and 5 times and every time I see it, I hold my breath and turn my head slightly. You know what I'm talking about, when you act like you don't want to see what's going to happen, but you ultimately really do want to see. The last time that Megan ordered one she was ready with the camera. I think she secretly wanted to catch it on film and sell it to faces of death or something. Here is the photo of what I'm talking about.
As you can see in this picture, the worker actually placed it on the stone cutting slab in front of him which is NOT normal. I'll try and get a video of someone doing it the normal way...when I have the spare R$3 for the lottery ticket that is.
That will bring this weeks blog to a close. I know that was a long read, and again, there was more content to write about but I guess it will have to wait until next week. Also, if you have any requests for techniques to be taped let me know and I will try and make it happen.
Thanks for reading.
The Gerbil