Brazilian buses, banks, beaches and buffaloes
Brazil is a place of surprises. This is partly because it is a vibrant country rich in both potential and contrasts and partly because neither of us speak any Portuguese and hence we´re never entirely sure what we´re going to get. As such, we tend to stumble onto good surprises more than devise them ourselves.
One such surprise was the churrascuro we stumbled into on our 2nd day. We had left our hotel in order to escape the frozen instant hamburger meal on offer and find a better meal (anything!) when we found ourselves in a churrascaria de rodezio. The concept is quite simple; one sits at a table having selected a salad plate from the salad buffet and waiters move from table to table bringing various cuts of meat on skewers from which they slice portions onto your plate. For less than GBP10 you eat until you are full and then the Brazilian waiters come around and comment on how weak you are and then you eat a little more in order to impress them.
Another surprise was Liberdade and the hidden sushi restaurant. Sao Paulo has a sizable Japanese population and partly out of curiosity and partly on the recommendation of the guidebook as a good area, we spent a night in this interesting part of the city. We arrived late at 10pm and walked down a sweaty street, laden with oriental laterns and lights, and finally found ourselves a sort-of-hotel for an incredible price with a sushi restaurant out back. Still covered in travel grime but starving we were ceremoniously presented with a massive plate of fresh sushi (salmon, tuna, eel, octopus, even fish roe) that frankly defeated us, despite our best efforts and a call for more wasabi.
We decided to spend our week in Brazil by the beach before returning to hardly-tropical London. In a certain amount of blind faith we chose the Island of Cannanea which is 300km south of Sao Paulo and joined to the mainland by a short bridge. We didn´t want to be anywhere too retro because the interior of Brazil empties at New Year as the entire population heads for the beach. Upon reflection, Cannanea seems to be just out of the way enough not to be too crowded but still has a good enough beach for a sizable population to have descended upon it.
The best beach in the area is on a neighbouring island, a short ferry and then a bus ride away. Getting the ferry and the bus can be a bit like getting on at Mbare Msika Central, if you can imagine everyone at Mbare wearing bikinis. But the brown, soft, warm Brazilian water at the end of it is enough to make you smile at the passion the Brazilians have for the beach.
Speaking of surprises, we were suddenly surprised to find that the bank machine in the little fishing village would not give us any cash. This presented an interesting challenge when it occured to us that our hotel did not take credit card and neither did the bus company back to Sao Paulo. Various options presented themselves to my Zimbabwean mind (take a cheaper bus to the next big town, sell my iPod, find some Indians, do a runner and hitchike back to SP...) but we finally decided to make it our hotelier´s problem - at which point it turned out he had a friend who did take credit cards plus an account at his store and hence could provide us with the cash we needed. A frantic 4 hours of debate and scheming over, we went back to the beach (which at least is free).
It appears to us that we are the only foreigners in this tiny town. People keep referring to us as ¨ah....Gringo¨. This is delivered in a variety of different tones. It has benefits; for instance in identifying what table we were just sitting at, and it can be challenging; for instance when disputing the bill. Contrary to popular belief which is that, although people who speak Spanish cannot understand Portuguese, those that speak Portuguese can understand Spanish this has not really proved true in our experience. But, for the most part, I am grateful that nobody seems to speak any English because nobody can understand Duncan commenting on all the fat people on the beaches. In his defence, there were quite a few buffaloes and the myth of svelte Brazilian women prancing about in bikinis has been entirely dispelled for me. This is a nation of whales!
Tomorrow we take a bus (paid for through our illicit credit card transactions) back to Sao Paulo. We will probably have a churasscuro maybe some sushi and then become resolute vegetarians upon our return to London, in protest at the price of meat and raw fish there and so that we don´t also turn into whales!
One such surprise was the churrascuro we stumbled into on our 2nd day. We had left our hotel in order to escape the frozen instant hamburger meal on offer and find a better meal (anything!) when we found ourselves in a churrascaria de rodezio. The concept is quite simple; one sits at a table having selected a salad plate from the salad buffet and waiters move from table to table bringing various cuts of meat on skewers from which they slice portions onto your plate. For less than GBP10 you eat until you are full and then the Brazilian waiters come around and comment on how weak you are and then you eat a little more in order to impress them.
Another surprise was Liberdade and the hidden sushi restaurant. Sao Paulo has a sizable Japanese population and partly out of curiosity and partly on the recommendation of the guidebook as a good area, we spent a night in this interesting part of the city. We arrived late at 10pm and walked down a sweaty street, laden with oriental laterns and lights, and finally found ourselves a sort-of-hotel for an incredible price with a sushi restaurant out back. Still covered in travel grime but starving we were ceremoniously presented with a massive plate of fresh sushi (salmon, tuna, eel, octopus, even fish roe) that frankly defeated us, despite our best efforts and a call for more wasabi.
We decided to spend our week in Brazil by the beach before returning to hardly-tropical London. In a certain amount of blind faith we chose the Island of Cannanea which is 300km south of Sao Paulo and joined to the mainland by a short bridge. We didn´t want to be anywhere too retro because the interior of Brazil empties at New Year as the entire population heads for the beach. Upon reflection, Cannanea seems to be just out of the way enough not to be too crowded but still has a good enough beach for a sizable population to have descended upon it.
The best beach in the area is on a neighbouring island, a short ferry and then a bus ride away. Getting the ferry and the bus can be a bit like getting on at Mbare Msika Central, if you can imagine everyone at Mbare wearing bikinis. But the brown, soft, warm Brazilian water at the end of it is enough to make you smile at the passion the Brazilians have for the beach.
Speaking of surprises, we were suddenly surprised to find that the bank machine in the little fishing village would not give us any cash. This presented an interesting challenge when it occured to us that our hotel did not take credit card and neither did the bus company back to Sao Paulo. Various options presented themselves to my Zimbabwean mind (take a cheaper bus to the next big town, sell my iPod, find some Indians, do a runner and hitchike back to SP...) but we finally decided to make it our hotelier´s problem - at which point it turned out he had a friend who did take credit cards plus an account at his store and hence could provide us with the cash we needed. A frantic 4 hours of debate and scheming over, we went back to the beach (which at least is free).
It appears to us that we are the only foreigners in this tiny town. People keep referring to us as ¨ah....Gringo¨. This is delivered in a variety of different tones. It has benefits; for instance in identifying what table we were just sitting at, and it can be challenging; for instance when disputing the bill. Contrary to popular belief which is that, although people who speak Spanish cannot understand Portuguese, those that speak Portuguese can understand Spanish this has not really proved true in our experience. But, for the most part, I am grateful that nobody seems to speak any English because nobody can understand Duncan commenting on all the fat people on the beaches. In his defence, there were quite a few buffaloes and the myth of svelte Brazilian women prancing about in bikinis has been entirely dispelled for me. This is a nation of whales!
Tomorrow we take a bus (paid for through our illicit credit card transactions) back to Sao Paulo. We will probably have a churasscuro maybe some sushi and then become resolute vegetarians upon our return to London, in protest at the price of meat and raw fish there and so that we don´t also turn into whales!
posted by Kait at 2:31 am
1 Comments:
Kate, I've enjoyed reading your blogs. They fire the imagination and evoke insight, memories, and understanding. When do you anticipate turning professional? Michael.
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