To Market, To Market
18 June 2005 (Saturday) – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
We had collapsed into our mattresses immediately upon our return at 3+am last night. But by 9am, I still woke up automatically and crawled outside for breakfast. I was soon joined by Melanie and I gave her some ideas on where to travel in south-western Brazil and northern Argentina, 2 very special regions that I absolutely adore. She is leaving for Curitiba later tonight. She appeared a little nervous about travelling alone, but I assured her that she would learn and grow, and then, she would truly start to enjoy it. I could only give her so many advices. The rest is really up to her.
There was a fruit and vegetables market nearby, which I wanted to take a look. By the time, Sarah woke up, we decided to all head there together. Soon, we struck upon the idea of buying ingredients to cook a special lunch today to thank Carol for her hospitality. Melanie suggested red peppers stuffed with minced meat and mashed potatoes. Excellent idea and we bought whatever we needed.
I love maracuja (passion-fruit) and when I found them in the market, I was really delighted and bought 6, just because they do not exist in my country. Soon, we decided to make a passion-fruit shake out of it for dessert. Great!
We returned and prepared lunch together. Carol soon returned home as well. Gosh, someone had run into her car this morning, so she was a little down about the whole thing. She mentioned that she had heard of cases where people ram their car into a car with only a woman in there, in order to rob her when she gets out to investigate. So, when the accident happened that morning, she was all nervous, wondering how she should react… get out and possibly face the chance of robbery or leave without resolution nor compensation??
I was aghast. I mean, this thought would never have crossed my mind back home. Never. But here, it is a totally different country. She had grown up here, so she knows. Still, I turned the thought in my head and appreciated the security of my country.
It turned out Carol does not like red peppers and passion-fruit. Oh well.
In the evening, when Melanie was ready to go, all of us packed into Carol’s car with the broken rear-light and headed to the rodoviaria to drop her off and wish her well.
Then, Nando drove us through the tunnel of Corcovado to the restaurant area along Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. This is also another part of Rio de Janeiro that I had not been to before. This is the huge lake under the right arm-pit of Christ the Redeemer. We were staying under his left arm-pit. The lake is used for boating activities but please do not swim in there, it is horrendously polluted. It is still connected to the ocean with a canal that divides Leblon beach from Ipanema. The restaurant area is a very pretty place, lined with kiosks, restaurants and bars, offering various types of food and ‘live’ music. There are also some wholesome recreational family activities to do, like rent a 2-person (seated side-by-side) cycle thingie and have a go around the lake. Indeed, a very pleasant place to spend an evening.
We selected one restaurant that seemed to have a nice band and ordered drinks, sorvetes (ice-creams) and pastels (meat pastries). It was a really pleasant evening, with a quiet breeze. We chatted, getting to know one another and listened to the nice Brazilian music. I enjoyed the evening very much, and Sarah and I took the opportunity to buy them this round, as our form of saying thanks to the great hospitality Carol and Nando had shown to all of us.
Tags: 02) And God Created Brazilian Women, Rio de Janeiro
swesn
April 10th, 2006 at 10:51 am
Love seeing the pictures Trish!! Great writer and photographer!!!