Staying with a friend

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I spent two weeks in Paulina, Brazil. Yes, yes, I know it 's not Rio de Janerio or Sao Paulo, but I spent the time at my friend's, Angelica, house. Angelica was kind enough to put up with me for two weeks. I wasn't a handful or demanding at all...well I don't think I was. In any case, I'm really glad that she let me stay at her place and that she took time off work to show me around. You're the best Meg! (don't ask, I'm not going to explain)

Clubbing

Although the big Carnival parties are in Rio and Salvador, there are smaller parties going all over Brazil. In Campinas, we went to a club that was open to the wee hours of the morning. The club had two dance floors. The first dance floor only played Samba music (Carnival room). Samba music is great, but listening to it for hours on end is not my idea of clubbing. Good thing there was a second dance floor with regular dance music.

I couldn't believe how aggressive the Brazilian men are in the club. They were grabbing women on the dance floor as the women walked by. It was definitely an eye opener for me. I think women in North America would kick the guy in the ass if he tried something like that. It seemed very disrespectful especially when some of those women had their boyfriend walking right behind them. I saw a few fights almost break out. The extra entertainment of the night so to speak. Speaking of fights, I actually saw two women fighting in the club. When I asked my friend about it, he said that it was quite common in this particular club. He told me that normally there was a fight at least once a week between women and usually it was over a guy. I've never had women fight over me...I wonder what that feels like?

We stayed at the club till 6am. When I came out of the club, I saw the sun blazing in the sky. I was thinking, "Shit! How am I going to go to sleep now?" We didn't get home till 7am and I had no problem sleeping 😊 Note to self: You've had a great night when you see the sun rise.

Food and Drinking

Brazil has very amazing meats. Don't get me wrong. Argentina has the best steaks, but Brazil has great meats. I was lucky enough to have Angelica take me to so many different places to eat. I think I actually gained a few pounds in the two weeks I was staying with Angelica. I ate at a Churrasco restaurant, a per kg restaurant (pay by weight of food), a per kg ice cream store (pay by weight of ice cream), a sushi restaurant and a Brazilian home BBQ. The sushi was really good. I guess it pays to have a lot of Japanese people living in Brazil.

Drinking is a huge part of the culture in South America and each country is famous for their own drinks. In Peru, it's Pisco Sours. In Brazil, it's Caipirinha (the lime sugar and cachaça drink). Brazil also has Cachaça (is the sugar cane buzz), Caipiroska (the lime sugar and vodka drink), and Caipiríssima (the lime sugar and saque drink). I had the opportunity to try a few different Cachaças courtesy of Angelica's father. He has a very impressive collection. At one point, I needed to sit down before continuing to taste the small shot glasses of Cachaça.

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