MY FIRST REAL DAY IN BRAZIL

Sunday 2/12/2012

Yesterday was my first real day out in Brazil, since my actual first day was spent sleeping. Daniel and I went out walking to see the city.  It’s a very calm and relaxing city, different to what I am used to.  The lay out of the city, with its flat land and bare yet colorful architecture reminds me of a nicer looking Tijuana.  The transportation and popularity of motorcycles remind me of Italy, and the lush vegetation is similar to cities I visited in Guatemala.  I suppose the best way to imagine this city is to think of a nicer Tijuana placed in the center of a rainforest, with Italians riding in the streets.

After walking for a while we stopped to get sushi, which had mango instead of avocado and tasted more tropical than Asian, but was amazing.  It started to rain, and Daniel asked if I was okay walking home in the rain.  I said, “Of Course!” I have always liked the rain, or any kind of water for that matter, and with how hot it had been, the rain sounded perfect.  However, that was before I knew that “rain” in Brazil means pouring and flooding so hard it sounds like shots are being fired on the roof.  We waited for it to clam down to what I would still consider a pretty heavy pour, and we left for our fifteen minute walk home.  We walked through lightly flooded streets with water past my ankles.  Feeling the water rushing through my toes reminded me of the caves in Guatemala and was refreshing and liberating.  

At night we drove to Campinas, the second biggest city in the state of Sao Paulo, which is about a 30 minute drive from Indaiatuba.  On the way, we stopped to get meat skewers at this really cool hole-in-the-wall place, which is actually just some guy’s garage. Daniel asked if I wanted to try the chicken heart skewer.  I looked at the raw chicken hearts on the grill and it made my stomach turn.  I made a face that both Daniel and the man cooking thought was funny. I insisted I was not interested, but then remembered how happy I was I tried all the seemingly disgusting things I ate in Italy, like rabbit cheeks and brain, and horse, and cow tongue.  And that my stomach felt the same way before trying those as well.  I told them I'd give it a try, and the nice guy gave it to us for free. I ate my first chicken heart in the car, and it was actually pretty good.  If someone hadn’t told me it was chicken heart I would probably say it was great, but the texture wouldn’t allow me to forget what I was eating, so for now it'll have to give it a rating of pretty good.