Day #2 in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro)
Almost more than I love beets, I LOVE hotel breakfast. This is one of my most American qualities. It's why I find it difficult to live in Italy for extended periods of time, even if that's my soul's paradise. Even if it's the depressing spread on offer at an Extended Stay in Gary, Indiana, you know where you can find me if I am a hotel guest. I firmly believe I am maximizing my use of whatever hotel I may be staying in, and simultaneously avoiding being spendthrift by using services for which I've already paid. At the Pestana, I loaded my plate with fresh guava (not the move, too many hard little seeds), farmer's cheese, something like mozzarella that they called "Minas Cheese" (presumably from Minas Gerais), some sausage, some eggs.
We Ubered to the Metropolitan Cathedral for Sunday Mass. The cathedral is totally unique in its architecture. It's essentially an open air church made of cement. In place of a church bulletin, the cathedral provides a rundown of every single prayer, reading, and response for the entire Mass, which made it easier to follow along. After Mass ended, the congregation sped from the pews to the middle aisle of the church, so we followed. There, the priest went down both sides of the aisle and sprayed everyone with holy water. No wonder they were running after Mass! I thought there was going to be pao de queijo or something on offer but being blessed was great, too.
We Ubered to a nearby park to watch a jam session that's been held on a weekly basis since 2007, "Arruma o Coreto". We'd been to church, been blessed, and it was only 11:30 AM, so I ordered a maracuja-flavored caparinha from a stand in the park. Standing in the crowd of onlookers, we listened to the band play for a while. They were all ages, but it was striking to see how most of the band leaders were older Brazilians. There was a very talented saxophone player, who made it look so easy to play the instrument. The crowd in the park was comprised of people of all ages: families, the elderly and their caretakers, maybe some other tourists. It was a balmy 75 degrees, with the sun peeking out from the cloud cover. They know how to live well in Rio de Janeiro.
We got hungry and found a restaurant that looked good because of how busy it was. I ordered a "medium portion" of the Cuban Chicken and in turn received enough food to feed 2-3 people. The customary rice, fries, farofa, and tomato/onion vinaigrette were present.
