At Home Churrascaria

Meat lovers, prepare to be very jealous of the photos you are about to see.  On Wednesday evening, Carolina’s father prepared an authentic Gaucho barbeque (Churrascaria!) – OH MY GOD!  I was pretty certain beforehand that I was going to need to eat my weight in grass-fed beef, and the evening did not disappoint.

Basement Churrascaria

The family dog wants in on the meat

To give you an idea of how big BBQ is in this family, the home has not one but TWO churrasco barbeques.  Number one is indoors (where we ate because it was winter) and number two is a second one outside (that is accompanied by its own wood pizza oven, stove, massive refrigerator and enormous deck. 

Salting preparing the meet.  Note the giant tumbler of kiwi caparinia and the smaller, equally potent one made with lime.

As dinner was prepared, Tito showed me how to salt each meat, explained the proper cooking technique, and busted out some traditional good-time hats.  

Tito and the good time hats

Marilla makes Tito put the hats away

I also received instruction in Portuguese pronunciation from Carlina’s cousin Mima (who is a hearing and speech therapist, so ‘seeing’ the nasal sounds of the word for ‘no’, ‘nao’, actually helped, at least temporarily).  Perhaps more importantly, I learned the always useful phrase of ‘f off, son of a b” which will surely come in handy in my subsequent travels though Brazil, although Carolina’s 78 year old grandmother was mortified!

Sausage as Appetizer

The evening ended with me trying to explain where in the US I grew up and have traveled while I got my own lesson in Brazilian geography – helped by an almanac and several glasses of wine. 

 

My Brazilian Family

Here in Canela, Carolina’s family welcomed me with open arms.  I’m staying at the family’s hotel Vila Suzana in a very cute chalet that is three times the size of my former Greenwich Village studio.  Oh, it’s actually been cold enough to use the working fireplace!

Carolina manages the hotel and lives with her mother Marilla and father Tito ½ a block away in home in the Vila Suzana neighborhood.  Her brother Tiago and his girlfriend Ilana live a ten minute drive away.

The typical day here has been spent with me relaxing in the chalet in the morning, then meeting up with the family for lunch (generally the big meal of the day) in their home, followed by an afternoon of seeing some of the local attractions – Caracol Falls,  Ferradura (Horesehoe Canyon), shopping in the neighboring town of Gremaldo – then dinner at home with her family or out with friends.

The highlight of the trip for me has really been the time with Carolina and her family.  Although her parents do not speak English, there are times when we understand each other perfectly – prime example when I got my first lesson in how to make a proper caperinia from Tito and was put to work  in the kitchen cutting limes and peeling kiwis while Carolina, Tiago and Ilana laughed from the next room.  And her brother Tiago, who recently moved back to Canela after a year in New Zealand, has insisted on showing me all sorts of favorite spots in the town.  They are all such warm, inviting, and fun people who I am going to miss tremendously when I leave tomorrow.

Scenic Drive Photos

Photos from the drive to Canela, Rio Grande du Sol, Brazil

Banana Stand

On the beautiful, scenic drive from Florianapolis to Canela (six plus hours, partially do to construction of expanding the highway), we stopped along the way to pick up bananas.  Carolina and Martina had a ten minute conversation about the bananas with the woman running the stand. 

Now, I might not speak Portuguese, but I’m fairly good at reading context clues and guessing what is going on… but for the past few days, when I watched Carolina and Matina interact with shopkeepers, waitresses, pretty much anyone, I was completely lost in the back and forth … I chalked it up to being a Brazilian thing, thinking they all asked incessant questions about the mundane. 

Finally though, after ten minutes of watching them examine different bunches of bananas, I just had to know… I asked Tiane, who was hiding in the car, what they could possibly be talking about.  Laughing, she rolled her eyes and said she had no idea ~ they were just silly girls with boring questions.  Ah, the universal power of chat!

Negotiations at the Banana Stand Begin

Bacon Chips are funny

Sampling the goods

Finally, success!

Obviously there was PLENTY of room for banana and luggage for four girls

Let’s Have a Chimarrão

Carolina and the chimarrão

Gaucho* carry on an old tradition of sharing chimarrão, a tea made from yerba-mate drunk from a hollowed gourd-like bowl through a metal straw, with friends.  Here in southern Brazil, this is done with hot water, so people carry a thermos with them along with all the other equipment.  (I’m told that it is traditionally done with cold water in Argentina and Uruguay.) I think it tastes similar to green tea – but perhaps a bit more grassy and bitter.  They bring this stuff everywhere…. which I learned firsthand shortly.

Me and chimarrão

I drank my first chimarrao at the beach in Jurere with Carolina and Tiane.  As Florianopolis is in Santa Caterina state, people there do not drink the tea… it’s very regional.  As we headed to the beach, it struck me as odd to me to travel with all this equipment just for tea, but I came to realized it just as much a social activity as it is a drink.

Tiane and the chimarrão

Then, once I arrived in Canela, Carolina’s town, chimarroa was everywhere!  We went to the local waterfalls, and people were drinking it there.  Behind their desks, in toll booths, on park benches, in the car ~ chimarroa, chimarroa, chimarroa.  Here in Canela, I shared it with with Carolina and her family before dinner… with her brother Tiago and his girlfriend Ilana after a hike … their way of bringing me into their circle of friends and family.

Take note, chimarroa tea will not be coming back to New York… as perhaps you can tell from the picture, narcotics would be all over me.  Given that I’m already flying home from Colombia, we don’t need to add more fuel to that fire….

* like our cowboy, the term used to describe the people from Carolina’s state of Rio Grande do Sud 

Jurerê

More proof that Florianopolis is LA and vicinity – the posh neighborhood of Jurerê that could very well be straight out of Beverly Hills or Bel Air.  Home to the (very) rich and famous, we drove through the streets looking at the beachfront homes where the privileged go to play.  The first home pictured below belongs to Ronaldinho (world famous Brazilian footballer who plays for the national team as well as the premiere league for A.C. Milan).  It should go without saying that I officially want a house here.... 

Beaches of Florianopolis

Florianopolis has hundred's of beaches... we visited several during my short stay.  Unlike the small, hidden, tropical coves found in Itacare, Floripa's beaches are long, expansive, and easily reached (with many beachfront condos, hotels, and, in the case of the poshest neighborhoods, mansions).  Most impressive were the mystical blue mountains and islands that appeared in the distance from nearly every vantage point.... my pictures fail to do it justice.

View of Praia Canasvieiras from Martina's balcony

Praia Canasvieiras at high tide in the afternoon

Praia Brava

View from above Praia do Santinho

View from above Praia do Santinho

Praia do Santinho

Jurere at Sunset

Jurere at Sunset

Jurere at Sunset

Jurere at Sunset

Praia Joaquina

Surfers at Praia Joaquina

Botox

I arrived in Florianopolis by plane on Saturday evening.  Carolina, along with her friends Martina and Tiane, met me at the airport and whisked me across the island (much, much larger than I imagined) to Martina’s beachfront condo in Canasvieiras.  The girls were invited to a house party hosted by some Floripa guys they met the previous weekend at a concert closer to Canela, so that was the plan for the evening.

Carolina and Me

I had a good laugh getting ready with Carolina – she must have changed her outfit ten times before settling on what she was going to wear – and I immediately felt right at home with a fellow Virgo who shares both my love of make-up and tendency to travel with every medication under the sun.

Since I’d arrived under the cover of darkness, I’d yet to get a real sense for what the island looked like… I knew Martina's condo was on the beach, that there was a pretty intricate highway spanning the island, and that we were heading up to a party in the hills.  Our car followed a security guard on a moped up through the winding streets, past huge homes, all the way to an enormous bachelor pad with a four-car garage, elevator, tacky artwork, and crazy deck and pool that seem suspended over the bright lights of the distance city below … as we were greeted by a group of ten guys sporting striped shirts and aggressive V’s and introduced to the 70-year old plastic surgeon (an uncle) who owned the joint, it finally hit me, I’m totally in LA.  

The Most Horrifying Thing in Brazil (Yet)

Ketchup and mustard on pizza... this is something I refuse to try!!!!