Sunday Markets Brazilian Style
Topic: Brazil
We thought Sunday would be a good day for a market. We had read about two - a local one which takes place once a month in Ipanema and another one every weekend in S?o Cristov?o. The one in Ipanema occupies the whole square and was very civilised. Stalls sold "hippy" crafts and lovely colourful art.

To get to the other one, we had to take the 464 bus. It took a long time to get there but it was a really interesting trip through Copacabana, Urca, along the coast to Botafogo and Flamego where numerous simultaneous football matches were going on, past a favella on the side of a largish hill and finally to the northern suburb of S?o Cristov?o.

The bus conductor told us where to get off and, really, we wouldn't have missed it. the venue was a huge exhibition centre called the Feria Nordestino - the North Eastern fair, a place where people originally from the North East of Brazil sold traditional food and crafts. It was absolutely enormous and packed with people and stands selling kebabs, steaks, grilled cheese, crafts and clothes. Groups of friends and family sat around drinking Skol beer or coconut water watching loud live samba music. There was a really great atmosphere and no other foreigners. I think we managed to blend in fairly well despite being several shades lighter than anyone else. No one took any notice of us anyway.

We stopped at a stand/restaurant (baraka) for a bite. It was stiflingly hot and the thick air didn't move despite the fan in the corner. The menu was full of things called "espetos". We had no idea what they were so asked the young waitress. She jabbered on in Portuguese and we think the conversation went something like this:

Us: What are espetos?
Her: Well, we have meat, chicken, mixed meat with onion etc.........
Us: Yes, but what are they?
Her: Well I just told you - meat, chicken....
Us (trying a new approach): Are they like kebabs?
Her: Meat or chicken? Anything else?

We ordered 3 meat espetos and discovered that they were indeed little pieces of skewered grilled meat on a stick. Very nice. We realised that we had done the equivalent of, say, going into Starbucks and asking what coffee was. How can anyone not know what coffee is? How could anyone not know what espetos were? It was outside the waitress realm of experience.

As we were tucking in, the chef/owner came over and started jabbering away in Portuguese. We think he was asking us where in Portugal we were from. How on earth had he come to that conclusion? We couldn't even place a simple food order! When people speak to us, we generally understand about 40%, when we speak slow Spanish back, they usually get the gist, particularly if they are used to foreigners. Unlike our young friend the waitress.

We wandered around the stalls in sun so hot that it scorches skin on contact. We tried to stay under the shelters. Later,we stopped at another "baraka" near one of the main samba stages. Dripping with sweat at this stage, we sat under a fan. No one seems concerned about the heat here. It was a cloudless, airless 34 degrees but people all just sweat together. There was an Air Con restaurant in the complex but we resisted the temptation to go in as we would be away from the music and the atmosphere.

We ordered food which was a bit like a Sunday roast with a Brazilian twist - grilled salty cheese, roast beef and deepfried turnip, all heavily salted. This came with manioc flour (a bit like sawdust) and we washed it down with Skol. When we had had our fill of food, salt, skol, noise and heat, we went to look for our bus back home. When our bus finally came, it was horribly hot, packed and went at racing speeds with sketchy shock absorbers. I hung on for dear life all the way back to Ipanema. If David suggests getting on a packed bus on a hot afternoon again, I am just going to laugh at him.

It was a good fun day out all in all and the fair is probably great fun at night when the caipirinha and cocktail stands come into their own. Perhaps we'll have time for another visit before leaving Rio.