Eating my way through Sao Paulo

I wish I could continue writing short stories about all of my experiences here, but I haven't made the time. I simply can't keep up with all of the things I'm learning on a day to day basis. Instead, I've decided to post a few notes on the most important discoveries I've made over the past few days, most of which are food related.

I've discovered a wonderful way to communicate - Pigeon Portunol. It's a funny combination of Portuguese and Espanol that makes me feel less like an idiot and impresses the Brazilians with my excellent pronunciation. My comprehension of Portuguese has improved enough for me to understand a sophisticated conversation about the need to invenst in tourism and infrastructure to bring more people to a very quaint town about an hour outside of Sao Paulo called Paranpiacaba. With a population of only 400, the town is very depressed, but has a great history as an old English railroad town, complete with it's own miniature Big Ben. I wanted to see the whole town, but I plans changed. I ended up only being able to see a great concert from backstage (I'm a VIP!) of a lovely Brazilian singer, Luiza Possi. It was awesome.

I stopped planning my days here by what I want to see. Days have been organized around what I'm going to eat. The food here is AMAZING. I've completely forgotten about counting points and am all about trying all the food. It hasn't been a problem that I'm not a fan of meat, because you can find any kind of food here you want. The sushi is some of the best I've had, the coffee is strong and smooth, exotic fruits and juices are abundant, as are snacks with every kind of savory bread/meat/cheese combinations you can imagine. It's probably a good thing that I didn't really take to the pon de queijo (cheese bread) because they might have to roll me off the plane. I had the best time at the Mercado Municipal (Central Market) tasting all the exotic fruits like pitaja, acabaxi, mango, and tropical coconuts. You can find restaurants with any cuisine you want open at any hour in Sao Paulo. On Sunday night, we had traditional Brazilian pizza, which rivals the best of Italy, at 10pm and the restaurant was packed. I haven't really sampled the deserts here, many of which feature goiaba (guava), but the Brigadeiro, a traditional chocolate ball, made with sweet condensed milk, was heaven.

I've enjoyed a few Carpirihnas, which can be made with different fruits and spirits, the tradiational being lime with Cachaca (also known as Pinga, an alcohol made from fermented sugar cane). Also popular here is chopp - cold beer on tap, Brahma is served in all bars. While waiting to go up to the top of the Bovespa skyscraper building (modeled after the empire state building) a friend and the waiters explained how Brazilians drink chopp like water and how pinga can make you black out if you're not careful! No worries, I've been careful. I discovered the kiwi capirihnas made with sake instead of pinga are smoother and safer.

I've got 24 hours left and so much more that I want to know about Brazil. But I suppose I have to leave a few things left to discover on the next trip.