Pet stores, birds and the Ceasa Market

We had some fun adventures with our friends Joao and his wife Suzi last Sunday. We went to this enormous outdoor market. It was at least several footballs feilds big. We tried fruits we had never even seen before. They had everything from plants to sea food to fruit to flowers to spices to veggies to...well you get the picture.


We went to a pet store where they had some amazing birds. We also had some fun with the translations of different pet products.

These aren't your typical birds from a US pet store.

For that matter, this isn't your typical monkey either. Ha! Not sure why they had these masks in the pet store. Maybe it was to scare your dog?

Tucan Sam at your service!

Back to the market. My pics are out of order. This is me eating fresh passion fruit. I felt very Anthony Bourdain at the time. It was slimy and weird, but tasted pretty good if you could get past the texture. :)

Meet Joao and Suzi. This is us at the market grabbing a traditional brazilian snack from a vendor. It is a fried pastry shell with cheese and chicken (or whatever you want in it) along with a drink that is made or fresh squeezed sugar cane and the fruit of your choice. We had it mixed with Pineapple. Yum!

A night in Bixiga - the Little Italy of São Paulo City

Saturday night we went to Bixiga (pronounced Be-she-ga) for dinner. This is an area filled with Italian restaurants and a party atmosphere. And what a party we found -a street party infact celebrating the religious holiday we had seen at the mass earlier that day. Crowds of people filled the streets with bowls of spaghetti and cups of beer in hand. The music filled the air and there was a live DJ talking to the crowds. It felt like 6th Street in Austin after the bars dump out all the people, but instead of getting a slice of pizza, everyone eats bowls of pasta! Ha!







We went to dinner at Cantina Roperto, a small and charming Italian restaurant just down the street from the party. Good food, wine and music in this little cantina.



What a lovely night! Cheers!

The Centro downtown and the Municipal Market

So we spent Saturday wondering around downtown. It was a day filled with people and walking. This is a picture of Ben reviewing the menu at this amazing sandwich shop on the second floor of the mucipal market that you literally had to fight for a table. Check out the size of that sammie? Yummy!



This is the shot of the downstairs level of the municipal market. It had all kind of wonderful fruits, vegetables, meats and wines for purchase. Tons of people.



We spent sometime just walking the streets and wondering in and out of shops. This was crazy. This store had bins of clothes that people would just dig through to find their purchases. There was also loud rock music pumping up the crowd and a live DJ walking around the store making announcements. It was really strange.



Here is a great shot of the crowds just filling the streets. I can't believe there are so many people in such a small area. Wow!



We walked through this amazing cathedral during a mass on Saturday. It was really beautiful and there was clearly some sort of special celebration going on as well given that all children were wearing red and white acolyte outfits. We learned more about this later that evening...more to come on that in the next post....

Hotel Unique Date Night - Uma noite linda

Friday night we went to Hotel Unique for drinks and dinner. It is a boutique hotel shaped like a boat that feels more like an art museum with it's interesting decor. There is a restaurant and bar on the roof of the building with an amazing view of the city called the Sky Bar. It really allowed you to get a feel for just how big Sao Paulo really is with it's almost 360 view. It is definitely a very "see and be seen" type place, but a lot of fun. I felt very chic with my watermelon martini in hand...delicious!

Some of the pictures below were of us just being silly in the lobby bar. They had a massive purple velvet carpet/lounge thing in the center of one sitting area. The entrance doors and the lobby bar were at least 2 stories high.

Click on the following link to see more images of this truly unique hotel: http://www.designhotels.com/hotels/americas/brazil/sao_paulo/hotel_unique.

Dinner with Joana Deppe

Last night we went to dinner with my coworker form Porto Alegre - Joana. She was in town hosting a Dell event. It was so great to finally meet her. She is such a delightful person and such fun woman. Hopefully she will be in Austin soon to meet the entire team.

At Joana's suggestion, we all went to a yummy churrascaria called South's Place and it was REALLY good and we were all REALLY hungry. I think Ben and Joana might have tied as the winner of the eating contest though! HA! We all ate ourselves silly however. Thank again Joana! We had a great time meeting you and I promise to continue to work on my Portuguese with the help of the children's television programming here. :)

Arrival - Sao Paulo, Brasil

We arrived safely today in Sao Paulo. It was a long overnight flight, so we were both very tired when we finally made it through traffice and got to our flat. After a nap, shower and some recovery time just enjoying not being in motion, I think we are both feeling pretty good post travels.

We are very impressed with our place. We have a living room, office, bedroom, 2 full bathrooms, a balcony and the tinest fully equipped kitchen I have ever seen!! See pictures below.

Tonight we are going to meet one of my marcom coworkers, Joanna, for dinner near her hotel. Should be fun. More after dinner.

Happy 30th Birthday to Ben! Ole!