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Day 2: Saturday, March 2, 2002

Our friends the Summers’ were scheduled to arrive around 1 PM, so we planned for a leisurely Saturday morning.  We awoke at 9:00 AM, enjoyed the beach, volleyball, and scenery from the balcony for about 30 minutes.  We then headed to a Brazilian breakfast and then walked the Leblon beach in its entirety.  We headed back to the hotel around 12:30, took a dip in the pool and waited for the Summers'.  Much to our dismay, but surely even more to theirs, by 2 PM they had not yet arrived.  We read that lunch was served until only 3 PM.  So, we decided to head out without them.

On Saturdays, the national dish of Feijoada is very popular and was something we wanted to try.  It originated as a slave dish comprised of the scraps of meet that the privileged class would not be served (the feet, ears, tongue of the pig) covered in a black bean sauce.  Dana was a little worried but it was something we felt we had to do.

Our friends Todd Frech and Christine Caponigri had recommended an outstanding place, specializing in Feijoada called Blue Caesar Park.  So, we figured we would ask the hotel how to get there.  Unfortunately, the hotel had never heard of the place, but recommended another.  We later found out  from Todd and Christine, the name of the restaurant was Blue Tree at the Caesar Park Hotel.  Cest La Vie.  Anyway, the other place , Casa da Feijoada, was only a “fifteen-twenty” minute walk away.  So, we hit the streets; walking through a pseudo downtown to hit the restaurant.   Needless to say, the restaurant was a wee bit further than fifteen minutes away.  Perhaps Carl Lewis could have made it there in 20 minutes, but it took us just about an hour.

We got there, drenched in sweat, and hungry as hell.   The restaurant was packed, and unfortunately, we were late for our reservation.  The maitre d did not allow us to wait in the air conditioning, he forced us to the street and said he would be with us shortly.  He did free up some space on the bench for people waiting for the bus, and served us a shot of Chusacha.  Ten minutes later we got in, and enjoyed a hearty lunch.  Our waiter explained that rookies like ourselves should steer clear of the ears and feet and try the dish with more conventional parts of the pig.  We agreed and he prepared our meal.  The meal is served with rice, and a corn meal type starch, commonly referred to by Americans as “saw dust".  The food was good, and even better desert was included.  The waiter served us his two favorite: crème de caramel and a banana-papaya compote.  Neither looked all that appetizing upon serving, but thankfully we tried both.  They were outstanding.  Now, satisfied with booze and food we were ready for a different trip home.  Yes, a quick cab -- fortunately, this one was.

Back at the hotel, it was time to check in on the Summers'.  They had only shortly arrived.  So, we figured something was surely amiss.  As it turns their flight from the USA to Rio was cancelled and they were alternatively routed to Sao Paulo and then had to standby on any of the number of connections from Sao Paulo to Rio.  Ouch!  Anyway, needless to say, Jon and Melissa were in desperate need for a drink.  Hence, we headed to Bossa Nova to plan the rest of the day, and hear more about their travel woes.

After a couple of drinks we decided to walk Ipanema Beach.  Dana and I had offered doing Corcovado today, and trying to hit a soccer match at the famous Maracana stadium on Sunday.  But that would mean a hard core day for the Summers’ after a brutal travel day, so we axed the soccer match.

We enjoyed the beach, and sipped a new kind of Brazilian drink – non alcoholic this time.  The drink is served directly from a coconut.  The presentation is half of the fun.  The vendor owner wields a large machete.  Holding the coconut in one hand he slams the machete into one side of the nut, and then twice more at 45 degree angles. He then pulls the wedge out, sticks a straw in, and hands you the fruit.  The juice is pretty good, very light and refreshing.  It is not coconut milk, but coconut water.  Not sure what the difference is, but the consistency is clearly different. 

After lounging on the beach, we headed back for some rest before the evening activities.  We did the daily ritual of Caipirinha's and Cerveja’s on the roof top, as our precursor to dinner.  We had requested a reservation for a top notch Portuguese restaurant, but it was unfortunately booked.  So, we decided to hit a happening joint around the corner.  Dana and I saw it the previous night on our cab drive through the city.  We did not know what type of cuisine it was going to be, but it was close by and crowded the previous night.  It turned out to be an Italian restaurant, ironically with little to no English speaking staff (which hasn't been that hard to find in the city so far).  We stayed despite the language barrier, the cuisine was moderately good.  However, the atmosphere was definitely more memorable than the food.