We found a restaurant about a 1/2 mile from the condo (a slight exaggeration, but who can really figure our how many meters it was anyway?). It's name is La Mole. The cuisine is Italian, but what is special about it is that they had an ALL YOU CAN EAT PIZZA BUFFET FOR R 6.90 ($3). Brazil has an interesting take on pizza. Ya see, they've got crust and they've got cheese and they've got toppings, but they seem to have forgotten the tomato sauce. They have a sauce, but it's some sort of white sauce and it's pretty thin. Pizza places put a bottle of ketchup on the table for you to use. Don't get this stuff confused with Heinz either. It's more like Hunts and a little light on the vinegar. They do all sorts of interesting things such as put on various cheeses, meats and veggies. And they also make dessert pizzas with things like bananas and chocolate. I ended up sampling pizza from a few restaurants and they were more or less the same. Some were better than others and in all cases, I looked most forward to the chocolate pizzas. They are a must try.
Later that evening I was introduced to several members of her family who dropped by the condo for a visit. It was somewhere around 34 Celsius outside which translates to about 400 Fahrenheit. In my completely obvious manner, I changed shirts twice during the course of the evening to hide the vast amounts of sweat pouring from my body. I didn't really help my own cause. As hot as it was, I drank 4 of the 5 Diet Cokes I had bought earlier in the afternoon (I wisely saved one for breakfast the following morning).
Lactose intolerance seems to be building a little history in my family and I fear that I am falling victim to it. Having been to an all you can eat pizza buffet earlier in the evening, my introduction to these people I haven't met, consisted of an ill-timed adjustment of seating position followed by an audible 'noise.' I don't know how many people heard it, but at least one did. Cecilia's niece Carol (get used to it.. there are lots of C's in her family) shrieked "Que e isso?" (What was that?). I would say I turned as red as my shirt at that point, but I was already on to the blue one as the red one was hanging in the shower to dry.
This concludes the introductory portion of the Brazil trip. From here on out I will switch more toward reporter mode and tell you about what I saw and ease up a bit on the commentary. If something noteworthy comes up, I will resume my narrative style.
