Market, Bikes, Gardens and Batidas!
The morning after the wedding, Liana needed to head to the open market, known as the “hippie fair”. Derek, Luisinha, Silva and I decided to tag along. We travelled by metro (subway) which which did not exist when I was last here. Along with usual fruits and vegetables, the market had many souvenirs. Derek purchased some items for Marketa and we got some of our first batch of goiabada, (a conserve made of guava and sugar). After we had done our shopping, Silvia got a call from Solange saying that she and my parents that they were also heading over to the market. We all returned to Luisa’s place for a fantastic lunch. In Brasil the tradition is to eat your big meals at lunchtime rather than in the evening. The next morning, after a lengthy walk with Liana and Silvia, Miguel met up with us to go on a little bicycle excursion. Luisanha, Derek, Pa, Miguel and I were all up for the challenge. Rio has bikes for rent at locations around the city. The system is supposed to work with an smart phone app. We found out that you need to register online (providing all sorts of information) before you can use it. After a long process of registering we headed to a nearby rental station to discover that it was not functioning that day. After a considerable walk to the next nearest station, we all finally got our bikes. I quickly discovered that my bike only had a low gear and decided to trade it for another at a third station. That process took another 40 minutes. We eventually got to the lagoon, which is located inland behind Ipanema and Leblon beaches. It really is a nice way to tour the area. After the ride we headed back to Luisa’s for another great meal. At around 5 pm, we walked to the lagoon to meet up with Christina and Miguel (and their two dogs, Cookie and Zelda) at a local eatery. Liana, Ana Carolina, Silvinha and Tonico and my parents also came. We wanted to catch the sunset over the lagoon, which was very beautiful. We also had a chance to try some northern Brazilian foods. The next day, Derek and Luisinha did some more shopping while Solange, Luisa, my parents and I headed to the “Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro” or Rio Botanical Gardens. The gardens were founded in 1808 by King John VI of Portugal, who had been chased out of Portugal by Napoleon. They are centrally located in Rio close to the lagoon. It is the largest botanical garden in the world which is entirely contained within the limits of a city. I headed on my own to take some pictures in the gardens and the rest took a mini-bus tour. After a nice drink at the “jockey” club, we stopped in Barrinha (the area just east of the Barra de Tujuca) at a famous bar, Oswaldo’s, established in the 1940s and, supposedly, the home of the “batida”. Batida is a fruit drink made with cachaca. Check out the recipe here. We purchased several litres of “batida” (coconut, passion fruit, peanut and pineapple-coconut) and took them home with us. On the way back we stopped at the Sheridan hotel in Gavea (just west of Leblon) to watch the parasailers and hang-gliders who jump off the Pedra da Gavea, one of the few of Rio’s mountains that has a flat top.
