S. Paulo: Day 4

Today I got out a bit more. We woke up early as usual and had breakfast further down the street at the cafeteria- breakfast/ coffee shop/ market. We passed up the closest one to the shop to avoid the gossip train of the Korean Brazilian men and women. I was told that the topics that come from their mouths are "bosta!"or in english, animal shit. Once we arrived, we grabbed a square hard plastic tablet with a number on it.  A few minutes after ordering I had a delicious "American"sandwiche which has similar ingredients to a ham sandwhich only this one has egg, the cheese is grilled on the grill first and then layed into the sandwiche and flattened. My father in law ordered the same along with freshly squeezed orange juice, and a carioca (Rio de Janiero) style coffee. I notice he uses a napkin to pick up the sandwiche and I can see why. After three days of eating this amazing cheesy meal you will need a napkin or you will be wearing the grease like gloves. Truly delicious. There were police officers outside and inside. One watching the car and one using the toilet, the police officers are rumored to be similar to the Rampart division police officers of Los Angeles, but I saw none of that today just three brazilians enjoying their meal to strenthen themselves for a hard day's work. Another man a portly local guy was chatting it up from outside through the open air tiled window with workers inside and motorcycle delivery workers. He is that friendly token large young guy that everyone knows- with a lisp. 

After the coffees we bring the tablet up to the register where we entered and pay for our meal. Successfully avoiding the gossip market and having another good breakfast. 

We walked down the street and walked down to the feira, or street market selling fruit, vegetables, and fish of all sizes, flavor, color, and variety. We first headed through the fruit where I saw five varieties of banana with all different sizes and got to sample a fruit I had only had once before. It looks slightly like a monkey's butt only because the edible fruit protruded from the casing of the fruit the same way that the pink flesh comes from monkey's fur. When the vendor cut into it he delicately passed the fruit so we could grab the tender part that goes into our mouths. A soft, white, sweet, and watery flavor similar in texture to a softer more manageable coconut but entirely different in flavor.  We continued because we were on a mission for fish, but stopped to grab four bags of husked corn for a dollar a bag! The cost of eating here is one of the biggest values. We went on to the fish and if I didn't have eyes I would have known just the same as those fish let you know they were there. The extremely fresh fish were not stiff or overly iced, but, reflected the light hitting their silver bodies and bend with ease as the women and men selling them moved them to the scale. The sellers were not persistent and very patient as my father-in law ordered the equivalent of sea world for his daughter's birthday party. Realizing we didn't have enough hands to carry this all back to his place, he asked them to deliver the fish which they gladly accepted as he wrote out a check from a checkbook 1.5 times larger than ours in the states. I love this type of commerce. 

Later I joined my lady and we went to find some socks- all of mine had been winter socks until today and then  ran some errands. Later on we went to a local bike shop, Total Bike, where I spent close to an hour discussing topics ranging from bikes, importation taxes, which companies are readily available, and the 1987 Los Angeles Lakers in broken portuguese and exhausted english. My new friend Fernando is a blue eyed honest brazilian. he invited me to a night ride next tuesday and informed me that São Paulo is gently moving towards a more friendly stance on sharing the road with bicyclists. Ate-mais!

love to my friends and family.

Bryan