The Party’s Over

Carnaval is finally ended, to which we “regular” people are eternally grateful as life returns to normal. Stores open. Streets are opened. Traffic jams end. The city is rid of the tourists. Prices drop. And as a special bonus this year, the temperature has dropped today. Finally some relief from the over 100 degrees. I never thought 85 degrees would be cool. They have officially stated that this is the hottest summer in the last 100 years. That record I could have been happy never to have seen broken.

Since last week, we have been entertaining a dear Canadian friend who is here for a couple of weeks. We actually haven’t done too much with him, as he is pretty independent. Today, however, we were finally get out and do a few things as carnaval is OVER!  (BIG sigh of relief!) Today we headed out to the Market of Northeastern Traditions. Well, that really didn’t translate well, but it is a market with foods, crafts, clothes of the northeastern part of Brazil. That culture is very distinctive and quite different from our lifestyle here in the south. Perhaps you could compare it to “southern” living versus Yankee lifestyle (and remember we are upside down from you, so although I live in the south here, it is more akin to the north of the US).

The restaurant where we ate, was so very nice. The food was typical and served in a clay tile. The waiters are appropriately costumed. Denny was brave and tried out the goat stew. Me I was happier with my fish stew.  

I loved the wooden statue of the accordion player beside the cactus, both typical symbols of the Northeast. We have been meaning to head out to this place since we’ve been back, but never gotten around to it, so we were glad to have a good “excuse” to go. It was kind of like the last hurrah for these days we have had off for carnaval. Now life will quickly pick up steam and we will be very busy for many months to come. As I said, the party really is over.