Sugar-free mango froyo with chopped cashews
I woke up way before the butt-crack of dawn; once the sun came up I went to 24 hour kilo buffet for breakfast. When I went back to the apartment, I told the doorman, “Esta vez não esquecí nada.” This time I didn’t forget anything. He had a hearty chuckle.
I didn’t have much to do, since classes are finished. It kind of made me anxious to not have class; I thought for a minute how boring it probably is to go on vacation and not have language class to attend.
I took the metrô to Rio Centro, the Saara stop. The street market was right at the exit of the station, and after wandering a little I realized the market is the whole neighborhood. I had a pastel for the first time.
I wandered up and down and bought some more souvenirs for my girls, and took the metrô back to Ipanema, but got off at one stop past mine. I went all the way to metrô Nossa senhora da paz, and found a book store. On the walk home I stopped for lunch at The Gringo Café. I the food and service was fine, but I was kind of kicking myself for not eating Brazilian food, as I can eat a club sandwich at home. In any case, all the lunch places I was passing in the snooty part of Ipanema were Italian and Japanese. There was one place called 餐館 Si-Chou… They probably want to say 絲綢 silk but they didn’t provide the characters, so I was thinking 死臭 death-stinky. For the record, 餐館 just means restaurant. Anyway, it looks like a pan-asian restaurant, so pass.
I got home and took a nap that felt like hours, but was probably only 50 minutes. Went to Copacabana beach to spend the rest of my cash in the Copacabana market, but I didn’t find anything I liked. I ended up spending all of my cash on the shrimp vendor. The shrimp skewer was salty and a little expensive but still fun.
Stopped back at the apartment, got cleaned up, went back out later for dinner. All the kilo buffets were closed so I went to the lanchonete and had the fish plate. Stopped for a a sugar-free mango yogurt on the way home.
Day 15, this morning. I got up super early again, left the house at 7:00 to have my usual breakfast at the 24 hour kilo buffet.
Afterward, I went down to the beach. As I was kicking off my tsinelas and walking into the sand, I hear and olá from behind me, it was the beach chair lady setting up, carrying a stack of chairs. I told her I didn’t need a chair, which would normally be the end of it, but Brazilians still have to be genuinely friendly. So she introduced herself as Daniele and told me welcome to Rio and to have a great time. I sat at the top of the dune for a few minutes, send a video to my girls, made a TikTok about sitting on tsinelas, and then made my way back. When I got to the sidewalk, Daniele was there setting up; she said, “Oi, Patríki, você já vai embora? Are you leaving already?! I laughed and told her I’ll be back later.
I went back to apartment and did a dry-run on packing my gear for my flight tomorrow. It’s going to be tight, I will feel better if I had a suitcase to check. Unfortunately, all the suitcase stores are closed today. I could go back to Saara but não estou disposto me da hueva so I’ll just wait until tomorrow morning. We’ll see.
I went back into Ipanema for the Sunday “Hippy Market” and found a couple more souvenirs. I’m now done with souvenirs. Came to Aussie Coffee and posted this. Not sure what happens next. I’m really lost without class to prepare for.
Tonight will make adobo for roommate (maybe), and will do one last load of laundry (maybe). Tomorrow I’ll buy a new suitcase (probably) and re-pack. The car for the airport comes at 5pm.
UPDATE: after writing the section above, I hopped on the metrô back to Saara market, because let’s just take care of this now, right. Welp, I missed my stop (Uruguaiana) due to phone game distraction syndrome. Got off at the next stop (Presidente Vargas) and walked a few blocks to the street market. The only problem: the entire neighborhood was closed. The stores were shuttered and locked down, the restaurants and lanchonetes were all shut, the metrô entrance was closed… even the McDonalds was closed, which was alarming because I was starting to get hungry. I’m diabetic so once I start to feel hungry I have to eat before I start making bad choices.
Ni modo, I got back on the train to Ipanema and made a bee-line for the buffet à quilo since my head was already buzzing in a bad way. After eating a modest plate (rice, beans, farofa, ceviche, green salad) I wandered over to the froyo place, because I had eaten enough but still felt residual trauma from the blood sugar crash.
I ordered the manga light like I always do, since it’s sugar free; one of the ladies asked me what country I was from and if I knew her coworker (the woman who served me) who was a refugee from Venezuela working as a slave. The “Venezuelan” lady laughed and was embarrassed, and didn’t respond when I asked her in Spanish if she needed help escaping.
Back to the apartment to start my laundry…. Then left to buy laundry soap and then back to my apartment to start my laundry. Organized stuff, planned my travel day, checked into flight, boring stuff.
Finally I decided to go out to Arpoador against the flow of the crowds; I had already missed the sunset. I stayed a little bit an then decided to eat dinner to avoid another blood sugar crash. That area where Arpoador meets Copacabana is pretty touristy; I found a pan-Asian restaurant and ordered some shrimp curry with coconut and toasted peanuts.
When I ordered I said, “Could I have the shrimp curry, please, and could you please ask them to not put sugar?”
The server got all weird and embarrassed, saying “er ah, there’s… no sugar in the curry…” implying by her tone that I was totally bananas.
“Perfect!” I said, shutting my menu confidently, “that’s what I wanted to hear.” She walked away relieved, still surprised.
The shrimp curry was just yellow gravy, no coconut cream or spices, but I was glad to have it. The rice was jasmine rice, supposedly, with shredded coconut and toasted peanuts. I asked for a spoon. They had supplied me with fork, knife, and chopsticks; I didn’t have time for that noise. I had to ask for some hot sauce too.
Later the ladies asked me if I was Brazilian, and I was like noooo I’m from the USA; ethnically Filipino. The lady said, “ohh, Filipino, I thought your eyes were a little…” and then she Ching-chonged one of her eyes. I laughed and winked at her. We have beautiful eyes.
Showered (maybe 5th or 6th shower of the day) and then went to bed early.
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