Tag: Moqueca

Brazilian commentary

A few comments about Brazil & its culture, language & people that I’ve learned over my 6+wks there:

  • The entire country is obsessed with acai & tapioca. There are shops & street vendors selling it on every corner. Many mornings for breakfast I have tapioca crepes stuffed with some sort of cheese & hopefully veggies & a protein. I know the Chinese love their tapioca pearls in the bottom of their smoothies & teas but I had no prior knowledge of the Brazilians’ obsession. The only thing that tops tapioca is acai. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I enjoy a small cup of the pudding-consistency-like acai topped with fresh fruit & granola… it’s a nice light lunch or afternoon snack. But Brazilians eat entire massively large bowls of the stuff in one sitting & I just don’t get it. It’s not THAT good.
  • Brazilians outside of Rio seem to hate the “Cariocas” (term for people who live in Rio). There’s a sense that Cariocas seem to think they’re better than anyone else & no place compares to Rio. It’s true, while traveling in NE Brazil, I don’t think I met even one Carioca. I commented on this to a Bahian & he rolled his eyes & said in a mocking tone “nothing is as good as Rio so why visit?” I met a bunch of Paulistanos (from Sao Paulo) & the NE-ers seem to like them just fine. Paulistanos really don’t like Cariocas. Cariocas are certainly body-image obsessed & while I think there are gorgeous people all over Brazil, it seems NE-ers believe Cariocas take it to another level. I just find it all rather amusing.
  • All Brazilians seem to love Bahia. Especially its food & music. I first tried moqueca on the Rio foodie tour. Moqueca is a Bahia dish (see my Salvador post) & it’s definitely much better there with a lot more spice. Perhaps Cariocas are indeed short on culture & food. Since visiting Bahia, I’ll hear music, indicate I like it & a non-Bahian local will say “de Bahia”. So it seems Bahia is definitely the culture capital of Brazil.
  • Throughout Brazil, everyone seems to clap for sunsets. I suspect the Cariocas think they’re real special with the clapping on Arpoador rock in Rio but it’s actually done throughout the country & I find it pretty darn charming.
  • I’ve been getting along fairly well in terms of the Portuguese language & thankfully so, because there are very few people who speak any English. Somehow my crude mix of Spanish with substituted Portuguese words when I know they differ from their Spanish counterparts has not only gotten me by but it’s managed to fool more than one person into commenting how good my Portugese is. Please. As I continue to learn more, I’ve noted a few things I find interesting:
    • I’m not saying it’s a rule or anything but the “ll” in Spanish seems to be a “ch” in Portuguese. Examples include “llave” & “chave”, “llamar” & “chamar”, and “llegar” & “chegar” so I’m treating it as a rule & substituting “ch” for “ll” & it’s turned out pretty well for me.
    • When a word starts with an “r” it seems that it’s an “h” sound in Portuguese. This was an easy one to figure out with “Rio” & “Reai”.
    • “Gracias” is so much more fun in Portuguese… “obrigado”.
    • “Bien” is so much more fun in Portuguese… “bom”. Everything is “muito bom”.
    • Greetings are so much more fun in Portuguese… “total bom?”. All good? This didn’t really start until Fernando but it’s continued in Ceara while visiting the beaches in/around Fortaleza. I love it.
  • In general, Brazil is just more fun. The cities, culture, music, food & of course the people. The people are amazing, friendly & just want to enjoy life & have a good time. My kinda outlook. So it’s perhaps my favorite country in South America. And I almost didn’t even visit.

Salvador de Bahia – The culture capital of Brazil

The state of Bahia is located in NE Brazil & its capital of Salvador is the historical capital of Portuguese Brazil. The city is perched high above the bay & celebrates its predominant African heritage with its colored colonial architecture, narrow cobbled streets, incredibly delicious food, nonstop samba music & drums, & proud fun people. I’m writing this after having visited 4 states in Brazil & 3 different locales within Bahia & I can say without a doubt that the Bahia people certainly seem to be the most proud, banding around its Bahia statehood. It definitely feels like a special unique culture & has an electric fun energy. Nowhere is it better on display than Salvador. I felt it as well in Morro de Sao Paulo & Boipeba, no doubt, but I returned for my second stay in Salvador after my jaunt to the islands, to find the locals setting up for Sao Joao festival. It was still a few days away but the city was already bursting with color, the drum beats were never louder as all day long, small drum corps held impromptu street marches to get everyone on their feet dancing, & the main town square in the Pelourinho neighborhood was littered with tables & an even-larger-than-normal stage had been erected for the bands that play nightly as the crowds gathered for music & dancing. Celebrating Sao Joao in Bahia is definitely high on my list of future trips.

Just 2 blocks from my pousada & on a steep hill was a plaza featuring this stunningly ornate blue church surrounded by multi-colored buildings & buzzing with people. While not the main square, it was my fave as I wandered through several times a day. A bit obsessed.



São Joao decorations. My pousada owners said São Joao was just as big as carnival for locals & maybe more so bc it didn’t attract as many tourists.


[caption width="4032" id="attachment_2793" align="alignnone"] The main square with lots more churches

Caju, or cashew, fruit juice is my fave new addition to the traditional caipirinha

I LOVED this lady. I typically steer clear of folks dressed in costume as they’re preying upon tourists who just want to snap a quick selfie. I was minding my own business taking a photo when this lady did a sneak attack & started talking to me before I realized I was ensnared. She started telling me about her “traditional dress” & I apparently was feeling a bit saucy as I told her, in my embarrassing Spanish-Portuguese mix, that her traditional dress didn’t seem very practical bc it was so big. She paused, as it was clear she wasn’t accustomed to being challenged & especially by a smart-ass gringo, looked me up & down & then burst into laughter. She tried to convince me, I remained skeptical. She refused to take any money from me, gave me tips on Salvador to-do’s & made me send her this cool photo I took of her. She was fabulous.
These guys were practicing capoeira in the main square. It’s a Brazilian martial art that incorporates dance, acrobatics & music. I was watching them, mesmerized, when I made the mistake of creeping a little too close to try to capture it on video. Then they went into “tourist performance” mode posing for pics & trying to get me involved which was a whole lot LESS cool than the actual art form they were practicing before.
The elevator, the most famous of transport options between the upper city (historical center) & lower city (port & market but not much else).
Moqueca, a famous Bahia stew, made with seafood, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, cilantro, palm oil, coconut milk & served with the traditional hot sauce called piri-piri (it’s actually hot!!!), rice & farofa, a toasted cassava-flour mixture served all over Brazil with many different meals. Delicious!