Dia de Santo Antonio!!! : June 13,2009

I awoke this morning to the most beautiful sight... Cafe da manha... The morning coffee, all laid out like a king's feast on the veranda. Rose, the mother of my friend Samya supposedly presents the best Cafe de manha... and let me say... I'm a believer.

Sweet bread with butter and jam, ham, salami, fresh squeezed orange juice (suco de laranja), and the most amazing coffee I have ever tasted in my entire life. Seriously. She fixes it with sugar prior to bringing it to the table and once you have poured this delicious black, sweet concoction into your mug, you add fresh steamed milk to taste. YUM.


After breakfast, Rose and I took a walk around their complex - one of the 11 condominium complexes in "Alphaville" - the district where these communities are located. There are many of these self contained complexes and they are a lot like a mini utopias inside. They are safe, comfortable, and pretty much self contained and then nearby there are shopping centers where one can purchase anything they might need... I suppose one would never need to leave this little Alphaville paradise, however the heart of the city is just 15 minutes away. The idea for these complexes was initiated by a now very wealthy Japanese man named Yoshiro Takaoka - he was smart. It's kind of like a half-assed attempt at Utopia ... but I can see where he was going and I respect the intent.














Rose and I then made a scrumptious lunch of saladinha (salad with lettuce, endives, strawberries and tomatoes) and frango com arroz (breaded chicken with rice - just like a milanesa in Argentina:) - SOOOO gooood. Rose is a lawyer, but it's pretty apparent where her true passion lies.



Later in the afternoon, Rose mentioned that today 13 de junho is the "Dia de Santo Antonio" Saint Anthony is the patron saint of marriage in Brazil and today happens to be the huge festival to celebrate this particular saint... lucky me, lucky me :) I love this idea... Brazilian woman actually come to this festival not only to eat delicious traditional treats, but also to walk around with white lilys (Santo Antonio's fav flower) and to pray that he will bring them an appropriate husband. Love it. Love it. I may have said a little prayer to him myself :)

We went first to the food... I was like a baby sampling all these Brazilian delights for the first time:






Sonho - a pastry filled with sweet cream, to call it a doughnut would be a severe offense.

Vinho Quente - basically warm, sweet, sangria - Truthfully, I would like to drown myself in a vat of it.

Pastel de Frango - deep fried and battered outside, yummy chickenny goodness inside.

Arroz doce - Sweet rice. They ran out at the festival, so Rose made some for me when we got home. Heavenly. Nuff said.





When it comes to explaining this whole experience, I don't really know where to begin... this festival was truly emotional for me. I'm not catholic, nor to I know the full history of this saint but to be standing there amidst a sea of Brazilians watching a procession of people with candles walking up towards the cathedral... it was absolutely breathtaking. Furthermore... the most beautiful hymns were blasting out of a speaker mounted to a pick up truck - you should of seen me singing along "Ave Maria... Jesus...la la la" hilarious...and then... the fireworks show began. I sat there, directly beneath a sea of fire raining down (I'm not sure if I was exactly in the "safe zone" but I didn't care) I stared up into the sky above a bright florescent blue cross and watched the fireworks light up the sky. The show went on forever and I just kept my eyes fixed to the sky, giggling and crying from the emotion of it all.




We left the festival around 8pm (which is basically the afternoon for Brazilians) the party was just beginning as I had been invited by to a "Barzinho" in São Paulo to see a Samba Rock group perform. Ummm... yes please. It's 6 am here, I just got home, and I desperately need a shower because I smell like an ashtray. I'll post part two of this day when I'm conscious tomorrow. BEIJOOOOS!