100% Real Brazilians

Let me introduce my new Brazilian amigos… From left to right: Caroline, Me, Junior, Danielle, Adolfo. No, they’re not just random peeps from the street (or beach in this case). I met them through Caroline (pronounced Cah-roh-lean-ehy), who is Brazil’s brand manager for Kanina dog food and thus, one of the people with whom I worked. Still with me? She works with Danielle who’s dating Junior (I don’t know his real name) who’s friends with Adolfo.

Yes, the name Adolfo makes me a bit uncomfortable, but I managed to shift my thinking so that images of Ralph from the Muppet Babies would be triggered rather than those of that guy with the strange moustache. Don’t ask me how or why. Or do. I'm not sure. I just know it wasn’t because he was playing piano.

Anyway, here are the facts, diary style: We had a great afternoon at Prainha, a remote beach half enclosed by big green mountains. To get there, we passed trough Barra, an area that looks a lot like Miami and where people were kitesurfing. (Not where all the beautiful people come to be gay. Yay. Huh? - okay, that's from an obscure Bruno/Ali G segment.) I tasted açaí, a typical brazilian fruit, prepared with granola and drank a Skol beer. After the beach, Junior drove us to a small seafood restaurant where we ate bolinho de bacalhau, a portuguese dish prepared with cod. On the way, we heard brazilian music: Seu Jorge (Life Aquatic), Gilberto Gil, Roberto Carlos (not the soccer player) and Zeca Pagodinho. We also heard 50 Cent, Chemical Brothers, MIA and The Rolling Stones at my request.

Details of our evening coming later tonight...