PORTO ALEGRE

"Say cheese!"

How to consume maté - NB hot water is involved

                                                                                I spent nearly two weeks in Porto Alegre, hosted by the very lovely Ana Paula and Rodrigo seen here in front of a curiously spiky tree, with thorns on its trunk.  They live in downtown Porto Alegre, the capital of Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil's most southerly state and the home of 'gaúcha' culture.  There are many guys wandering around the city streets wearing boots, big baggy trousers, scarves and cowboy hats, sipping maté through a bomba from a cuia and looking more Argentinian than Brasilian.  As you can see from the clothing of the delightful pair above, RGdoS enjoys a more temperate climate, which is now entering its wintry stage...

I arrived in PoA feeling a bit ropey after a dodgy Bahian fish lanch, but soon recovered thanks to the great cooking of Rodrigo and the delicious pinha (industrial-sized pine nuts R$3 the kilo) plus a fantastic evening at Odomadé Ponto de Cultura, where I had my feet and hips seized and forced to move around vigorously by the seductive power of samba (video above, below or across, depending on where the program editor decides to put it - I've given up trying) 
I have now inserted a page break in the hope that I can tame this frisky software and announce that the following video is the exterior views from the apartment of Rodrigo: note the persianas, delightful parquet floor, period sink and laissez-faire planning culture. 

I managed to make a lot of contacts here, chatting up Cultura Inglesa, making links with a co-op language school where I ran sessions for some retired people and two classes of younger children, as well as delivering an English culture class at the University of Rio G do Sul, popularly known as UFRGS.  I'm very much hoping to return...

Mmmm...brasilian cuisine