Day 13

Brazil

Having mission friends from around the world leads to some rather special wedding invites, so when our dearest friends Thomas and Camilla invited us to join them in Brazil for their big day, we couldn’t possibly say no! Of course, a wedding is usually just one day, or perhaps a weekend, but our friends curated a ten-day tour of Sao Paulo, Rio De Janeiro (RDJ) and Foz Do Iguaçu (FDI) on the Brazil-Paraguay-Argentina border for those who were able to stay on afterwards.

We started on the small island of Ilhabela, which lies off the coast of Sao Paulo. The wedding was in the beautiful DPNY beach resort where we would be staying for a night either side of the big day itself. Portuguese being the first language of Brazil, we were expecting the food to have some Mediterranean influence with a southern hemisphere twist. What we weren’t expecting, was the best sushi we’ve ever had in our lives!

Brazil is home to the largest population of Japanese outside of Japan itself. Originally coming to the country to work in the coffee plantations, the diaspora has contributed to the creation of a unique style of “Brazilian Sushi” using their traditional techniques combined with fresh produce from South America.

DPNY employed its own Japanese sushi chef and for two of the three nights we were there, the restaurant was closed because the chef deemed the fish that had been landed that day to not be of the required standard. On our final night, however, we struck gold. The catch was approved and the chef created a sensational feast for us before we checked out the following morning heading to Rio. A group of twelve of us, six couples including the newlyweds, carried on the holiday for a further week and it was the perfect way to spend some relaxed time together after the (necessarily) precisely orchestrated timetable of the wedding.

RDJ was everything we had hoped it would be and more. Our hotel was right on Ipanema and just round the coast from Copacabana and we spent three full days soaking in the atmosphere and ticking off bucket list sights. Cristo Redentor (Christ The Redeemer) was surreal, Sugar Loaf Mountain was humungous, Santa Teresa was fascinating, Saint Sebastian Cathedral was breathtaking.

We ate a beautiful lunch in Saint Teresa at a small fish restaurant called “Sobrenatural” (supernatural). Empanadas, Melon, Shrimp Tempura: it was tasty, fresh food and fantastic company and our full bellies hurt more from raucous laughter than anything else.

We experienced our first “churrascaria” at the now closed Porcao. An all-you-can-eat style buffet with waiters bringing freshly grilled meats direct to your table on huge skewers and, in once instance, on a trolley when the rack of beef ribs was on offer. Yes, the whole rib cage, like something out of The Flintstones, ceremonially paraded around the restaurant and carved to order. It was a phenomenal experience. Each diner had a double-sided card, one green and one red, so depending on whether you were still “open” to a passing waiter putting food on your plate, you kept it turned at green. When you decided that you couldn’t possibly manage another bite or didn’t fancy what was on offer, you turned it to red.

The restaurant specialises in true nose-to-tail dining, and all cuts of pork, beef, lamb and chicken are available. There was a huge salad bar with every conceivable fruit and vegetable. Cheese, pickles, sauces, breads, seafood, fries, mashed potato and a dessert section that seemed more of an aspiration than a foregone conclusion based on the likelihood of you leaving space for pudding.

You can imagine the competitive nature of the group, pep talks were given that filling up on salad and potatoes was an amateur move, stick to the meat and you get more bang for your buck. This worked relatively well, but when the skewers of chicken hearts came out there were quite a few red cards to be seen.

Leaving Rio, we took an internal flight south to Foz Do Iguaçu. A beautiful resort in the forest and day trips were planned during our stay. First, a visit to Parque Das Aves, a local bird sanctuary and a chance to get up close with toucans, hummingbirds and parrots. We crossed the border into Argentina for dinner and experienced a different style of churrascaria before heading back to our hotel in Brazil. The principal was the same – meat and more meat with some meat on the side and a huge trolley of cow being trundled around the room. Throughout all of these experiences, we never once came across a bite of food that was inedible or unpalatable (yes, we even tried the chicken hearts). The combination of the quality of the product and the skill of cooking was second to none.

Crossing the border was a fascinating experience. Despite Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay being separate countries, the borders in that area acted almost like traffic lights at a junction rather than passport checking and customs processes experienced elsewhere. “Hopping into Argentina” for dinner was like catching an uber but, yes, we absolutely did get our passports stamped each and every time, just for the memories.

The day before leaving Ilhabela, Ali had gone her full length on a set of steps. A heavy tropical rainstorm had left the tiled steps like an ice rink and the combination of flip flops was a disaster waiting to happen. Legs akimbo and skirt FULLY over her head, the flip flop shot off miles into the distance like a torpedo and to this day has never been recovered.

What was initially thought to be heavy bruising developed into something a bit more impressive during the days walking around RDJ. When we reached FDI, the tour guide recommended an x-ray to be certain that nothing was broken, and the nearest reliable medical centre was in Argentina. So we popped over the border, as one did, settled the bill in USD and Ali was back at the hotel in time for pre-dinner drinks, all bones intact and a commemorative set of xrays under her arm.

The final tour in FDI was of the Itaipu Hydro Dam on the Paraná River that straddles the border between Brazil and Paraguay. This, in itself, might not be your first choice of what to go and see, but the size and vastness of the structure were awesome. Excess water was emitted down the spillway while we were there and the sheer scale of the operation had to be seen to be believed. More importantly, though, it included a look at the local wildlife and this was where Bob laid eyes on his first ever real-life capybara. They are native to the local waterways that surround the dam and they were a sight to be seen in their natural habitat.

We headed finally to the Iguaçu Falls themselves and saw them from two very different perspectives. The first was a speed boat ride equipped with lifejackets and a prayer. It was clear that the captain’s number one priority was to get everyone as soaked as possible, going ever nearer to the thunderous, rumbling waterfalls. It was such a hot day that the soaking came as quite a relief and on disembarking, we had all dried off by the time we made it back to the top of the falls.

The second view was from above from a series of (thankfully) solidly constructed walkways that zig-zagged across the top of the falls. The spray that was carried by the wind was enough for a second soaking and, like the first, it was a welcome relief from the direct sun. The majority of the time, we all walked around in silence, partially because we were just in awe of the spectacle before us, but mainly because the noise coming from the falls was completely deafening. 

We all assembled back at the main visitor centre for a quick lunch that was a simple canteen lunch affair of sandwiches and cold drinks. As we all sat there as a group, it really did dawn on us that our time in South America was coming to an end. Some of the group were flying back to Europe directly from FDI via RDJ so we said our goodbyes and for the rest of us, it was a flight back to Sao Paulo instead. We had one more night planned in the Hyatt (another freebie from loyalty points) and we were due to fly back to Kosovo the following morning.

We awoke, sad and heavy that it was time to leave, packed our bags and headed to the airport to check in at the British Airways desks. As we approached, the check in team saw Ali limping and noticed the (now considerable) bruising on her legs and asked if everything was OK. Ali explained what had happened and the staff said they would need to just run it past their manager to ensure we were fit to fly. A few moments later, we were informed that we were not being accepted for boarding because Ali’s injury would need to be signed off by a doctor to clear her for the risks of a long-haul flight.

There was absolutely no complaints from our end and our flights were rebooked for the following day. Details of a doctor were provided and we headed back to the hotel. The manager got us an appointment later that afternoon, and the hotel confirmed that we could stay for as long as we needed. The diagnosis confirmed infection, damage to soft tissues and risk of clotting from the fall. The doctor declared that he would only provide a fit to fly certificate for seven days hence.

Now. When we tell you that we were ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED.

We would be lying. The additional Brucey Bonus was that we were covered by a fully comprehensive medical insurance policy that took care of all costs including an additional seven nights in the Hyatt Sao Paulo. Even as we write this we still find it hard to comprehend the coup.

And so, on doctor’s orders, an additional week was had in Sao Paolo and it was REALLY HARD WORK. After such an action-packed trip, it took us those extra days to actually process everything that we had seen and done. As we lay in bed one morning we turned the telly on to what looked like, Brazil’s version of This Morning. It was a medical segment and the show’s resident doctor was being interviewed by the host about some sort of health topic. Sitting bolt upright in bed, Ali pointed at the telly and said to Bob – “it’s him” – yes, it was the same Dr Mauro Gomes that had visited Ali to sign her off for the week. We did eventually fly home, upgraded to first class because Ali’s leg had to be raised for the duration of the flight. Absolute torture.

This is Day Thirteen in our series sharing 31 Food Memories for the 31 Days of August.

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