Number Ten - Lunch at The Copacabana Palace!

This item has actually been on my Bucket List for a long time! The Copacabana Palace is one of those places that immediately brings to mind images, memories of old and new happenings, a feeling of nostalgia and glamour long gone, and even thoughts of how the world of the super rich used to be, It brings to mind  how Brazil once was the top of the top of exquisite and exotic, a tropical dream come true of happiness and joy...

I have walked past the old hotel many times, of course, and I have nurtured a secret wish of once, only once, having lunch there, and to truly enjoy it and not worry for a second about how big the bill might be! Well, life has this way of sometimes granting you that a wish will come true, and so this week I got an invitation for lunch at the Copacabana Palace.

When the cab stopped in front of the entrance and I was greeted by the doorman I could not help thinking about one of my favorite movies: "The Grand Budapest Hotel", and as I entered the lobby and saw the shining marble, the chandeliers and the flowers on the tables I almost expected to meet the concierge Gustave H. himself...You haven´seen it? Well, do! It is a great movie, here is the link to the trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fg5iWmQjwk

The Copacabana Palace opened on the Copacabana beach August 14, 1923. It was the playground of the rich and mighty for many years, but after the Brazilian capital was moved to Brasilia in 1960 the hotel underwent a period of decline. Fortunately, it escaped being demolished, and was refurbished after the Orient- Express Hotels bought it in 1989. It is now considered a luxury 5-star hotel and is where all the very important people want to stay.

The lunch was at Pergola, the restaurant by the pool, and I just had to take some pictures:

Does it or doesn't it bring associations of the Grand Budapest Hotel?

A view from the terrace on top of the Pergola.

And the Norwegian flag! The Copacabana beach in the background.

A better view of the pool, where Princess Diana once went swimming.

But I was there for lunch. And it was a buffet lunch with the Brazilian National Dish (or as close as you get to a Rio specialty) of Feijoada.

Made of black beans cooked for hours with different kinds of sausages and meats, it is delicious!

Served with white rice, farofa - toasted manioc flour and collard green fried with lots of garlic, fried manioc and orange slices - the feijoada at The Pergola is perfect, of course!

The New York Times just had an interesting article about Feijoada, the link is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/31/magazine/brazilian-soul-food.html?partner=socialflow&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0

And to finish it all off, traditional Brazilian desserts and sweets. Everything was delicate and the waiters and workers who took care of the buffet were like silent shadows.

Happiness is to enjoy the moment of a dream come true...I left The Copacabana Palace as if floating, for a few hours I had felt important, pampered and careless, a worthy number ten for my project!

Number Nine - a new and greener life!

The #Project Going on Fifty is making me reconsider, rethink and review quite a few things. It is all about trying new things, going new ways, enjoying life, and I have been using it as an excuse for finally changing some things that I have always found too troublesome to change...

One of these things is the wish to live a little healthier. For a long time I have considered trying out organic food. Sure, they have a section in my local super market, but next to the other vegetables and fruits, big, spotless and shiny - the organics always look a bit drab...and so I pick them up, turn them over in my hands and put them down again. The price is always higher than the price for normal greens, and so that is what I end up buying. Simple as that.

It is not as if I do not know, we all do by now, the big, shiny spotless fruits and vegetables all come at a cost. In wonderful, warm and fertile Brazil you can grow almost anything, but in the world we live in everything has to add up to profit. In Brazil that has serious consequences. It is the world´s biggest user of pesticides, and in Brazil many toxic products that have been abandoned in the USA and Europe are still used.
Here is an article from O Globo (in Portuguese) that gives food for thought: http://redeglobo.globo.com/globociencia/noticia/2013/07/brasil-e-o-maior-usuario-de-pesticidas-na-agricultura-do-mundo.html

This year, for the first time even the Governement recognized the problem, releasing a report showing the link between pesticides and cancer: http://www.tsf.pt/PaginaInicial/Vida/Interior.aspx?content_id=4516591
Let´s just say it comes a little late...

But it was an article about workers on the farms in the mountains around Rio de Janeiro that really got to me, many have serious health problems resulting from the manipulation of the pesticides. Do I really want to keep contributing to that? Definitely not! and for some time I have been thinking about "going green".

Living in a mega-city like Rio de Janeiro, there are many options, there are streets fairs with only organic food, like the most famous one at Gloria, it is held every Saturday morning at Rua do Russel. There is even a fair close to my house on Tuesday mornings, but who says I manage to get up early and go?

It was a friend who told me about a group of farmers that have created the option of having a basket delivered home with organic fruits and vegetables every week. They send you a list by e-mail, you write them back saying what you want and they deliver it at your door. So simple that even I could manage to put it into my routine. I have discovered that there are several groups doing this, but I decided to try out Verdi Organicos. They have now delivered fruits and vegetables at my apartment for a month, and it is a completely new experience! Everything is fresh, green, and neatly packed:

The basket itself is not part of the deal! But you can order it, it is made by a cooperative in Vale-do-Café where the produce comes from, it is beautiful and made by hand!

And here is what was in this weeks basket!

Even my cat approved, she just had to check things out!

The experience has been a success at my house. The first thing we all noted was the freshness and the smell of everything in the basket. We had never really noted, but fruits and vegetables from the supermarket have hardly any smell at all. The second thing we are adapting to is the fact that Verdi Organicos only offers what is in season. Every week there is a different basket, and I am having fun discovering recipes for what I have in the fridge, and not doing it the other way around...

If you want to try it out here is the website: www.verdiorganicos.com.br

And now I am off to make a guacamole!
Next week will be number ten! Have a wonderful week!

Number Eight - Feira do Rio Antigo

When I moved to Rio de Janeiro in 1987 Lapa was a very rundown and rather dingy neighborhood. But over the last 20 years or so Lapa has changed and is now a main tourist attraction and a center for music and nightlife in Rio de Janeiro.

Several factors contributed to the change, but many mention the project promoted by the City of Rio de Janeiro called "Corredor Cultural" that invested in refurbishing of old buildings and public squares, street lights and security as one of the most important incentives for change. New residential projects in the area have also brought in new inhabitants, many of them eager to live closer to work and to get away from the chaotic traffic of Rio de Janeiro.

I decided to check out a Street Fair - Feira Rio Antigo - The Old Rio Fair - Which is held at Rua do Lavradio the first Saturday of every month. I walked from the metro station Cinelandia, and it was one of those clear, sunny days of May.

I passed the church Igreja da nossa Senhora do Carmo da Lapa de Desterro, from the time when Lapa was a beach called Areias de Espanha, built in 1751, and I made a mental note of visiting the church on another visit.

I continued walking in the direction of the Arcos da Lapa - the famous Carioca Aqueduct - and down Rua do Riachuelo.

A sign of the new times as a major tourist attraction -  a tourist information booth! and there was somebody actually working!

A little further I reached the street I was looking for: Rua do Lavradio and the fair:

A Happy mixture of old and new, several vendors offering handicraft, but many dedicated to antiques.

It was Saturday so many of the stores along the street were open as well, many also offering antiques or objects for decoration.

But I found the fair more interesting and amusing:

Ah, there is a house missing! It went home with me! I was delighted to finally find that someone had put the "pedras portuguesas" ,the little stones used for pavement in Rio, to good use! These little stones are forever being pulled up for some kind of construction work, or by a flooding of the streets, or...well, they are dangerous! I am always tripping over them!

There were lots of tourists and even a capoeira perfomance:

After a few hours in the sunshine I headed home, happy and with a cobblestone house, four beautiful wine glasses and two rugs! Lapa and the fair are well worth a visit!

Number Seven - Escadaria Selaron

The first time I heard about Escadaria Selaron - The Selaron Steps  - was back in 2006 while I was working for Euro-Center, a company handling European Travel Insurance. A young couple of backpackers came by the office and asked us for directions to the Selaron Steps and I had to admit I had never heard of them...

Well, on a beautiful May morning in Rio I figured it was about time I finally went to see the Steps.I walked from Cinelandia towards the borough of Lapa and passed Sala Cecilia Meireles, a concert hall, now beautifully restored, but that will be another post...

As I got closer to the steps I realized there were lots of tourists with maps and cellphones, nowadays only people going on fifty, like myself, use cameras to take pictures. Entering the Rua Teotonio Regadas, I stopped to take a picture with my old fashioned camera of some street art:

A little bit further up on the same street, painted on a wall was this girl, it was love at first sight:

And then I got the first glimpse of the steps:

There were tourist everywhere, and also the usual mix of souvenir salespeople, people offering drinks kept cold in styrofoam boxes, and a guitar player  - playing Brazilian music.

Jorge Selaron was born in Chile, he was an artist and decided to settle in Rio de Janeiro in 1983. He began the art work on the steps that ran beside his house in 1990. In the beginning he used blue, yellow and green tiles to cover the steps, mostly he found the tiles in piles of urban waste or at construction sites. Later he started receiving donations from visitors from all over the world. Today the stairs are a puzzle of tiles, ceramics and mirrors.

As I walked up the steps every step and corner and sidewall revealed small treasures:

Some of my favorites, as everybody knows, houses and doors are my obsessions...

Selaron said his work was his tribute to the Brazilian people. His real passion was painting and many of the paintings featured the same pregnant woman:

The Steps was what brought him fame, though, and he continued the work on the steps until his death. Selaron was found dead on the very same steps on January 10, 2013. His body was found with burn marks, the cause of his death was never fully discovered.

I left the Steps profoundly touched and convinced that sometimes one man's work can change his surroundings...

 

Thank you Jorge Selaron!