Fim de Semana ( week end )

Saturday night Helena wanted to go somewhere different for dinner. I was at home waiting for Buyu ( His name is really Andru but Buyu is his nick name. He is Toni's nephew that stayed with us for Christmas. He is now staying with us for Carnival. ) When Buyu came we got ready and took a Taxi to Lapa. The restaurant was called Gaucho Churrascaria. Gaucho is the south American work for cowboy. In front of the restaurant was a huge 10 foot statue of a south American cowboy. The place is a restaurant/ club. It is pretty big with a stage and a dance floor. When we arrived there was a band already on stage. They played a mix of samba and popular Brazilian and American songs. A large pale filled with beer and ice came to the table. Helena also ordered wine for me, her and Toni. A plate of cooked meat came. Later there was a large platter of cold cuts and cheeses. We started drinking. I danced a little bit with Antonia. There was also some teenagers for Buyu to hang out with. We ended up leaving pretty late.

The next morning ( Saturday ) Buyu woke us up early. We had to catch a bus to Mesquita. Today was Marcos birthday and he is having a Churrasco / party. We caught a bus downtown from the plaza here. We then had to walk through a banda for Carnival. If you don't know a banda is a large street party. People were jumping up and down to the music. One guy was dressed as wonder women and there was five guys dressed as pink ferries. Other people just wore flowers in there hair. In a plaza by the parade was a large water truck and as the people came they started spraying water into the crowd. Since it was in the mid nighties everyone stated screaming and jumping in the water. We avoided the worst of the crowd and got to the bus platform. After about half and hour is arrived and we were on our way.

When we got to Mesquita we walked to Marcelos and Marcos house. The food had already started. About twenty people arrived. There was lots of cold beer. It was really hot so all the men took off there shirts. Marcelo also has a shower on the corner of the patio so during the day people would take showers. Women would take a shower with all there clothes on. It seems strange but the weather is really hot. The day was the usual mix of beer and meat that I have come to associate with Churrasco. The dogs were at home so we could not spend the night. At 11:20 pm we caught the bus back to Rio. I was pretty glad to get back home.