Day 1-2 – Braziliero
I have never been to Brazil. Not that this by itself is all
that notable, except I’ve been to a lot of other places within South America,
and loved all of them – from Peru to Patagonia to Santiago to Buenos Aires. I
love those places so much that I forced a two day retreat to Santiago at the
tail end of the trip. For a long time, I’m not sure what really put me off on
going to Brazil. It isn’t like it is difficult to get to – basically slightly
further than Peru, closer than Santiago or Buenos Aires. It isn’t like I don’t
have a fondness for the culture – especially since my last name is Portuguese.
But whatever, the time has finally come.
The trip started nicely with a ride down to Sao Paulo in
Polaris, with my upgrade stunningly clearing a couple weeks in advance –
allowing me to avoid the always annoying last minute guessing game. It did give
me also a few hours in the Polaris lounge, which was nice especially since
seemingly the Sao Paulo flight from Newark is the last Polaris-accessible
flight of the day, leaving at 10:45pm. By the time I was leaving the lounge it
was basically empty other than my fellow travelers. No better way to start a
trip than with a really nice Old Fashioned and then a Macallan neat.
The flight itself was actually pleasantly surprising. The
food is always a dice roll on Polaris – with certain routes having decent food
and others the old United garbage. Well, this one came out on the better side,
with a really nice chilled ginger beef starter, and one of the better beef
mains I’ve had on a plane – a really nice short rib and polenta. The wine list
is always on point on Untied as well. The flight itself isn’t too long (9h15m),
and before you knew it I was asleep and then being awakened to scarf down a
surprisingly decent breakfast (frittata) before we landed in Sao Paulo.
I had about three hours to kill on my layover, which went
quite quick with an ice cold beer (the glass was so chilled that the top bit of
beer semi-froze – really nice!) and croquettes. The flight to Rio was something
of an adventure, with a still pleasant outcome. The flight itself is 40
minutes. But first there was a mechanical issue on the plane that at least
luckily they discovered just as they began boarding. Gratefully, GOL Airlines
had another plane ready to go but it was in the other concourse. Then as we
were taxiing the dark sky opened up and it began pouring. It seems like I have
perfect weather lined up for Rio (granted, it’s hot) but this bit of a rain was
an annoyance. Anyway, we ended up landing about 30 minutes late, which wasn’t
too bad all things considered.
For this trip I’m staying in various AirBNBs, and the Rio
one is a pleasant 1-bedroom, with really powerful AC (a must – the daily temp
is about 75/92), and one block up from Copacabana beach. In a day or so I would
come to learn that maybe I shoudn’t have just picked that location because I
knew of it. Nothing wrong with the Copacabana neighborhood – and my stroll on
the beach at dusk was a super cool feeling, but there are nicer neighborhoods
across Rio.
Dinner the first night was at Assador, a churrascaria at one
end of one of Rio’s many beaches, with a ton of outdoor seating that overlooks
Sugarloaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar) glistening in the distance, and with a view
of planes taking off from Santos Dumont airport (the secondary Rio airport). It
was a great scene, even if a tad too hot for my liking. It was classic
churrascaria setup with two interesting distinctions – first they did not care
about the red v green card system – you can put whatever side you want, they
will come around to you anyway. And maybe more interesting was their salads
were served in a cart that went around as well – and there were some great
things, especially some really nice heart of palm preparations.
But realistically, this place is about the meat – it started
slow with rib-eye and sirloin, but then the real stuff started with round after
round of Picanha, the now infamous Brazilian preferred cut. It was amazing – so
juicy, so well cooked, the fat just perfect. The sauces they give you add so
much as well. Then towards the end of my time there, they brought out a spit
roasted half-lamb which was also just incredible. Maybe not as good as Borago’s
lamb, but for a place like this, it was great. Pairing all that with a bottle
of Brazilian red, and a glistening moon lighting up the bay and Sugarloaf, and
it was about as good an intro to Rio as you can have.
My night activities on the first day (Thursday) kept me in
that part of town, first to RioTap Beer House, which is like most bars in Rio –
a semi indoor, semi outdoor spot with just a bunch of cool ass people. I don’t
know if I’ve been to a city where the average coolness of a person is so high.
Anyway, RioTap specializes in beer, in that they have 6-7 local tap options and
then about 50 bottles, a mix of Brazilian and notable American craft labels.
The bartenders also were quite knowledgeable, as on stout I wanted wasn’t
available so thy recommended a few alternatives.
