new home, new life

I've started what I've considered to be the second phase of my Brazil experience. I've moved out of the old lady's apartment in Leblon into an apartment in Ipanema with a Brazilian lesbian and another New Yorker that I adore named Eve. My neighbors are three other Brazilian girls that are awesome also. It's actually a funny story about how I came to find this new place; I was out at Lapa one night, a drunken mess, and I met this really cute, funny Brazilian girl who was trying to speak English with me. So naturally, we got to talking, and I told her that I was looking for a new place to live because living with the Senhora wasn't cutting it for me anymore and it was kind of expensive. She told me that she had a friend who was looking for roommates in the same building that she lived in and that I should go check it out. I went to check it out and when I did, I decided that this would be a good move to make. And since I liked Anna Maria (the girl from Lapa) and her roommates, and I would be paying substantially less than I was before, it would be well worth it to make the move, especially to such a famous street-- Farme de Amoeido (also known as the "Gay Street" of Rio Janeiro). So I did. And it's funny that it's called the Gay Street because the other day when I was leaving the beach and walking down Farme I ran into Carson Kressley, the guy who was made famous on that Bravo TV show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. A little starstruck, I walked by him and screamed, "I love you Carson!"and he responded, smiling, "Thank you!"... hahahahah, funny, right?

The gays aren't the only things that are making my street fruity though. (hahahahaha did you like my pun??) We have on the corner of Farme de Amoeido and Visconde de Pirajá a Beach Sucos, which sells these little snacks called salgados (explained in another entry) but also juices of every type, made from fruits that they don't have anywhere else in the world except for Brazil. I've made it my business to try a different fruit every time I go by there. This here is a seriguela, one of my favorite Brazilian fruits. It's kind of sweet and tangy. Definitely has a little kick to it. Another one that I tried that I didn't like too much, called cupuaçu, was kind of strange because it really wasn't sweet at all, just really sour. I had to add sugar to it, and after I did that it was fairly more tolerable.

These two aren't so common even here, but they definitely have some common fruits here that we don't have in the States such as goiaba and maracujá (my favorite fruit everrrrr!!!, seen below). Oh my God, and the tangerinas here are so delicious. They're just so sweet and juicy and amazing.

Que gostoso!!

Beijos--

Anthony