Goin' to town

Today we went into Taubaté. It's a city of around 250,000 -- a little bigger than Spokane. It's kind of like Spokane in that it's the "big city" for the small towns in the area. Peter goes to Taubaté maybe once every month or two. Nina (Peter's dad's wife) had a doctor's appointment in Taubaté, so we spent the day there.
Got there about lunch time. What did we have? Sushi! Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Brazil, so there is a strong Japanese influence. We went to Massamatsu Sushi Bar Restaurante e Buffet. They have a buffet with sushi and other Japanese food (yakisoba, goyza, tempura, etc.) and you pay by the kilo (2.2 pounds). The price was R$50 (Brazilian reais - about two reais to one dollar) per kilo. End result: We paid $55 US for lunch for four people - with beverages. There's no sales tax and gratuity is included. It was really good.

The buffet at Massamatsu

About $13 (US) sushi and other Japanese food.

After lunch, Dave and Nina went to do some other errands and Peter and I went to the mercadão, which is pretty much like going to Pike Place Market, but I think maybe a little bigger. We walked through the plaza next to the old city hall to get there, and got to see some beautiful giant rubber trees.

This is the old Taubaté city hall and is typical of Brazilian colonial architecture.  

Here a few photos from the market.

Pretty peppers

More colonial architecture next to some of the fruit booths in the market.

That's a lot of bananas!

MEAT!

Cachaça (also known as pinga) is the official alcohol of Brazil. It's made from fermented sugar cane. The wall behind the store clerk hold hundreds of varieties of cachaça, ranging from $2.50 (U.S.) to $700 (US) for a bottle. The cheap versions taste and smell a LOT like the alcohol fuel that goes into Peter's car. The more expensive versions taste like a cross between tequila and rum. 

Flippy floppies.

Taubaté is like a lot of cities (including New York) in that there are certain areas where a bunch of the same type of stores exist. All of a sudden, we found ourselves wandering down the Street of Brides - there must have been 10 stores with wedding dresses and formal wear. Weird! (forgot to take a photo.) All of the pet and livestock stores are in the same area. Peter needed to buy flea stuff for Zezee and I trolled around a big pet store.  Pretty much felt like being at a Petco or Petsmart, but not as many choices for dog and cat food.

Lots of stuff is imported to Brazil and there are very high taxes on imports to encourage people to buy nationally made products. But it doesn't quite work that way. If it's made in Brazil, the Brazilian companies just charge the same amount as for the imported product. Dog and cat crates seemed really high. Little ones like these were $50 (US).

GIANT CHICKEN! (That's a $75 (US) rooster, FYI)

Some friends may know that I recently got back into the horses, but this time I'm doing Western stuff. I was on a mission to find a cowboy hat to wear for any potential reining competitions. Yes, I was shopping for a very particular style of American cowboy hat in Brazil. Hey, it's more fun shopping in a foreign country when you have a mission.

I found a great hat at Couros Ladeira - a leather and Western store near the market. Get this: The brand name is "Dallas Hats," but it's 100 percent Brasileira (made in Brazil). I'm pretty sure it's appropriate for reining stuff, but that will be up to the new trainer. If not? I'll wear it to the Molalla Rodeo.

Awesome Peter photo bomb.

Hey Tex.

We stopped by the old cathedral, "Catedral São Francisco das Chagas," on our way to Peter's friend Mauro's. It was really beautiful.

Really pretty.

It was a super hot day. When we got to Mauro's English school (Anglia Idiomas), we just hung out in the courtyard with Dave, Mauro and Pablo -- one of Mauro's students who is finishing up his engineering degree at the Universidade de Taubaté. Guess what? Pablo has horses! The plan is to go riding the Saturday after this one. Hopefully it all works out.

Peter's friend Mauro.