Another Sunday, another chimarrão

11 September, 2011

I felt well enough to accept an invitation (thank you!) to join some friends in the plaza for chimarrão this evening.  I didn't partake because I didn't want to make anyone else get sick, but chimarrão is about the camaraderie as much as the drinking.  This group has plenty of camaraderie!

I met some more new (and wonderful) Brazilian friends today, yay!

There are always cameras about, and not just mine, so I don't feel like a "tourist" being the only one taking pictures.  And boy, do they love to ham it up for the camera.

An impromptu photography lesson resulted in this nice shot.

Why is my head so big???

Camera alert!

We want to share chimarrão with everyone!

Laughter, caught on pixels!

The statue has competition.

Another new friend!

While we were talking, suddenly there were police sirens, and what should come down the street, but a police car, followed by a fire truck, on which were riding several young ladies dressed in formal gowns. I'm not sure what this was about (anyone care to comment?), perhaps Gaucho Days or Oktoberfest queens because those are the upcoming holidays.  

More new friends, showing off their chimarrão paraphernalia (close-up below).  This couple recognized me from my hiking around Parque da Gruta last weekend; we had passed each other along the path, and due to my clothing (cargo pants, sandals, baseball cap) and camera, they had assumed I was a biologist.  Apparently my sense of fashion is a bit strange - but that is normal for me, I guess.

The true gaucho style chimarrão paraphernalia consists of a thermos, a bag and a cup or cuia.  These are particularly beautiful; the thermos is wrapped in leather and tooled with the image of a horse, and the bag, of hardened leather, is tooled with the insignia of this state, Rio Grande do Sul. Darkly in the background you can see the cuia with its special metal drinking straw.

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