Friday evening after work, my team headed off to Cajuba Club for some decompression. I ran while the others swam. When we reassembled, we saw a grill near the pool, and delicious smells wafting from it, so we settled in with a cerveza and some grilled meat on sticks. They served it with mandioca flour and boiled mandioca, but I stuck with the good stuff. The club had a buffet going as well, and we all sampled that. Hit or miss on the buffet was the general consensus. The rest of the teams had assembled for libations at Chopp Time, near our hotel, and we joined them. I sampled kiwi and mango caipirinhas - fresh fruits in caipirinhas is quite a good addition.
Plans were being made for later on in the night, and a sub-group headed out to Sibipiruna, the place we'd stopped off for a drink after our last Samba lesson. On that occasion, we were the only customers there, but Friday night, the place was buzzing. No room to move, loud music and the young and the restless in their best club-going attire. We bumped into Tony and some of the crew from Ipe, and I chatted with a couple of others before calling it a night.
I slept in on Saturday. The rest of the crew, save for Joel and I, headed out to Caldas Novas, a hot spring about 3 hours away. I elected to skip, as I sorely needed some alone time after all of the intense socialization of the past two weeks. I had some hazy plans for the weekend, but mostly my intent was to doing nothing and catch up on things long pending. A welcome respite from the non-stop action.
When I finally awoke, I had to scramble down to grab some breakfast before the place closed. I got working on getting my blog au courant - daunting task, given all the stuff that took place over the past two weeks. Fortunately, I'd noted down daily highlights, so reconstructing the events, once I was in full flow, came easily enough. Around noon, I called Joel and we headed out to lunch, with a detour to the drycleaners. They weigh your clothes here and charge per kilo - not like back home, where the rate is by the article of clothing and the number of pieces. We headed to Marlao, a place I am quickly becoming quite familiar with. Ronildo, the beer bottle juggling waiter was around, and came over to say hello and do a bit of his juggling shtick.
Back in my room, more writing. Then off on a quest to buy some bottles of cachaca. I head to the other end of town, to Cachaceria do Dede, the place we went for the business networking lunch earlier. The front desk person at the hotel suggest a couple of alternatives that I note down - due for a visit next week. At the shop, I find an assistant who spoke English, and he recommended a few local cachacas. I also picked up assorted jams and jellies in interesting flavors and made of unusual fruits. I spotted a Walmart nearby, and picked up a few essentials. Back to my room, and off to Cajuba for a workout. Skipped dinner and worked on my writing some more. I'm feeling a lot more relaxed after all of the alone time. I make some more progress on reading "Randamoozham". It has been riveting so far.
Sunday is pretty much a repeat of Saturday. I down a substantial breakfast, so skip lunch. Catch up with parents in Trivandrum, India. Write some more. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and have made a serious dent in the backlog. At Cajuba, I have the whole gym to myself. I realize the gym closes at 5 PM, so I barely manage to squeeze in my workout before closing time. Leisurely stroll back. It is pretty warm out today. More writing. A bit of work for tomorrow's project status meeting.
Larissa calls to suggest dinner plans, and Christy pops in to announce that the hot springs group is back. We head down at 8 PM and Larissa recommends a pizzeria. All-you-can-eat pizza, accompanied by a couple of drinks. My pina colada is like nothing on earth, but the caipirinha that follows is as good as it gets. Cautionary tale - stick with the local stuff. The pizza is heavy on the mozzarella, and feature offbeat toppings like salmon, shrimp and arugula. We end the meal with a couple of Nutella and strawberry pizzas. Now off to bed with a sense of accomplishment - caught up on my reportage. Mahi, you better be reading every word I write, for it is for you (and your mom) that I am spending all of this time writing down the quotidian details of my life in Uberlandia.
#ibmcsc brazil
Plans were being made for later on in the night, and a sub-group headed out to Sibipiruna, the place we'd stopped off for a drink after our last Samba lesson. On that occasion, we were the only customers there, but Friday night, the place was buzzing. No room to move, loud music and the young and the restless in their best club-going attire. We bumped into Tony and some of the crew from Ipe, and I chatted with a couple of others before calling it a night.
I slept in on Saturday. The rest of the crew, save for Joel and I, headed out to Caldas Novas, a hot spring about 3 hours away. I elected to skip, as I sorely needed some alone time after all of the intense socialization of the past two weeks. I had some hazy plans for the weekend, but mostly my intent was to doing nothing and catch up on things long pending. A welcome respite from the non-stop action.
When I finally awoke, I had to scramble down to grab some breakfast before the place closed. I got working on getting my blog au courant - daunting task, given all the stuff that took place over the past two weeks. Fortunately, I'd noted down daily highlights, so reconstructing the events, once I was in full flow, came easily enough. Around noon, I called Joel and we headed out to lunch, with a detour to the drycleaners. They weigh your clothes here and charge per kilo - not like back home, where the rate is by the article of clothing and the number of pieces. We headed to Marlao, a place I am quickly becoming quite familiar with. Ronildo, the beer bottle juggling waiter was around, and came over to say hello and do a bit of his juggling shtick.
Back in my room, more writing. Then off on a quest to buy some bottles of cachaca. I head to the other end of town, to Cachaceria do Dede, the place we went for the business networking lunch earlier. The front desk person at the hotel suggest a couple of alternatives that I note down - due for a visit next week. At the shop, I find an assistant who spoke English, and he recommended a few local cachacas. I also picked up assorted jams and jellies in interesting flavors and made of unusual fruits. I spotted a Walmart nearby, and picked up a few essentials. Back to my room, and off to Cajuba for a workout. Skipped dinner and worked on my writing some more. I'm feeling a lot more relaxed after all of the alone time. I make some more progress on reading "Randamoozham". It has been riveting so far.
Sunday is pretty much a repeat of Saturday. I down a substantial breakfast, so skip lunch. Catch up with parents in Trivandrum, India. Write some more. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and have made a serious dent in the backlog. At Cajuba, I have the whole gym to myself. I realize the gym closes at 5 PM, so I barely manage to squeeze in my workout before closing time. Leisurely stroll back. It is pretty warm out today. More writing. A bit of work for tomorrow's project status meeting.
Larissa calls to suggest dinner plans, and Christy pops in to announce that the hot springs group is back. We head down at 8 PM and Larissa recommends a pizzeria. All-you-can-eat pizza, accompanied by a couple of drinks. My pina colada is like nothing on earth, but the caipirinha that follows is as good as it gets. Cautionary tale - stick with the local stuff. The pizza is heavy on the mozzarella, and feature offbeat toppings like salmon, shrimp and arugula. We end the meal with a couple of Nutella and strawberry pizzas. Now off to bed with a sense of accomplishment - caught up on my reportage. Mahi, you better be reading every word I write, for it is for you (and your mom) that I am spending all of this time writing down the quotidian details of my life in Uberlandia.
The pool at Cajuba Country Club, my haunt for the weekend
#ibmcsc brazil
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