Anyway, thank God our server spoke some English and she told us about feijoada and how that was a major Brazilian thing. Now that I've had it, I can say it's black bean stew with every kind of meat you can imagine and lots of fixins. For real, Brazilians are serious about their meat. However, trying to get a straight explanation beforehand was super hard, because feijoada is way more than just the meal. It's part celebration, part fellowship, part party, part meal. I'd say the English equivalent is barbecue. BBQ describes the meat, but it's also used as a descriptor (is that the word I want?), as in "we're having *a* barbecue this weekend", and the word barbecue more often than not makes you think picnic, party, backyard, event. In my humble opinion, that's what I think feijoada is.
We knew we wanted to participate and lucky for us, the hotel was having a feijoada the Saturday we arrived. Although I don't know how lucky we were because it turned out to be a 'per-plate' fundraiser.
You know that moment where you realize that you're in over your head or you've gone too far but you can't do anything about it because you'll look even sillier than you already do? That's how we were standing in line for the feijoada. We were hungry, we thought it was an open event for hotel guests and we sure as hell didn't think it would be that expensive but we were already at the front of the line, there were people behind us, the lady was staring at us, and Drew and I were hissing at each other.
It costs how much? Oh hell no!
What do you want me to do? Where are we going to eat?
I don't know but I'm sure as hell not paying that much for some damn food!
Look, we're here, it's going to be late soon, let's just do it. We saved for this, it's fine.
Are you kidding me?
It's fine, just come on. People are staring at us.
You think I care? Fine. Shit. This better be good.
We had no clue what we were doing but it was a buffet with an open bar. For that much money, I was going to eat until they had to roll me out of there.
All of these people were locals and they appeared to know each other. Great.
We had no idea what the fundraiser was or why they were having it but we shrugged our shoulders and filled our plates.
Each of the pots had a different meat.
No idea if I did it right. I tried to look at other people and
do what they did but it seemed like everyone had their
own way of making their plate.
Second helping, with rice this time. Still don't know if I'm
doing it right but I'm getting my money's worth if it kills me.
Dessert too, bitches. I got one of everything.
If I could have gotten a to-go box I would have.
This shit was expensive!
They were giving out shirts too and you best believe we both got one!
Everyone was putting it on over their clothes, so we did too.
Do I look like a local?
But then it all became okay because guess what? We got to see samba girls!!
When you think Rio, you think Carnaval, samba, party all night, all that. I knew we wouldn't get to see that side of Rio because we were traveling as a family which wasn't that big a deal to me. But to get to see samba girls was such a cool bonus and here's where I really wish I knew how to take awesome pictures because mine don't do these girls or their costumes justice. They were awesome!
That's the cool thing about Brazil - they are what it means to be comfortable in your skin. These girls were nearly naked but there wasn't a hint of lewdness or embarrassment. It was just beauty and fun and party time! And they moved so fast! This is the closest video I found because of course I didn't take a video of the coolest part!
I'm so bummed I didn't get better pictures because these girls were so pretty and their costumes were so sparkly! Getting to see them and all the great food made the ridiculous price worthwhile. After that, we kind of loosened up and joined the festivities. Who cares that we didn't speak the language or that we had no idea what was going on. We both even took turns dancing with the baby.
We ended up having a great time, stuffing our faces and I will admit it *was* nice being able to have a great dinner and just go up to our room afterwards. We ended up hanging out around the hotel the next couple of days and by then we were ready to go sight-seeing. We were ready to meet our tour guide!
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