ironclm's world: Last Night In Brasil....

Peter and I went out last night after the race and I had half a chicken sandwich and some fries and a beer at 1:00 AM. Woke up around 6:30 AM, so not a lot of sleep last night. We had breakfast, then ventured down to the expo area to buy pictures (finisher pic is good!) and check out the finishers' gear. Very disappointed in it. Just a couple of shirts, one of which I got last night since they'd run out of the official finishers' shirt in the size I wanted and they will send me that later, but gave me one of the ones for sale so I would have something to take with me. Very nice gesture! Thanks Carlos and Latin Sports!

After that, I had to take my bike over to the other side of the island to have it packed up. Yeah, I could do it myself, but my case and all that was over there. Plus, Peter came with me and got to do a little sightseeing. We took the scenic route back, so he got to see even more. After that, it was sit around and check email, write race report and then since we were getting hungry, we went down the street for lunch. One more chance to have Brazilian buffet! In the afternoon, Sergio came up to my room to check his email and I read my book and then at 4:00, I had to go pick up the bike, so Sergio came with me.

Tonight, Peter, Sergio and I went with Andrea and her group into the Centre to a churriscarria--the meat palace! We went to Atibila, the same place that Fernando, Andy, Geoff and Shea and I went last year after the race. The churriscarria usually has a salad-type bar (this one had salads and oysters on the half shell and various potato dishes, among other things), then as you are at the table, the waiters walk around with the various cuts of meat on skewers and if you want a slice, you tell them, "yes, please" and if not, then "no". It's all you can eat for one price and we had multiple Caipirinhas, multple chopps (beer) and after
dinner port and other drinks and coffee. Oh yeah, a sobremesso (dessert) bar too! And they had PASSIONFRUIT MOUSSE!!!

What was even better is that tonight was "ele sim; ela nao", which means the MEN pay and the WOMEN do not. So for 8 people (4 men/4 women)--it was 300 reals, which is about $150US, or less than $20US for all you could eat and drink. Amazing.

Here are some pictures from the evening.