Best Laid Plans

The "Brazilian White Board" had served us well for 6 days.  It marked the daily arrivals/departures of members of the the Gringo Delegation--aka the wedding travelers--as well as all scheduled group activities.  As you may have guessed, it was I who needed to organize a visual calendar just before Wedding Week began.  Post-It Notes were way too expensive, so I improvised with masking tape circles on home-made color framed notes.

What Cecilia called our "Brasilian White Board" was just pieces
of paper taped to the kitchen wall.  All wedding travelers in the Gringo Delegation
checked the daily schedule Board when they stopped by the apartment.

Because the week had been so full of arrivals, wedding preparations, then the ceremony and party on Saturday, the Gringa thought it would be good to chill out on Sunday and not try to wrangle everyone for a touristy event.  What I wanted to do was take everyone on a walk to my favorite park--Campo de Sao Bento--where we could check out the Artisan's Fair and get some street fair food.  Several wedding travelers wanted to buy gifts and souvenirs; since shops are closed on Sundays, the Fair would be the perfect alternative.

All was very quiet when I left the apartment.  Bride, Groom, and Best Little Man were sleeping in, but Jo, John, Iris, Doug, Steve, and Luey were ready to hit the streets.  On our short walk to the park, we recapped the wedding and reception while we passed a few street vendors.  This English-speaking Gringo Delegation turned the heads of more than a few pedestrians.

Coco Water was for sale on our walk to the park.

When we entered Campo de Sao Bento there were only a small number of vendor booths on this Sunday morning's Artisan Fair.  I was so disappointed!  Just the week before, I had watched a thin young man carry a large bundle of fresh grasses through a gate on the east side of the park.  I was standing at this entrance listening to the haunting pipe music of a group of native musicians from northern Brasil when he passed.  Later that morning, the man was displaying woven baskets, crickets, and birds that he had fashioned from these fragrant green reeds.  I made a mental note that our wedding travelers would love to hear that music and see this craftsman.  But on this Sunday he was not there, and the musicians were absent as well.  The woman who sold me a pretty little rustic bead necklace on the previous Saturday wasn't there either.  Neither was the man from whom I bought some beautiful loom-woven place mats and table runners.

Iris managed to find a Che Guevara t-shirt.  But she decided not to wear it home on the plane, for fear that she might be detained, or, at the very least, thoroughly searched at the airport.

Iris considered Che

John found some fresh kettle chips.
We all dodged raindrops through the canopy of old trees.

Luey and Steve found a huge purple bouganvilla
for a photo op at Campo de Sao Bento.

The park was pretty and still.

A Showy Princess' Earring

Our group of good sports:
(l-r) Steve, Doug, John, Jo, with Iris and Luey in back

When we left Campo de Sao Bento, we were on a quest for a redemptive Acai at Mega Mate.  When we got there, the shop was closed!  Plan B fell into place.  We walked to Compao where we were met by Michelle, Fred, and the new Bingham family.

Daniel snacked
while Cecilia, Will, Fred, and Michelle finished fresh juices
and salgados (savory pastries).

Cecilia explained that Labor Day was the upcoming Tuesday.  So lots of artisans and vendors who would have normally been at the park were probably home celebrating the day off work by taking off the weekend as well as the Monday before this national (one day) holiday.  Oh.  Now I see.

At the other end of the table, everyone leaned in for a group shot.

Rumor was that C's mom Dora had invited all of us to come to her home that afternoon for a meal.  I thought--what Mother of the Bride would want to entertain and cook for at least a dozen people less than 24 hours after her daughter's wedding and reception?!  (BTW, she co-hosted in a grand and gracious way.)  Cecilia and Will confirmed that Dora was expecting us as soon as we could head for the hills of Sao Francisco.

Back to the apartment for a call--taxis for 12 please; then off we went to introduce the wedding travelers to the magic place that is Dora's hillside home overlooking Guanabara Bay.  Although my "best laid plans" for our Sunday had gone astray a little bit, dinner at Dora's was sure to be a treat.