Rio Centro

A more successful day in Rio today when we went down into the centre* to go into the offices of Palmares and pay our condominium fee for the next year.  We were greeted by name and a big smile by Rafael (see Bb's blip), who happily took our wad of cash and gave us a receipt.  It's always a relief to know that that's paid for a year in advance.

Bb then managed to get us back to a restaurant that we found last year, where we shared a main course and looked on in amazement at a table of businessmen at the table next to ours at which each of them had a main course each and wolfed them down!  Each portion of meat, chicken whatever would have been sufficient for two (like ourselves)  or even three people, especially with the usual accompaniments of rice, black beans in sauce, farofa, chips and salad.  Unlike at Spanish lunchtime tables, we noticed that there was less real talking and much more eating.  

We then wandered off and found ourselves on Rua Ouvidor, which is my blip, and where all the bars and restaurants have terraces that, together, run the length of the street and is a popular meeting place for people after work.  We managed to get a table and enjoyed the atmosphere before getting a taxi back home to Copacabana. One advantage of it being unseasonably cool and cloudy for this time of heat has meant that doing these city centre chores has been easier.

For the eagle-eyed amongst you, you might notice that this photo was taken with a smart phone. We reluctantly decided to replace our 6 yr old iPhones before leaving Bcn, but were pleased that we got these androids within our limited set budget of 100 euros! I may be using it during our time here as it's less obvious than our iPad mini. We hope they will last us another 6 years!

* The city centre in Rio is the commercial centre, which is bustling during the week but where not a lot happens at the weekends.  Copacabana and Ipanema are in Rio Sur - the south of Rio and are more residential and the areas where tourists usually visit and stay.