A City Holiday

Last Monday was a city holiday. Not a national holiday, nor a state holiday but a city holiday. The reason for the holiday makes me laugh. In 1932 Sao Paulo decided to secede from the nation. They declared their independence on that day. As you can imagine Brazil did not take too kindly to that notion. The rebellion was quashed and Sao Paulo remained a part of Brazil. So the city celebrates a rebellion that was not successful.

We have met a very nice couple who work at the temple who are Brazilian. They invited us to go with them to Embu de Artes. It is located about 10 miles outside of Sao Paulo. It is very artsy crafty style area. On the weekends and holidays many booths are set up and craft stuff is displayed and offered for sale.

It was a beautiful day with great weather. We walked and looked and didn't buy much of anything. One purchase was coconut which had been cut into chunks, rolled in sugar and then fried. Oh my, that was heavenly.

There was a band from Bolivia performing and selling CDs. I really liked their music.

This church was built sometime in the 1600's.

 After Embu we headed back into the city and went to eat at a restaurant that specialized in food from the area of Minas Gerais. It is supposed to be more spicy. The food was excellent. We had the best piece of beef since we have been in Brazil. The restaurant's name is Tempero das Gerais and is the orange building.

After a late lunch we drove around the center of the city, through Japan town, through their large downtown park and then back home. It was fun to get out and do something different. Let's hear it for Sao Paulo and their failure to secede.