After a morning walking tour of the historical section of São Luís, Brazil, our guide, Juan Pitacco (jmpitacco@hotmail.com), showed us the central market square, or Praça do Mercado Central.
Juan identified some of the many fruits of Brazil that have no English names simply because they grow only there. One of the most important is the açaí, a deep-purple, vitamin-rich fruit that health food stores in the US are selling at exorbitant prices as a magic elixir to cure all ills.
Cashew nuts, dried seafood and bottled beverages of questionable alcoholic proof (such as the purple cassava liquor called tiquira) lined colorful shelves. The stall keepers were friendly and insisted we try several samples.
We had lunch at Restaurante Antigamente (Rua da Estrela 220; phone 098 3232 3964. Open for lunch and dinner, Monday-Saturday; entrées, $8-$17), where we were greeted by the widely known statues of black ladies leaning their elbows on the windowsill and surveying the street scene.
When our pasta order was served, we discovered that one dish would have been enough for two people. We kept that in mind for future meals.
The table next to us had three generations eating a seafood stew from one central pot. As they spoke more English than we knew Portuguese, we were able to strike up a conversation. They were amazed we were in Brazil for six weeks (January-March 2011) and commented on our various plans.
JACKIE & MAURICE BLACK
Thunder Bay, Ontario