Feira livre

My first week's adventures involved a trip to the neighborhood open air market or feira livre. Every Thursday, until about 2 in the afternoon, vendors of just about everything you could imagine eating line three blocks here in Jardims. 

My first stop at the market was at the pastel stand. Pastels are rectangular pockets of fried dough filled with an item of your choosing. I chose meet per the young salesgirl's recommendation and did not regret it. Each stand was surrounded by business people on their lunch breaks munching these savory tarts. My host here told me they were the descendants of Sao Paulo's first Asian immigrants and I the dough did bear a resemblance to an egg roll wrapper.

Without any grocery list, I took my piping hot pastel and strolled down the market aisles. Right and left the vendors called out, "buy these limes," "over here little pretty one," "mangos!," "do I have a deal for you little white girl!" I stopped at a fruit stand and was immediately surrounded by two scheming vendors, quick to realize my foreignness. I told them I wanted to try some fruit. Right and left they cut me pieces of the strangest and most delicious sorts of tropical fruit--fuschia-hued pitaya, tart, seedy maracuja, which I ate with a spoon fashioned from a piece of the fruit's own peel, red-organge caqui, and the most bizarre specimen of fruit, dark maroon shell on the outside with white, garlic-clove shaped flesh on the inside. 

This last fruit, whose name I immediately forgot, was pushed on me by the box-full by my attentive salesmen (it was the most expensive, of course). The men had a nice a good cop/bad cop routine going where the gruffer of the pair pushed fruit on me and the younger, cuter one assured me seductively that he'd give me a real deal. I had to stretch my Portuguese to its limits to walk away from with just the two bags of fruit I could afford and not the entire stand!

The fruits were by far the highlight of my visit. I also bought literally an armful of broccoli rabe for about a dollar, two bundles of fresh herbs, a bag of fragrant limes, and some plain old tomatoes. Unfortunately, I had neglected to bring along a wheeled, metal basket to transport my goods back home--another clear indicator of my tourist status. Next time, I'll be ready.

(image shows pitaya, also known as dragon fruit)