Thursday, January 25, 2007

...and where better to go on such a beautiful day than the neighborhood botequim?











One of my favorite questions to pose to hotel workers when I'm in a city for the first time is to ask where they would go for a pleasant walk, experience the sunrise, or to really capture the spirit of place. Need I say that I've received some contemplative or startled looks sometimes in return, as they stopped to consider what local place or activity that they would choose to recharge their batteries.

One of my obsessions of the past few days has been the botequims of Rio de Janeiro. It started with a single photograph in a book... as many obsessions do. The educational and wonderfully engrossing sites of Daniella Thompson (click on the header at top) or Maria Brazil will explain far better than I could (beware-if you plan on peaking in just for a moment, you may spend hours there... time well spent). In LA, we have to settle for our local Starbucks or the foodcourt in the mall-- a poor substitute in deed!

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