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Local Specialities - Pamonha, Açaí & Côco |
Pamonha is made from corn meal. The corn-on-the-cob is cooked, the corn is cut off and mulched, and it is packed, usually with a piece of cheese, into some corn sheaves. It is served as pamonha salgado (savoury), or pamonha doce (sweet - with sugar added).
Açaí is a grape-sized purple berry from the Amazon with a high iron content and, as such, is good for people with anemia. It also carries other reputed health benefits relating to heart and cholesterol. It will give you a little lift, which I'm not sure is inherent to açaí, because it is always prepared with guaraná. Açaí has a unique flavour and is delicious when well prepared, but needs some sweetening. Açaí is prepared in two different ways: Suco (juice) or na tigela (in the pot - like ice-cream). Both are prepared from the frozen pulp of the fruit and usually with both açúcar mascavo (raw cane sugar) and xarope de guaraná (syrup of guaraná - which is mostly sugar syrup). If you're not as partial as the average Brasileiro to sugar, you may want to ask them to cut back on either or both of these. Suco is also usually prepared with oats, nuts, and even quail eggs, if you desire! Na tigela is usually mixed with another fruit like morango (strawberry) or banana and served with granola.
Côco is a green coconut into which is drilled a hole for a straw to drink the juice. You can pick it up anywhere you see the sign côco gelado (iced coco). Normally costs R$1.
Pão do Queijo (cheese bread) is made from mandioca flour and cheese. Mandioca is a very big crop in Brazil and part of the staple diet. You can get Pão do Queijo at most roadside diners, panificadoras (bakeries) and cafés. It is best fresh out of the oven and served hot.
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Communications / Internet |
Internet cafés and their access charges are about as fickle and hard to pin down as tech-stocks. Currently there are two Internet outlets that I know of: Chip Café and the new kid on the block, W3 Conexão. Since W3 opened, Chip have knocked their price for per-hour browsing to R$3 (from R$5). If you pay for more than 5 hours up-front, you can get better deals. W3 advertise R$5 per hour, but at the time of writing they are running a promotion where browsing is R$3 per hour. Chip will only charge you for the portion of the hour you use whereas W3 will charge you for a full hour. Chip is a café so you can buy food and refreshments, but if you prefer peace and quiet you may want to use W3. Also at W3 their machines are newer and their Internet connection appears to be faster. Both are open 7 days a week, Chip until 22:00, W3 until 21:00. Both also have printing and scanning facilities.
Genetic is the local Internet provider and they are extremely helpful. They will also let you use the Internet there but will usually only have one computer available. For this service they charge R$5.00 for one hour or portion of an hour. Their Internet connection is very fast. If you have a laptop and want to get a local connection, Genetic is where it's at. They will set you up and will help with any problems you encounter. Their charge is R$20 per month, or half that if you pay for six months in advance, for unlimited access. For this you also get e-mail addresses and web-space. Genetic are open Monday-Friday business hours and close for lunch from 12:00-13:30. You may wish to telephone ahead, particularly if you want to get an Internet connection set up. The telephone number is 3113001, and Henrique is the boss, who speaks a little English and is very helpful.
If you need telephone wires or connectors or plugs for phone cables (for your laptop), try Natel telecommunicaçao, near the Post Office.
