Tuesday with Morris's

Tuesday, May 2

One more splendid day and another go at the beach with Yara. Part of what Alex called Christmas in May was a beach or sand box toy set. A bucket, a shovel, a form in the shape of an octopus, another shovel in the shape of a
race boat and a waterer, all contained in a plastic basket made with an open mesh to make it easy to carry and rinse sand off all at once. These simple children's toys are the kind I have the fondest recollections of playing with in my childhood and also enjoying with my son when he was a little boy at the beach in Rio.
I had gone out earlier in the day to purchase a new bikini for myself and one for Yara, which she picked out. She is determined to do all clothes related activities on her own. Picking, dressing, buckling - its all her and she raises hell if anyone attempts to take over. However, she will accept a gentle suggestion, as long as she does all the hands-on work.
After our bikini shopping we went over to visit my son's best friend and Yara's god-father at one of the branches of the tattoo shop-chain where my son works out of. Helio Tattoo. There are maybe 7 stores or more that are part of the Tattoo Franchise. My son works each day out of a different studio, he's also the only fluent english speaking tattoo-artist they have, that means he gets to work on all the foreign customers that come up. The company takes a 40% commission from what he earns. Like my agent in L.A. Goddamn pimps..
We made a date to pick André before the end of his shift up at the studio branch in the neighborhood called Tijuca and go for dinner and drinks It's located in the Zona Norte (Northern Zone) in Rio. Home of the Maracanã stadium You can get there by subway or by bus. It takes around 40 minutes by subway and its the safest means of transportation. I would say it's kind of like going from downtown Manhattan to Queens, without changing trains. The subway in Rio was built by the french Co. called
Metro, hence its name in the city. People say "let's take the Metrô to Tijuca".
We were late arriving so we never got to see the studio. From there we walked a couple of blocks until we arrived at a little sidewalk bar. A suspended TV had a live Samba show playing known theme tunes from carnaval samba schools and radio samba hits.
We ordered up some "Picanha na pedra com Fritas" and fried shrimp. Pincanha is a delicacy for those who enjoy a little fat on their meat. Na Pedra means its slow grilled on a stone which is then brought to the table over a wooden platter. The beers come in a liter bottle inside a bottle size cooler. They must have had a bottle each. I had my wonderful Guaraná diet with a slice of orange. Yara entertained other patrons by dancing her little samba dance. Food - drink - music - dance, the summary of one more splendid day in Rio.