Porto Alegre
This is the capital city of the the most southerly state of Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul. We stopped off here for one night on the way back from Buenos Aires for the launch ceremony for the book to which John has contributed a chapter.

Our time in Porto Alegre consisted in eating and meeting up again with many friends from the past as well as meeting lots of new people.

We started with lunch in the old colonial market (in the photo) - a wonderful fish lunch in a vibrant, informal atmosphere - and we ended the day with a churrasco dinner (BBQ) at Montana restaurant. We sat down for this meal at 11.30 pm and left the table at 1.30 am. I felt really sorry for the waiters, but they seemed to be used to it. A meal of this type in Brazil consists of a help yourself salad bar with every type of salad you can think of and the waiters coming round with spits of bar-b-qued meat of every type from which you can accept a slice or reject as you wish. You just keep eating until you are satisfied. I finished my meal with papaya mousse and cassis - delicious.