FEIARTE - International Art Fair

The Feiarte is an international art fair. It gathers the best of the craft from the five continents and from many Brazilian states. The int'l atmosphere in the fair is very exciting with people from all over the world and lots of languages spoken around. Kenya, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iran, Peru, Bolivia, Italy and Russia are only part of the list of countries that are participating in the fair. There are sculpture, jewelery, fabrics, bags, etc.

Every day there is a folklore dance show at a certain hour.
Apart from crafts, also food is being sold, like acarajé and tapioca from Bahia, nuts from Rio Grande do Norte, sweets from Uruguay and more.


Dates: 2 - 11.5.08
Address: Parque Esportivo da PUC-RS. Parking lot available (The fair is literally in the parking lot).
Hours: 14:00-21:00
Ticket: 7R$. Kids up to 12 years old free. Most of the booths accept credit cards.

Lacoste Factory Store in Sapucaia do Sul

The factory Paramount Texteis in Sapucaia do Sul, 20min drive from Porto Alegre on BR-116, is manufacturing the famous crocodile fashion. Lacoste accessories and garments for men, women and children are being sold in a store by the factory for good prices.

Some of the clothes are in perfect shape and others are missing the crocodile badge or the neck label. It takes some patience to look through all the merchandise but eventually you can find good bargains. The collection changes often, according to the factory production.

Address: Av. Luiz Pasteur 450, Sapucaia do Sul. Tel. (51) 3452.8770

Lady Shoe Shopping in Novo Hamburgo

Novo Hamburgo is a city located 40min drive from Porto Alegre. There are many shoe factories in Novo Hamburgo area and few big shoe stores that sell local and international brands for very good prices. The biggest outlet shop with lots of int'l brands is Armazem das Fabricas.

This shop has feminine shoes only from some well known makes that are made in Brazil for exportation, such as Hush Puppies, Geox, Bass and others. They are sold with discounts of up to 70%. Usually you get another discount for paying in cash.
Apart from large variety of shoes they also have accessories and bags.

They also have an online shopping site where it is possible to see all the models available.

Address: Av. Cel. Travassos 719, Novo Hamburgo. Tel. (51) 3595.2606 Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9:00-18:30, Sat 9:00-18:00. There's also a store in Gramado - Av. Borges de Medeiros, 1455 lj. 2/3 Tel. (54) 3286.5996

Another 2 stores with more Brazilian look shoes is Arezzo Outlet by the Novo Hamburgo shopping mall. Rua 5 de Abril 445, bairro Rio Branco. Tel. 3593-5454. And Mercado do Sapato: Rua 24 de Maio 222, bairro Vila Rosa. Tel. 3527-0232.

Saturday Ecological Market

We visited today the feira ecológica near the Redenção park in Bom Fim neighborhood. This organic market is open every Saturday from 7:30 till 13:00. It's better to arrive as early as possible to find the largest variety of merchandise and less crowd.

The market offers fresh vegetable and fruit, honey, wholewheat bread, fresh herbs, home made jams, flowers, goat milk products and more. Many stands offer tasting samples and the atmosphere is very calm and friendly. Only by seeing, smelling and tasting this healthy food we felt in a better shape(-:

We saw some herbs and fruit we've never seen before like this Hibiscus fruit that is very citric in taste and is used to make tea or jam.

We left the market with a full basket and a tickling inspiration to cook healthy food.

Veja Porto Alegre - 2008/9 Guide

Don't miss the latest edition of the annual Veja Porto Alegre Guide.
The new 2008-2009 guide ranks the best restaurants, chefs, bars, food and wines in the city and gives complete reviews about them. Available in the newspaper stands.

Finding an Address in Porto Alegre

Recently the Google maps website added the option to find addresses in Porto Alegre. The option exists only in the Brazilian domain (maps.google.com.br) and enables to find an address on the map by street name or zip code. Getting directions is also an option but keep in mind that there's a high probability that one of the streets is under constructions and therefore closed to traffic.

Ilha do Papagaio in Santa Catarina

We spent the Easter holiday with our friends I&H and A&H in a wonderful small island in Santa Catarina, about 80Km south from Florianópolis , called Ilha do Papagaio (parrot island).
On the island there are 21 chalets, a small beach, swimming pool, aquatic sports
activities, short hiking trails, very good restaurant and friendly atmosphere thanks
to the owner and his family who mingle with the guests.
The island is an eco-resort with respect to nature.
Guests are being picked by a boat to go from the land to the island. On the island a waiter
is welcoming you with a fruit cocktail and from this moment on, all you got to do is
relax and enjoy the small paradise you've just discovered.
The kids spent most of their time on the beach, kayaks and swimming pool.

The restaurant offers a nice verity of fresh sea food among other dishes. We brought several wine bottles with us and the island crew was happy to uncork them and provide glasses.


Being an eco-resort, the chalets are simple yet comfortable and charming. We hardly spent time in the chalet since there's so much to do outdoors.

During winter time the place offers right whale watching, fireplace in the room and special winter dishes at the restaurant.

St.Patrick's Day in Porto Alegre

When we just came to Porto Alegre (more than four years ago, wow!), the first time I felt homesick was on St. Patrick's Day. It was the first time for years that I didn't party with my friends in our favorite local Irish pub back home and I couldn't even find one place to have a nice pint of Guinness in Porto Alegre.

These days are over and now Porto Alegre can offer more than one place serving proper pint of Guinness and more important - I have some drinking friends to party with.

The Mulligan pub will have a special event on Monday, March 17 - offering the second pint of Guinness for free. They promised to have St. Patrick's Day's T-shirts and hats and a lot of Guinness.

You can already call in sick for Tuesday, March 18.

Mulligan Irish Pub
Address: Padre Chagas 25 (Moinhos de Vento). Tel. 3029-3725 / 8422-9301. Opening Hours: 17:00 - 2:00 (Close on Monday)

Mario Quintana Cultural House

Mario Quintana Cultural House is named after the famous poet born in 1906.
The cultural house downtown Porto Alegre is known for its pink color. In the past it used to be the Majestic hotel. It was built in the early 20's in a baroque style.
Today, this beautiful 7 story building is a home for cultural events, library, art galleries, shows, courses and movies. There's always something interesting going on and it definitely worth a visit.
On the 5th floor, there's a nice garden called Jardim Lutzenberger with purple water lilies in bath tubs, benches to rest and a view to the Centro and a beautiful church. A perfect place to relax or read a book.There are 2 cafe-restaurants. One is located at the entrance and the other one on the top floor, where we visited yesterday with our friends J&M. It's called "Cafe Santo de Casa". They have tables indoors and also outside the balcony with a view to the Guaiba. The food is simple and good. The dish names are all spiritual and the place is full of different santas.



Address:
Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana
Rua dos Andrados 736, Centro
Tel. 3221.7147
Closed on Mondays

FILE - Electronic Language International Festival

Today we visited the FILE exposition in Santander Cultural Center downtown Porto Alegre.
This interactive exposition is a combination of visual arts and technology, artists from 21 different countries.

The works show web-art, animation, 360º photos, games and more. The exposition is very interesting, there's a lot to see, touch and play with. A great place to spend few hours with kids. Free entrance. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
The exposition is on until Apr. 20th
Opening hours:
Mon-Fri 10:00-19:00
Sat-Sun 11:00-19:00

A visit to Cafe do Mercado

This week we had the honor to visit Cafe do Mercado roasting facility. Christiano welcomed us with a tour in the place and explained the process the brazilian coffee beans go through, from the raw beans, roasting to packaging. We were fascinated by the machines, aromas and noise(-:
When we thought the tour was over, Christiano invited us to watch their baristas practicing for the Brazilian baristas contest to be held on March 7th. We entered a small training room where we met the barista Miriam Masui and some coffee experts from abroad who came to assess her and give their comments. We saw professionals in action and got to taste a fine cup of espresso with good crema, strong aroma and beautiful taste. As for the cappuccino, I still prefer it made with fresh milk rather than the UHT one.

Thank you Christiano for your great hospitality. The next coffee is on me;-)

The Post Office - Correios

At the post office door, you have to take out of your bag/pockets
all metal things and place them in the small window. Then you go in
a revolving door and take them from the other side. If you're "locked"
in the door, it means that you still have metals on. You have to go backwards and take them out too. Same happens when entering a bank.
My first visit to a post office was quite shocking since I didn't know all that(-:
Next step is to take a number at the numbers machine.

Here's a list to help you find the nearest post office to you.
The correios site is very useful if you read Portuguese.

You can purchase package boxes at the correios. They don't sell soft envelopes.
When sending packages overseas, there's a difference in price between documents, which include
papers and CD's and merchandise which includes everything else. It's cheaper to send
documents.
The fastest and most expensive way to send a package would be by "Sedex".
Other than that, there are 2 more options - PRIORITÁRIO and ECONÔMICO.
Prioritario would take 4-5 days to arrive to destination and Economico 2-3 weeks.
After sending you can trace the package through the site.

In the correios site you can check the prices for sending packages.
Generally, the price is the same for packages up to 500gr and then up to 1Kg and so on.
Payment in Cash or Santander Bank cheque only.