Natal Part 2

We had some down time and were in the neighborhood of Lagoa Nova.  Rodrigo suggested a local cafe, Vanilla Caffe, as there are not yet any Starbucks in Natal.  I was looking for simple black coffee, but the best they had was espresso.  It was pretty good, but not quite the same as an American cafe.  Brazilians prefer the sweeter Espresso drinks which are also popular in the USA, but not my personal preference.  Marina had a bowl of ice cream, with caramel and M&M's.

For dinner, we went to another restaurant in Ponta Negra, called Mazzano.  They have a rodizio, all you can eat, of pizza on Monday nights. There were a number of delicious pizzas and pastas, and I definitely ate my fill!  It was finished off with the chocolate pizza above, extremely sweet, but I loved it.  I definitely got my R$26 worth of food.

Sign outside Gringo's cocktail bar, pretty funny.

Final stop of the night was at a local specialty restaurant, Casa de Taipa, their specialty is tapioca.  Not the tapioca pudding we are familiar with in the US, this is much closer to an omelette, except made with tapioca flour.  There is a wide range of fillings, I chose a calabreza sausage with onions and cheese.  Delicious with tabasco sauce.  Not the cheapest food, but a good snack for R$16. Washed down with a Kaizer Summer beer.

Right next door to the Tapiocaria is the Lua Cheia hostel.  It is designed like a medieval castle and is one of the best hostels in the world.  Very cool design and features a medieval pub.  If Marina didn't have so many helpful and welcoming family members, we would definitely stay here.

At home, we played some Mexican Train dominos.  A favorite of ours in the US, that we taught to Marta (left) Luiza (middle) Rodrigo (right) when they visited my family.  Helena (pink) has picked up the game as well, and we brought her a set of dominos to play at her home also!