You say "Potato", I say "Potahto"

We started our day Sunday with breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Breakfast was buffet style and I usually called this type of breakfast European Breakfast, but since we are in South America and not in Europe, I might have to call it International Breakfast. It is very similar to the breakfasts served in Europe, and a little different than the usual American fare. The buffet consisted of the following: breads (11 different kinds - I counted), juices including coconut and watermelon, milk including whole and skim which were labelled "fat" and "skimmed", many different kinds of cheeses (I didn't count), deli meats, slivers of fish, omelets made to order, waffles, pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausages (which were more like what we would call mini weiners), fruit including many kinds of dried fruit, nuts, crackers, pastries including chocolate bread (which was like a mini chocolate croissant), cereal, yogurt, and for the weird, I mean health-conscious people there was mush, I mean oatmeal. (Can you tell I'm not a fan of oatmeal?) There was also still and sparkling water (sem gas and con gas). 

We enjoyed a nice, hearty breakfast before beginning our day of sightseeing. A few tidbits about Rio: It is one of the cheapest international cities. Things are very affordable, and Brazil has the best economy in South America. The Brazilian currency is the Real and the exchange rate is about 1:5. So if something costs $100 Real, it would be $20 in US money. Prices seem really high until you divide by 5 to make the conversion and then you're like, oh, that's really cheap.  

We also like to learn how to say "thank you" in the native language, so that when you show appreciation you can let them know that you're making an attempt to communicate with them on their terms, literally. The word for thank you in Portuguese (the language spoken in Brazil) is different depending on if you - the speaker - are male or female. Men say "obrigado" and women say "obrigada". The reason for this, I read somewhere, is that the word is actually an adjective in a literal translation and so the adjectives have gender. The literal translation would be something like "I have a grateful heart." The gender issue going on in our country right now would play havoc in Brazil. If a woman accidentally said "obrigado" instead of "obrigada", would someone interpret that to mean that she identifies as a woman with a grateful masculine heart? And the words are not easy to remember; I get confused easily. Is it "obrigado", "obrigada", "avocado"? Oops, I think I just identified as a fruit.

We've been saying thank you in Portuguese but people don't really seem to care. In Europe, whenever we said thank you in the native language, we always got a very animated response. People were delighted that we spoke their language. Here, there is no reaction whatsoever. Also, not many people here speak English. In most of the European countries we visited, English was spoken by a lot of people, and in some countries it was required in elementary school. But here, not so much. Maybe they don't get as many English-speaking tourists here as they do in Europe and so don't see the need. As a result of the language barrier, we've had a few miscommunications along the way, like when we ordered one drink with two straws and were given two drinks with one straw.

Here are a few pictures of our hotel.






Lobby




Nativity scene in lobby





Hotel restaurant

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