Um Real!

Everything during carnaval seem to cost um real - R$ 1.00 is about $0.43. A can of coke, a bottle of water, a beer, bus ride across town, a fresh Cocos nut - everything is um real (except that you can get three beers for R$ 2.50). Streets at Olinda are lined with stalls hawking all sorts of goods - mostly beverages and grilled meat and cheese and the um-real-chants are constant.

I've gotten over my resistance to eat street food, since all seems to be cooked fresh and smells so good. Today I had tapioca which is also sold at many stalls. It a flat bread made out of tapioca meal and filled with cheese and other things (mine had bananas). The whole thing is then folded over and it is more or less the local pita or taco equivalent. Oh, for a change, this was R$ 1.50.