o'zapft is with caipi

hurra hurra, the oktoberfest has started today! 2 weeks of beer tent booze and pissed chat up lines. there is also a fairground, which traditionally most wiesn-tourists ignore. i always did.

beer for bavarians is like caipirinha for brazilians. a little caipirinhology here for you. so you know the babble and can impress the talent at the next party. (at the oktoberfest? don't bother.)
just the way i impressed eduardo when i knew that a caipi with vodka is called a caipiroshka.
did you know that in brazil, a caipi is made with caster sugar, very finely raffined, and with ice cubes rather than crushed ice? you don't pound on the lime pieces the way we do at munich's afterwork parties. in brazil, it's stirred, not stomped, but you may also just shake your drink. as they have hundreds of sorts of pinha, brazilians choose from the cheaper end for cocktails.
all in all, caipis here are dirt cheap and very more-ish. and i was credibly assured that there is no bar in brazil that does not have caipirinha.
enjoy, you boozers.

most impressive in sao paulo is the service. yes, it had to come up...! europeans are not spoilt, i know, but even americans cannot compete. every little bar, every hotel, every office building has valet parking. antonio jumps out of the car in the morning, throws his keys to the guy in uniform, along with a wink and a smile, and that's it!
one night we were asked to wait in the queue to get at table in bar juarez, so i got ready for 1 hour *in the cold*. what happened? took us 5 mins to get a table, and while waiting we were served drinks.
so well organised, the brazilians, they could almost be the better germans!