Brazilian Food: Fruit and Meat Overload

We ate well in Rio.  There were two themes - fruit and meat, in their various forms.  

The fruit at breakfast was perfectly ripe, extremely sweet and delicious!  Erik pretty much ate a full papaya every morning.

Sucos!  We had a great time sampling the different juice bars!  Erik's go-to flavor was the mango (manga) and my favorite was the pineapple (abacaxí).  The juices were just straight up fruit.  Mmm!

We also tried açaí smoothies, which were really good.  They reminded me of our honey moon because we ate lots of fruit smoothies on the beach in Costa Rica! 

Our best meal was at a traditional rodizio called Porcão Churrascaria. The food was excellent.  Waiters bring around all different types of meat and food for customers to sample.  Erik estimates he ate two pounds of meat that night.

The green SIM indicates that you want them to come by and give you MEAT! 

So to summarize our sampling of Brazilian food: fruit, meat, fruit.  Then repeat.

Rio is for Lovers

Moments after your plane lands in Rio you know you're in a special place.  Within a few hours, Rio has completely won you over.  Here are our photos that capture some sides of Rio, highlighting its vibrant diversity, incredible landscape, and intensity.  

Favelas - Rio has about 1,000 of them and they all have the best views in the city as they are built on steep hills.  Literacy level in favelas is about 8% (source: wiki).

Cristo Redentor on Corcovado is completely captivating.

We went to Pão de Açúcar or Sugarloaf Mountain via cable car.  The sites were incredible.

Views from Pão de Açúcar - these are worth clicking on so you can get the full effect of the geology of this place.  Water everywhere and steep mountains jetting up in the middle of the city.  Guanabara Bay.

The lights creeping up the hills are the favelas.  Although they are more densely packed than the rest of the city, there are fewer lights.  This is the coolest photo ever that Erik took.

Of course, there are the beaches.  On Sundays they close one side of the road to cars along Ipanema.  This is the view from the breakfast room in our hotel.

This was the view that we enjoyed the most on our trip.  The ocean and huge cliffs near Leblon and Ipanema.

I love you, River of January!  Translation: Eu te amo, Rio de Janeiro!

This is Public Health: Rio de Janeiro

Yesterday we were exploring Ipanema and Copacabana and stumbled on a small park or plaza with really cool public exercise machines.  

Here is Erik using an elliptical machine at full force.  Notice the three friends in the background chatting away as they exercise.  It was so cool to see these machines serving as a community hub for good health.

I'm doing leg presses (you just lift your own weight).  All the machines are require no power and virtually no maintenance.  Special face for my sister Jill.

There were 10-12 different exercise machines that could give you a complete, full-body workout--right in the middle of the park.  These machines were free and well used.  

And with a nearby playground, it was great to see all ages getting exercise in the middle of a bustling city center.  

The "This is Public Health" campaign is a sticker photo campaign that encourages people to take photos of public health in action.  The end goal of the campaign is to educate people about the important role public health place in our communities.  This is Public Health in Rio de Janeiro.

Your Portuguese lesson for the day

Tua lição de português do dia.


praia - beach

 perigo - danger

café da manhã - breakfast

mar - sea 

 casal - couple

What could it bee?

These test results appeared in my health records yesterday.  Crazy doctors.  I wonder what they could mean?
---
FINDINGS: Real-time transabdominal evaluation demonstrates a single intrauterine gestation with a composite sonographic age of 21 weeks and 3 days.

---
What could it bee?

It's a BOY.

Cake lady got a little lazy and decided to color the outside blue too.  Some surprise.

Because of a Vaccine I am.

The last seven years of my life have been dedicated to studying vaccines.  Vaccines are one of the most successful and cost-effective health technologies in reducing childhood mortality, with about 2-3 million children's lives saved each year.   This post is in honor of World Immunization Week (21-28 Apr). 

During my medical school interview, I was asked to talk about how the increasing immunization opt out rates in Washington State should be addressed (they are the highest in the country and have more than doubled in the last 10 years).  They were probably expecting me to go all nuts on them about how immunization opt out is an abomination to public health and the health of the child.  While this is an issue that I am extremely passionate about, I often find myself quiet when others are discussing this topic.

Two personal experiences, however, come to mind (sadly I couldn't think of them during my interview).  The first was when I was touring a rural hospital in India.  The head physician talked about the difficulty that they have getting fresh, safe vaccines to their area.  Once the vaccines arrive, they frequently have to choose between giving the vaccine with a used needle and syringe or not giving the vaccine at all.  The dilemma that this physician has is, how do you decide which child gets the life-saving vaccine?  

Experience number two: I was assigned through church to visit a girl who recently underwent a bone marrow transplant.  Earlier that year she was diagnosed with cancer for the third time and came to Seattle to undergo the transplant.  It was overwhelming to me (and to her) what she went through to obliterate her immune system and slowly build it up again.  When she left Seattle about 6 months later, I kept up on her blog where she posted in updates on her health.  A year after her transplant she was FINALLY able to receive her vaccinations again!  She had a vaccination party back at home it was such a momentous occasion!  Her re-receiving those childhood vaccinations at age 24 was a symbol that she indeed has a real, healthy, cancer-free immune system.

These are my life experiences that make me very proud to celebrate World Immunization Week.  To celebrate yourself, take a moment (1min and 20 seconds) to watch this video produced by PATH: Because of a Vaccine I am.

The Village

My last evening in Pune my friend Rutuja and her husband took me to dinner at a place that mimics the streets of a Rajasthani village.  It was sooo fun!  Rutuja and I worked together last time I was here so I really wanted to see her.

Everything was really traditional and they showed me things and explained why it was an important part of the culture.  Plus they encouraged me try stuff that I normally wouldn't have.

Green mango and another bitter fruit sprinkled with spices and served in dried leaf boats.  Good for your stomach.

For kicks, I got my palm read and Rutuja interpreted.  The dude totally just gave me the "westerner fortune": you'll never have need for money, you'll travel a lot, your health will be dicey and you don't use your brain as much as you should.  Thanks for that.

This was really good!  Fried bread with veggies.  Not too spicy.  The typical salad here is red onion and a lime.

Akshay and Rutuja eating delicious puff balls full of chickpeas and tamarind and green chutnies.  You pop them in your mouth in one bite.  This is a typical street food, which I normally wouldn't have eaten.  A great treat!

Dessert - fried masala dipped in honey.

Palate cleanser.  They were green leves filled with various spices.  I don't know what the jars to the left were, but apparently they part of it too.  Kind of sketch.

Eating in a converted tuk tuk.