For dinner, a bunch of us (Brazilian,
Swiss, and me, the token American) went to a local pizza/sushi place. It
was built under a sort of inverted tent (kind of like a funnel), with the
opening pouring into a cistern surrounded by plants. We took a table outside,
and I was pleased to find I could read the menu. The pizza menu was mostly
the Italian words used to describe pizza in the US, and the back of the
menu was sushi. No problem! The restaurant uses a rather interesting billing
system: you're handed a card upon entry; every time you buy food or drink
the waitress marks the card, and you pay on the way out. R$25 minimum (R$0
if you're a girl). Lose the card and it costs R$150 to get out of the place.
Around the bar, 'metered' beer was provided: Each table around the bar had its own taps. When you sat down, you swiped your credit card through a reader. A little digital readout counted litres whenever you drew beer from the tap. When you were done, you pressed a button and your account was billed.
In this photo, you can see the following folks:
Gilbert: An engineer from Siemens Brazil, specializing in ADSL products.
Renzo: The Sales Manager from Siemens Swizerland, an interesting fellow and a bit of a party animal who, in addition to English and German, knew Portugese from his Brazilian ex-wife. His name is the same as mine!
Peter: The engineer from Siemens Brazil who later joined me in Rio de Janeiro
<unknown>: The waitress, who poked her head in the picture and threw her arm around me just as the flash went off. (no, really!)
Me
<unknown>: Another Siemens Brazil fellow, who I hadn't seen until the restaurant
Sãmia: The engineer from Siemens
Brazil who led the unsuccessful search for a fax machine earlier that day.