A few days before new year, we went to a picnic in Vidigal. Vidigal is normally considered to be a favela, and most of it is, but it also has a few buildings that quite literally “rise above” the favela, giving one an opportunity to move from a spectacular view of Leblon and Ipanema to a view of a favela with just an easy turn of the head.

While we were there, we observed some picanha preparation, “real argentinian style,” supposedly. Picanha is a cut of beaf particularly popular in Brazil. I had picanha in Rio’s “churrascarias” and have also bought it in groceries store, and while I've noticed that somehow restaurant picanha looks different, I could never quite put a finger on it. This time I got to see how flat picanha is folded before being put on a skewer, giving it the half-moon look that you usually get in a restaurant.