Paraty After Dark with Dinner and Bossa Nova

Outside Vincent van Gogh's very own hamburger restaurant

I was going to take one of those free walking tours that they have in all the cities at 5:00 p.m. tonight. You don't pay anything, you just tip based on what you think it's worth. From each according to his ability; to each according to his need. A little bit of communism in Brazil courtesy of the new Lula government.

Anyway, I made no reservation. You just show up. And at 4:30 p.m., the skies opened up and it poured. This was no light rain. This was a cloudburst. It did not end until about an hour and 15 minutes later. When I ventured out for supper, the streets were steamy. So steamy it fogged up my camera lens for awhile.

I decided to go to the van Gogh Hamburgueria. Apparently Vincent decided that the art world was not meant for someone as beautiful as him and he opened a hamburger joint on a beach in the southern hemisphere.

I wanted to see if, on their burgers, they slathered on the condiments extra thick. I "ear" the burgers are delicious. 

It's nice to see the owner on the premises.

Anyway, it's a week night and it's not quite tourist season, so the crowd was modest in size.

I got the "santa" burger with gorgonzola cheese melted on top. The burger was good. But what made the evening was a two-man jazz combo playing excellent bossa nova jazz.

I recognized so many songs from my various bossa nova albums, whether by Jobim or Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto. Right before I left, I requested a song which, although not bossa nova (it's folk), they did in a bossa nova style and it was beyond awesome. The last song they played before I left after two hours: Caetano Veloso "Lua de Sao Jorge." A few people in the restaurant were singing along.

The hard backless chair was reeking havoc with my back, so I decided to go for some ice cream therapy. Across the street, at the Finlandês sorvete artesanal, I ordered a cup of the maracujá, passion fruit.

The bossa nova music alone made it a great night. Discovering van Gogh's upscale hamburger joint made it even better.