Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I’ve been back in Brazil for just a few days and let me tell you, I found the spot. Up until just recently I didn’t think that Rio had flea markets or vintage stores or anything of the sort. I had just assumed that it didn’t fit into Carioca culture. But I was wrong. My friend Bruno told me about Praça Quinze, an enormous outdoor flea market in the Center of Rio. And so I went to check it out. 

We arrive and are greeting by stands upon stand of interesting trinkets, tools, toys, furniture, fixtures, clothes, stuff, stuff, stuff. 

Shaded from the sun by a massive overpass, we are over the moon. Our excited eyes sort through every item in each stand before moving to the next, sometimes picking up an interesting thing and asking “quanto custa?” (How much does it cost) We find that as far as bargains go, this flea market is not so cheap. Many vendors won’t even bargain with us.

I set my eyes on a japanese Daruma doll. “15 reals” the man says… “é vindima” (It’s vintage). Thats about $7… I raise my eyebrows. “Its not vintage,” I mutter under my breath in uninterpretable English, “it’s just dirty.” “How about 8 real?” “No,” he responds “10 real?” “No.” The man won’t budge. HUMPH, I put it down and we walk away.

We wander on, commenting on how each booth is a unique reflection of the seller, their interests and their old belongings.

A collection of swiss army knives

There are food stands peppered around the stuff stands and we stop to try caldo de cana, sugar cane juice. We order one for just 2 reals (about 1 us dollar) and a man runs several lengths of sugar cane through a press. He presents us with cold, sweet, delicious juice. Everyone should try sugar cane juice, it has much more flavor than you might imagine.

We’ve covered nearly every stand and now the vendors are starting to pack up. We know its our time and circle around back to the man with the Daruma doll. He is carefully wrapping his items in newspaper and storing them away in a box. The doll still sits on the table. With cash money in our hands we offer 9.90 reals. “Ok,” He says and takes our money.

We go to find a place to have lunch and leave the market happy with three items, a metal counter, a plastic aardvark and the Daruma doll.

A still life of mustard, olive oil and our flea market finds

Tomorrow we plan to hike the mountain behind where we’re staying in the Botafogo neighborhood of Rio. I hear there are steps carved into the mountain, chiseled away by slaves years ago… and there are rumors of an old cave, where many people have disappeared. I brought my headlamp, and really can’t resist an old cave. Stay tuned~