When I was in Brazil, I visited Paulina’s church. She introduced me to her girlfriends, taught me a lot of songs in Portuguese and then we hopped in a taxi and went to her favorite acai shop, Primos Acai. It was my first time trying acai and its pretty good! Actually, it is better than ice cream.

On the way to the shop, Paulina kept mentioning how good it was and I just nodded my head. I had nooo idea what she was talking about. A food that’s not yogurt but kinda is….what is that?

Finally I arrived at the little cozy- hole in the wall- shop.

The people there were so friendly. When they found out I was from the Bronx, the cashier called the owner- this is at 10pm- and he showed up with his friends just to welcome me to Brazil!! (Eu senti tango amor!)

The shop was started by the two young men (pictured above), Maurico and Fabricio, in June of 2017. As the name of the business suggest, Primos Acai, they are also cousins.

May I mention that they both are also very brilliant. Fabricio is an architect and Mauricio is a doctor. However, despite their busy schedules, they held on to a dream to start a business together and made it a reality.

What I really enjoy the most about the shop is the location, it sits in the ‘hood’! This wasn’t no uppity neighborhood, everything was chill. Loud music from the boom box, kids playing in the street. It was like home away from home.

While I was there, I met the preacher from the  church nearby and his church goers. Service had ended for them and they were walking home. Someone had mentioned to him that I was visiting from NY and he stopped to talk to me… And the young people hanging out were so kind to try their English out with me.

Going there reminding me of how we hang out at the pizza or Chinese shops. Imagine the ‘hood with a dope Acai shop in the middle of it?!

The Bronx is waiting for its Maurico’s and Fabricio’s to rise up and work on their dreams along with their careers.

Thank You to Milena and Paulina for helping me remember my time there….I finally had time to write this Post.