The tales get taller and taller as the Merça's clock ticks away. It's never right, but according to legend, putting the clock forward fools the customers into thinking it's time and the house can close, so difficult is it to get them to leave.
The beer-soaked formica tables, squeezed together, host the city's best conversations. Cartoonist Ziraldo's character Menino Maluquinho (Crazy Boy) and crazy boy Brazilian actor Gregorio Duvivier flash on and off on the shelf and provide a good talking point.
Company overflows —the sign saying "maximum capacity 70 people" is oblivious to the small multitude packing the sidewalk and Rodésia street. Merça (as the bar is known) may not tell the right time, but its timing is spot on.
