Yet another long overdue blog entry. It doesn’t feel like almost two months have passed since my last post. Time seems to be flying by here, and I can hardly believe that we only have two months left before we head back to Europe. Although there are lots of things I have missed about England during our time here (particularly people’s punctuality and efficiency at getting things done… Oh, and a good cuppa tea!) and Mallorca (mmmm, Mum’s food!), I can already tell that I’m really going to miss Brazil once we leave.
About a month or so ago, we spent a lovely weekend at Tio Hosano (Onezio’s brother) and his wife Tia Liria’s farm, which is about a 3-hour drive northwest of Goiânia, in the direction of Mato Grosso. We’d picked David Filho up on the Friday evening, and Hosano and Liria picked us up on Saturday morning. After stopping off for lunch in a small village along the way, we arrived at the farm early afternoon. During the weekend, we fished in their two huge ponds, rode their lovely horse, milked their cows, picked lots of fresh fuit and veg (including a lovely selection of chillies), made cheese, and had a delicious bbq on the Saturday evening. I went on a long walk on Sunday with Liria through the woods to a beautiful small waterfall. Their land stretches out for miles, and is truly beautiful. Over the years, they’ve managed to do up the farm house, so it’s comfortable to use, and they have a lovely outdoor kitchen with bbq/terraced area to laze around in during the day. They have about 100 cows and a few bulls, which are looked after by their ‘peão’ (manual worker) and his wife, who milk and take care of the cows and the land when Hosano and Liria aren’t there. David Filho loved it there, and we loved being there with David Filho, and Hosano and Liria loved having us there, so it was a perfect weekend all-round. David Filho is such a cute boy. He’s very cheeky and incredibly energetic – he doesn’t sit still or stop moving or fidgeting or wanting to play for one minute – but he’s such a darling and has the loveliest laugh ever. I wish we could smuggle him back to England with us!
We went back to Hosano and Liria’s farm last weekend again, this time without them though. David and I drove out there with cousin Alan last Friday afternoon, and spent the night there. The following day, cousin Jacke (Rokslei’s eldest daughter of 19, who’s 5 months pregnant) and her boyfriend Denes (Denes number 2, i.e. not cousin Denes) arrived, and we spent the weekend there with them. This time we didn’t do as many activities as the previous time, which made it a lovely relaxing weekend, spent eating lots of bbq’d meat and lazing around all day playing card games and domino! The farm is a really peaceful place to relax and have a good time with friends and family. I wish our land wasn’t as far away as Mato Grosso. The good thing about Hosano and Liria’s farm is that it’s close enough to Goiânia to be able to escape to at the weekend, but it’s also far enough away to really feel like you’ve left the city and are able to spend a quiet, relaxing weekend away. Jacke and her boyfriend are really lovely – he’s about 20 years older than her, which seems quite worrying at first, but they seem so happy together and he’s such a lovely, friendly, chatty guy that in the end you realise that age isn’t actually the most important factor when it comes to friendships and relationships.
Jacke and Denes left on Sunday evening, whilst we stayed on till Monday morning, wanting to extend the fun weekend for just a night longer. It was just as well we didn’t head back on the Sunday evening, since our car broke down on our way back to Goiânia. One of the belts snapped – the one that controls the alternator, the power steering and the ‘motor cooler’, or whatever it’s called. We’d changed the alternator about a month ago, but apparently the mechanic hadn’t put it in properly, so the belt had been wasting away, and had decided to snap on our way back home. Luckily, we’d just passed a petrol station, so we managed to drive the car back before the motor overheated, and a nice guy at the station called a mechanic in the local village for us. He was able to temporarily put in another belt, but he didn’t have the correct one for our car, so he warned us that it wouldn’t last very long. After charging us an arm and a leg for his services, we set off and managed to make it back to Goiânia safely. However, we then had to spend the next two days trying to sort the car out. We managed to get the mechanic that had worked on our alternator to repair it again for free (it was under guarantee still), which was just as well.
After fixing the alternator about a month ago, the car finally seemed to be ok and working well, but then this incident happened last week, which has now left me wondering how many more pieces are still left that might make the car break down on us out of the blue. We’re lucky it didn’t happen on our way to or from Mato Grosso, in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, I never thought there were so many pieces inside a car’s engine that could go wrong. Pieces that I’ve never even heard of before are breaking, and I think I’ve pretty much learnt the entire motor’s vocabulary by now – in Portuguese, that is. At least it’s been a good lesson, despite all the time and energy and stress spent over this car.
We had a lovely weekend over David’s birthday weekend last month too. On his actual birthday, we went out for dinner with Denes, and were later joined by David’s friend Matheus and his girlfriend Lys. We then headed on to a ‘cowboy’ bar, called Taurino, that played ‘sertaneja’ (Brazil’s equivalent to country music) and showed videos of rodeos, and was absolutely packed. The following day, we were invited to one of David’s IT friend’s house for a ‘churrasco’. About 5 or 6 of David’s childhood friends showed up, along with their girlfriends, and we spent a lovely afternoon with them. Later that evening, we’d been invited to another of David’s IT friend’s ‘chá de bebê’ or ‘chá de berço’ (which translate as baby tea and cradle tea, but mean baby shower), whose girlfriend is 7 months pregnant. During a typical chá de berço here, the guests bring gifts for the baby (in order to help the couple save on money spent buying essential things for the baby), and in return the future parents prepare a yummy ‘caldo’ (soup – usually chicken soup, but often beef or bean soup too) for the guests. We’re actually going to another ‘chá de berço’ tonight – Jacke and Denes’s. On this occasion, Jacke has actually asked for a specific gift from each guest (a baby bottle in our case) – apparently requesting specific gifts at baby showers is normal here. People also celebrate what’s called a ‘chá de panela’ (literally translated as pan tea) here – it’s a party held before a couple get married, but is both separate to the engagement party and to the actual wedding ceremony: it’s a party that’s specifically held for friends and relatives to give presents (including pans) to the couple, and specific gifts are also requested from the guests in advance (again in exchange for caldo). I haven’t actually had the chance to attend a chá de panela here, but if the lucky couple receive a bunch of (specifically requested) gifts in exchange for some chicken soup, I might just have to hold my own one some day!
On the Sunday after David’s birthday, we all went to Vo Pedro’s for a family BBQ/birthday party: Alan and Rayssa, Alex, Tio Hosano and Tia Liria, their eldest son Luis Eduardo and his girlfriend (whose name I’ve forgotten), Jacke and Denes and Jacke’s younger sister Samira, and Vo Cida. Hosano and Liria brought two delicious cakes, and David got a lovely Official World Cup 2010 t-shirt from them. Family reunions here are always good fun and everyone seemed to have a good time. A few weeks later, we had another family reunion at Hosano and Liria’s house to celebrate Hosano’s birthday. They have an outdoors oven, and David made freshly-baked pizza for all of us, which was followed by more yummy birthday cake. Family’s a big thing here in Brazil, which is I guess is typical in most Latin countries. People tend to have children at quite a young age, meaning families are made up of several generations. Take Jacke for instance: she’s going to be a mum at 20, and her dad is going to be a grandad at 40. Or Vo Cida: she has 5 children, 15 grandchildren, and, so far, 2 greatgrandchildren (but soon to be 4 greatgrandchildren, since both Jacke and David’s sister Suzana are pregnant) – and she’s only 70. It’s a completely different culture and way of life to the UK, say. Although I’ve always thought that it seems more sensible to wait till one’s older, more settled, and have had a career before thinking of having children, family is such an important (if not the most important) factor in one’s life, and the family atmosphere here is so enchanting, that I can’t help but admire the value of family life here. And I do love the idea of having a big family and of being able to see one’s granchildren and even greatgrandchildren grow up.
Brazilians celebrate ‘Dia dos Namorados’ (St. Valentine’s Day) today, rather than on the 14th of February, and last night David and I were invited to Cinthya’s (Denes’s grilfriend’s) house for a buffet dinner. She’d decorated the house with heart-shaped balloons and candles, and had laid out a lovely selection of cheeses, hams, salamies, tuna dips, and bread for dinner, which was followed by strawberry and chocolate fondue – yum!
Tomorrow night (Sunday 13th), David and I are going to spend a week on the beach. We’re going to a place called Arraial d’Ajuda, which is close to Porto Seguro, south of Salvador in the state of Bahia. The beaches there are supposed to be beautiful, and we’ve booked into a really lovely-looking hotel, so hopefully it’ll be a great week away. David’s never been to the Brazilian coast, so neither of us can wait to spend some time by the sea. Will keep you posted! Then a week after we get back, around the end of June, we’re heading back to Vila Rica to spend another month there with Marildes and Onezio, before coming back to Goiânia for a last few days before our flight back to Spain in August.
Photos will follow soon, I promise!
This sounds so amazing and like your having such a fantastic time, i’m very jealous.
Love reading your diary your very good at writing. Can’t wait to see you in the summer. lots of love Em x