It was nice to be in a fully furnished and decorated home on Christmas Eve. We lit a Hanukkah candle and played the dreidel game next to a Christmas tree. We also ate pork and latkes as well as many other great foods. Bill tried raw oysters for the first time. I had tried them once before!! At 7:00 on Christmas morning, Ms. Bauer, a 4th grade teacher came over, in her pajamas, to share the excitement of Christmas with us! The girls were glad that Santa Clause even came to Brazil! We then had turkey again that afternoon along with more good foods! We played games and visited too! It was a nice Christmas!
Our trip to the state of Rio de Janeiro was fun! The week in Paraty was the most fun! Paraty is a well-preserved historic town in Brazil. It is where the country’s gold was exported from. We got to my family’s “sitio” (farm) a couple of days before my “Brazilian brother” and his family. We walked around the cobble-stoned streets and looked in the many tourist shops. We took a day trip to Trindade, a beach that was incredible, or should I say the trip to the beach was incredible! Both were incredible! Courtney thought the trip could qualify for the “Survivor” show! We started out playing at one beach that could be driven to. Then we went on a hike literally through the forest/jungle to get to the next beach as the coast was rocky and mountainous. Trekking on to the third beach was even more treacherous as the trail was quite a bit steeper and very slippery from all the rain. Bill and I were fortunate as our guide helped Courtney and Annie and we were not too proud to grab hold of the boulders or trees roots sticking out of the ground! I told Bill that I felt like Tarzan and Jane going through the jungle although we looked like some pigs that had wallowed in the mud! Good thing we could wash off in the water! As opposed to pressing our luck returning the same way, we opted to pay a small fee and have a local person return us to the first beach via his little fishing boat. We then ate fresh fish that was caught right there. What an experience! We all agreed that it was one we would never forget! The beaches were breathtakingly beautiful and the trek was loads of adventure!
At the “sitio,” we had fun with the workers who took kept up the place. Sandra was the one who cooked us our meals and was around the most. She walked with us up the mountain past the banana orchard to where the manioc and “milho verde” (green corn) was grown. Annie could not understand why that garden was at the top of the mountain when you had to carry it all down again. It was a good question. Anyway, Sandra also showed us the lone cocoa plant on the “sitio.” As Annie loves chocolate, she wanted to try to make chocolate! We removed the bean from the fruit, ground it, toasted it in a skillet and made a not so tasty hot chocolate! We resolved to use store bought chocolate to make a chocolate flan for dessert!
We went out one day on the family’s boat before the others arrived. Of course the driver drove for us. We went out another three days with Octavio, Lygia, and Ursula. The large bay around Paraty is full of 365 islands of all sizes, many with private vacation homes on them. Some of the islands have beaches on them, others have just rocky shores and you have to swim or kayak around them. Hooked on to the boat were two kayaks. A couple of the islands even have restaurants on them that food has to be brought in via boat. We ate at both. One ran out of fresh fish so we had to order another plate of fried calamari instead. We even saw them run into the restaurant, from the boat, carrying the fresh, uncleaned squid! And the girls still ate it!
We spent “Reveillon” (New Year’s Eve) in the town of Paraty with Octavio, Lygia, Ursula, and about 80,000 other people watching a very nice fireworks display over the ocean. We somehow managed to be on an un-crowded dock pretty much to ourselves! Since I was here last, New Year’s has become “the thing to do” on the beach. I did not know that when I planned our trip to Paraty. Octavio said the town’s population about doubled for the holiday. Of course, it is Brazil’s summer also, and many people travel at this time.
As we flew in and out of Rio de Janeiro, we spent five days in Rio. The weather was rainy and cloudy most of the time we were in Rio so it was not the best time, although we did manage to escape their “Reveillon” crowd! I heard that Rio had over two million people on the beach for “Reveillon.” We also managed to go up to the “Corcovado,” (Christ figure) on a beautiful day. The day we rode the gondola up to “Pao de Acucar” (Sugar Loaf Mountain) it was cloudy. We also toured the Maracana-the big soccer stadium where the World’s Cup will be held in 2014, walked around their beautiful Botanical Gardens, saw the Sambadrome where the famous Samba schools present their dances during Carnival, saw the Cathedral of San Sebastian, saw several “favelas” (slums), and several other sites of interest. Our hotel was in between Ipanema and Copacobana Beaches so we went to both. Topless is prohibited on Brazilian beaches, but if you’ve heard of the thong swimsuit, some people may have as well been topless and bottomless for that matter. There were also a couple of different markets that were within walking distance which were fun! I love the markets!
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