Oi mais uma vez! “Hello again!

Time is flying! Only three months left! Annie and I (second graders) celebrated St. Partick’s Day with a St. Patrick’s Day party. The students got to wear green instead of their uniforms and their challenge was to bring green snacks! We had quite a few “ungreen” things, but also green sugar cookies--made by the American moms, green grapes, green peppers, green M&Ms, green wasabi peanuts, Guarana (a Brazilian soft drink that comes in a green bottle) and green apple juice!

Speaking of parties, my last blog was posted just before my birthday which was March 2nd. Debora, my classroom assistant, Kristie, the other 2nd grade teacher, and her assistant planned a surprise party for me at the end of the day with both the classes. I’m not yet sure how they pulled it off, but they did and it was definitely a surprise! Bill was even in on it! The kids were so wild that day, but I thought it was because we were celebrating National Pig Day which had been on Sunday, the day before! They had my new favorite, brigadeiro cake (a very rich chocolate cake) and lots of other snacks! That night, we as a family went out to eat. We went to a Chinese restaurant which is not common here. Then on Saturday night, the girls stayed with the Wolverton’s (the family that was hired when we were and has Savanna, Annie’s best friend) and Bill and I went out to eat with several of the teachers! We went to a restaurant owned by Kristie’s assistant’s parents. It was quite fancy! They gave us a bottle of champagne to share in the celebration. I’m sure it was because of the connection, but it was still very nice!

Last weekend, Ann, the 1st grade teacher who was hired late like me, went “exploring” with us with a rented car. As I mentioned before driving in this country is a challenge! The roads are not the best and they are not well marked at all like we are used to in the States. It helped having another adult along. Ann helped Bill try to find the correct road and I “entertained” the girls! Even so, we made a few detours! We did make it to Anapolois, another fairly large city, a couple hours away. Brasilia is such a modern capitol city; it is fun to see another city.

On Sunday, we went a nearby privately ecotourism farm. They have a preserve in which they help injured birds go back to their natural habitat once they are well. Guides also take you around on a hike. We chose the “moderate” hike which was about 2 miles. We hiked through canyons and by three waterfalls, but didn’t make it to the largest waterfall that the place (Chapada Imperial) was named after. We also got to swim in a couple spots as we hiked. They served us a typical Brazilian meal of “country” chicken with rice, beans, manioc, squash, “farofa” (ground manioc) and salad with guava paste and cheese for dessert. It was a fun way to spend a day and we are hoping we can make it back!

Last night we went to a restaurant that served a typical Southern Brazil meal also. It is interesting how starchy their meals are. We were served rice, “farofa” again, pasta, fried polenta, and potatoes along with grilled chicken and a salad. It was very good. I just surprises me how you are often served rice with potatoes. Annie loves the combination!

Here soon, I am taking off with Ann to another town to a market. I’ll write the details in my next blog!

“Ate proxima!”
Until next time!
Connie

“Oi de novo!” Hi again!

We are back from yet another one of our adventures. As I said we went to Natal, which means Christmas in Portuguese. I now know how the city got its name. A little over four hundred years ago, the Portuguese settled the area, and built a fort called the Fort of the Three Magi-Kings. The fort was dedicated on Epiphany, January 6th, 1598. The city, about 1 km away from the fort, was established on December 25th 1599, that is how they came up with Natal as the name.

The hotel we stayed at was beautiful! It was out from the city, had three pools, one with a water slide, and the beach just the other side of the boardwalk. Because it was out of the city, it seemed like we had our own private beach although beaches in Brazil cannot be private. The temperature was in the 80s, but there was a nice coastal breeze. It is on about the 6th latitudinal line of the earth, just south of the equator so the ocean water was not cold at all!

Our first day there we went on a tour of the city and the area. Natal is in a small state called Rio Grade de Norte, but it has about 250 miles of coastline. We saw the fort, several sites in town and beaches in the town.

We also went to a neighboring town on the beach called Pirangi. We opted to go on a boat ride there and went out to a coral reef. We rented special sandals to walk on it and got masks and snorkels, but did not see much in the water. I think too many people had visited the reef!

Pirangi also has the largest cashew tree in the world. For those of you who do not know, a cashew is a tropical fruit shaped sort of like a bell. The “ringer” of the bell is the cashew nut that we eat. Actually the fruit is very edible, just very acidic. Locals drink lots of juice made from it. The tree has a genetic abnormality. As it grows, the braches grow out sideways instead of up. As they touch the ground they grow up and then out again. It covered an area about as big as a US city block. It is estimated to be about 115 years old. Last year 80,000 cashews were picked form it. When you see where the nut comes from, it helps you understand why they are so expensive although they were reasonably priced there and tasted much better and fresher.

We went back to Pirangi the next day to experience Carnival on the street! Many of the people were dressed up; the men many of them as women! I think that was a cheap costume as they borrowed clothes from their wives or girlfriends! It was all in fun and jest! Courtney and Annie thought it was a bit strange! We went that night to a very safe family setting for Carnival at a mall. That was about the extent of our Carnival!

One of the big tourist things of the area is “Buggy Riding.” You hire a dune buggy driver for a day and he takes you out on the many sand dunes! Of course, there are other tourist things to do on the way! We rode camels and felt like we were in the Sahara! The camels had been imported from Africa.

We rode along the ocean and swam at the beach. We rode through little lakes and the girls swam in a fresh water lake. We crossed a river on a little hand-pushed raft that the dune buggy drove on! We rode down a sand dune on a little wooden sled that splashed into the water. It was called “skibunda,” butt skiing! I also went down, a bungee type sling that you sat in until you splashed into the water! We had our lunch of grilled lobster, shrimp, and fish at another little coastal town. It was definitely a fun, unique day!

Another day, we hired a taxi to take us to another well known beach, Pipa, a couple of hours away. It had huge cliffs close by and was beautiful! We took another boat ride out from this beach to another one to see dolphins and swim in the ocean! On this venture, we also saw many fields of sugar cane and a sugar cane alcohol factory. That sugar cane was used to make alcohol to be used for fuel, but it is also used to make sugar as well as an alcoholic liquor called Cachaca. We stopped to fill up with gas, and at the gas station, the taxi driver had natural gas put into his car. He said that this state in Brazil has a large amount of natural gas that they are promoting as an energy source. We also saw many fresh water shrimp beds where shrimp is raised.

The Northeast is known for hand work crafts and we spent an afternoon in a mall looking at it all. We spent the rest of our time on the beaches or the hotel pools. The girls are loving the beaches and lamenting about returning to no beaches in Kansas! We enjoyed lots of seafood and had another great time!

Ate poxima!
Connie