It is kind of hard to believe, but we are one quarter of our way through our time here in Brazil. Tomorrow we head back to school to start the second half of our first school year down here. In some ways, it has been an incredibly long six months since we arrived. In others, it is hard to realize how short our time down here will actually be. Ah well, just pondering before I get started on the story of our last month.
Our first official visitors arrived the weekend after school got out. Sara’s mom and dad made the journey from Massachusetts to spend the break with us. They had some travel adventures on the way down, but landed just in time to turn around and head to the beach with us. The beach this time was just south of Porto Seguro in the town of Trancoso. Lots of good food, beach time, and a chance for me to practice my Mario Kart driving skills negotiating narrow, old, one lane cobblestone and dirt roads with the rest of humanity. It was a minor miracle that we finished the trip with both mirrors. Apparently when there are no lane markers, there are no lanes. And we found out that a car, a van, and two motorcycles can fit in one lane if everyone holds their breath at the same time.
Like every beach we have seen, the ones in the Trancoso area were amazing. My favorite was the one we found by accident while trying to go to a completely different spot. A local told us the beach we wanted to see was closed, but if we drove four and half kilometers, we would go down a hill and see a small road to the left. He told us to turn there, park before the sand got too loose, and walk towards the ocean. And it worked. We popped out over a sand dune to find a spectacular beach with only two other people on it. Palm trees for shade and sea turtles just offshore only made things better. Just another beach day in Brazil.
Slightly sunburnt and with more than a little sand stowed away, we made it back to Brasilia in time for Christmas. It was nice to have family here for our first Christmas in Brasilia. There were definitely cravings for snow, family, friends, and Bend around Christmas time. You will notice some completely unnecessary sweatshirts and jeans worn in protest in the Brasilia photos. This was the girls’ first “warm” Christmas, and while we are quickly becoming accustomed to the Brasilia uniform of shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops, it was different. We had the tree and lights, and some of the normal routines, but just with a Brazilian twist. Santa brought popsicle makers instead of his annual warm, cozy clothing gift. We went for a sunny family stroll on the closed highway instead of through the cold and snow like back home. We ate pao de queijo instead of cinnamon rolls, and potato leek soup instead of posole. But there were children up at dawn, full stockings, and time with family, so we did just fine.
I love the family pics and am thoroughly enjoying the blog. It gives Adam an outlet for his great sense of humor. And, your Portuguese is good enough to get you to the beach. Impressive. Of course, as I'm retired and nobody tells me anything, I'm getting to this eight months late. Not to worry. all the best to y'all.
ReplyDeleteRobert aka .... I'm not going to use that alias.