January 14, 2012
A village of German/Brasilians
trouped in at 8:30am on a Sunday morning thoroughly shocked and alarmed that it
was a “sleeping house” as though we were a bunch of deadbeats sloughing our
lives away! Well, perhaps we are, visiting and fussing over technical
challenges until 2:00am, dividing chocolate bars and shots of dark rum.
Scrambled to make coffee and set up the table for breakfast-rolls, cheese,
lunch meat, orange marmalade, cream cheese, butter, Joao’s fresh bread and
coffee fixin’s. Pipo escaped out the gate so there was a bustle to try to woo
him back before he woke up the inhabitants on the quiet rural street…no such
luck. House after house has several dogs to sound the “some devious dog has
escaped and we are unfortunately imprisoned inexplicably stuck behind the
fence” alarm.
A jaunt to the stormy
sweltering beach exhausted everyone so beers tabs are ceremoniously cracked and
lunch thrown together (some sort of roast with country white wine, herbs and
quartered onions, whole chicken and tough looking curled dried beef, dripping
pink pork dish) mayo and yoghurt dolloped potatoes on the stovetop bubbling
away and several leave for a market run. My plate filled with salad greens and
a bit of the oozing potatoes. One sister-in-law commented on the lack of meat
on my plate and everyone turned to stare. Foiled again!
Plate after plate
emptied, dishes scrubbed and dried, efficiently placed in the pantry and
everyone piled in the cars only to discover the friend who came along to drive
the car (since Joao’s brother inexplicably doesn’t drive on the freeways
anymore) has disappeared. Turns out he went for a stroll because someone
mentioned the spectacular lagoon around the corner. Another twenty minutes of
everyone perched on chairs under the verandah as though they had already said
their goodbyes and were uncomfortably embarrassed to enter the house once
again. Joao’s mom took a quick nap after fighting off the urge to doze.
A few hours of cleaning
and sorting, shoving things under and behind to make way for the new herd
arriving for Dono’s party. Open house ensued, beer and soft drinks on ice,
little appetizers by the hundreds, sweets of all sorts filled the table while
everyone straddled stools, aluminum padded chairs and benches to take advantage
of the spread. Dono tried a slice of everything, drank several glasses of beer and
stayed up way past her bedtime though she skipped her afternoon nap. Announced
her retirement several times and sauntered back into the room with her thin
strap pinched teal dress slightly askew. A die hard! She seemed in very good
spirits and appears to welcome the chance to get on a plane in a few days to
leave her country. Chin up.
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