Tuesday, December 23-Saturday December 27
We had a fantastic Christmas at a retreat with 13 Brazilian families. Before we arrived in Brazil I mentioned to my mission companion, Dani that it would be fun to spend Christmas together. She told us that her Stake President (a church leader over several congregations) invited us along with 13 other families to this mountain retreat for Christmas. Apparently, the Stake has several activities there each year so Dani knew how fun it is. We agreed and paid the $450 reais (about $140) to go for four days thinking that the Stake President Presidente Cruz was inviting various families from the stake. When we arrived we realized that the 13 families are all part of Presidente Cruz's extended family. We suddenly realized that Dani got us invited to his family's Christmas event. So then we had to hear the whole story. Dani and been talking to her good friend Luana about how we were coming for Christmas and how Dani wanted to do something extra special for Christmas but she didn't think her small house would be big enough to have a cool party. Luana offered to talk to her uncle (Presidente Cruz) about about inviting our families to spend Christmas with her family. Presidente Cruz agreed and so we got ourselves invited to their family Christmas event. Thankfully, they were totally and completely inclusive and so welcoming to us. There was one other family that was close friends with the Cruz family that was also invited so we weren't the only families not related. We actually met this other family at church the Sunday before we went to the Chacara and they were super nice.
So on Tuesday, December 23 we were off to Recanto Maranatha in Sao Jose dos Pinheis just outside of Curtitiba. The chacara reminded me of Girls Camp in some ways. We were kind of camping but in this really nice wooded area a large lawn and with tons activities available and we didn't have to be in tents! There were two large buildings. One was more like the lodge since it was the group gathering place and had a huge porch, a huge dining area, a kitchen built to serve large quantities of food (the word is escaping me right now), several bathrooms, and an indoor heated pool. The other building was just a huge house. The main floor had spacious open rooms-,a kitchen, a dining area, a bathroom, and a living room and family room with a piano, a TV, and a fireplace in the center that had glass on either side so you could enjoy it from anywhere in the room. The upstairs had four rooms, a bathroom and a large loft like area at the top of the stairs. Families with children got the bedrooms and those without just picked cushions out of the huge stack available and found a place on the main floor or loft area to sleep. Since my friend Dani has a baby, they got a large room and shared it with us. We had a queen bed and squished two more queen air mattresses in their on the floor and all nine of us slept in the room together.
The chacara had lots of fun things to do. There were hammocks to swing in, a zipline, a playground, a play house, a rope swing, a couple of ponds for fishing, a row boat, a huge lawn area, a basketball court, a soccer field, and four pools--one warm one indoors, and three pools outdoors--a kiddie one, a really deep one and a normal one that had a slide into it.
Here's the view as you arrive--house on the left, lodge on the right
From a different angle you can see the porch of the lodge (on the left) and the three outdoor pools on the right. The zipline crosses right in front of this picture but it's up higher than this view.
The Lodge from the zipline tower.
Three outdoor pools and a slide!
The area between the lodge and the house had some soccer goals and a trampoline trampoline that has seen better days.
Inside the lodge (left), inside the house looking out from our bedroom. We arrived late and got stuck with the last mattress which had a huge, unnatural and unnerving bump in it. We freaked out and joked that it looked like someone tried to stuff a body in there. We never did end up figuring out what the huge weird lump was, nor did anyone actually sleep on the mattress. We also learned upon arrival that Presidente Cruz and come the day before and dropped off a bunch of food and that someone had come and robbed all the food and a bunch of mattresses that night, the night before we arrived. That sure makes you feel safe!
The zipline starts at the top of the large green stairs on the right (under the araucaria tree) and ends past this picture to the left.
Waiting at the gas station--it had this cool sign.
We were wholly unprepared for the cold that we encountered that first day and night. So far in Joinville the weather has only been HOT, HOT, HOT or raining or both. We've had about 8 days that the temperature has been cool enough to not turn on the air conditioning the moment we got up. That's about as cold as it's gotten. As it was rainy as I was packing for the trip I did think about throwing in my kids sweatshirts but then I thought they would just get wet and take for ever to dry so I didn't. Thankfully, I threw in all the pants I brought to Brazil (1-2 pairs per kid). Because what I didn't know is that Curtitiba and the surrounding areas are bit chillier because they are at a higher elevation, plus, it's chillier at the chacara. With the rain, we were FREEZING cold the first day/night! People loaned us clothes--sweatshirts and a long sleeve shirt which was so nice and really helped but it was cold enough that they were wearing coats. Thankfully, I brought the thick blanket Carla loaned us but I was still freezing cold all night long. That is the first time since we've arrived that I was truly freezing cold. Papai laughed because it was probably only 60 degrees or so--it's just that it was so humid that the cold gets you right down to your bones!! I knew it got colder in Southern Brazil--I was in Sao Paulo in the winter and we used these furry, thick blankets at night, but neither I nor Papai realized it got so cold in the summer! That was an adventure. That first night we slept with Safari Girl, Papai and I on one queen sized airbed and The Boss slept on another air mattress (that we knew would deflate by morning) with one of Dani's boys. It was a long night for me as I spend it being cold and Papai said it was a long night for him since he was wedged between his two girls on the air mattress. The kids slept just fine!
Oh, and adding to the excitement/trauma of the first cold night--no one could get the electricity on when we arrived! They discovered that the rain of the day knocked a tree over and that the electricity was out in the whole area. That first night we did everything by flashlight and candlelight and went to bed by 10pm. (EARLY by Brazilian standards!) When we went to bed, someone had accidentally left the light switch on so when the electricity finally came on suddenly at 1am, it woke me up. I was too cold to get out of bed and turn the light off so we all slept with the light on until someone finally woke up enough to turn it off for the rest of the night. The rest of the trip, whenever it rained the electricity went out. You had to make sure to get a shower in before the rain of the day if you wanted a warm shower! Once--I had just gotten undressed and turned on the water when the electricity went out. Thankfully, it came back on in the next 5 or 10 minutes and I was able to finish my shower quickly without freezing too much. Oh, Brazil!
Wednesday, December 24
We woke up, put on our warmest clothes and went exploring. Our kids found Roger and Rogiere (8 and 10 year old boys from the other family that was just friends with the Cruz family) down at one of the two ponds fishing with some simple poles made from bamboo. They were super nice and put worms on the hooks for my kids and let them try. The Boss was so close to pulling two out of the water! They were super small fish (like 1-2 inches) so we threw them all back. But the kids LOVED IT!!! Fishing is something the kids did several times during our stay and one of Safari Girl's favorite memories of the trip is when Roger and Rogiere caught about 7 fish and accidentally dropped one into the pool as they were bringing it back to the house to show everyone. She thought it was hilarious!!! Everyone had to get out of the pool and the fish ended up dying from the chlorine but they threw it back into the pond anyway. Felipe caught the biggest fish and he was so proud. I think he loved it to death and then it sat on the railing on our veranda the rest of the trip just reeking.
The kids were ecstatic just to even touch the fish. They'd slowly stretch out their fingers and tentatively touch it and then yank their hand back and shriek with delight.
Breakfast on most days was homemade bread or bread slices with some butter, doce de leite, or an apple topping, or cheese and meat with lots of fruit choices. Lunch was sometime between 1 and 2 pm and always consisted of rice and beans and meat. One day there was lasagna, another day it was sausage, and another day different meat. Then we had dinner around 8pm each night. It was always really simple--usually bread again with meat and cheese or some leftovers and some more fruit. One of the last nights we had soup with all the leftover rice and meats.
I spent this first day helping Dani with Sophia, arranging stuff in our room, and making a dessert to share. I was so excited I found this Peachy Keen recipe that I'd looked up after someone made it at a Relief Society dinner and then I lost it. So I brought the stuff for that. I worked in the house's small kitchen and got to know Presidente Cruz's daughter Vanessa, who was working on some cake pops. She made hers differently though. Instead of mixing a cake with frosting, she mixed it with sweetened condensed milk. Anyway, I had fun with her and Roger and Rogiere's mom, Merci.
Me and Sophia hung out a lot while Dani tried to arrange things.
Meanwhile, Papai was getting to know Vanessa's husband James, who speaks English pretty well. Papai spent a lot of the day entertaining the kids. He spent a lot of time with them on the playground and the rope swing near the pond. There were about three girls Safari Girl's age and they were just dying to play with her from the moment we arrived. On this day she warmed up to them and had fun playing soccer and other things with them. Later Safari Girl told us with a big grin on her face, "I'm so popular here!" In the afternoon, the indoor pool warmed up enough and Papai took the kids swimming. The Boss was done minutes after he started. There were so many kids and all of them were jumping and splashing and having a grand old time-he didn't like the splashes. So I sat and watched Safari Girl in the indoor pool while Papai took The Boss out to the outdoor kiddie pool. Around 6 or 7pm everyone finally started crawling out of the pool, taking showers and getting all dressed up for the Christmas party/dinner. Here they call it the Ceia de Natal and it usually happens at midnight. MIDNIGHT, folks!!!
Hanging out on the porch at the lodge--The Boss thought it was the BOMB that he got to spit orange seats into the bushes. There were about 4 tents set up for people to sleep out there since not everyone fit in the house.
"Popular" Safari girl hanging out with her new Brazilian friends. Pond is the the right of this past those trees. This picture was taken from the veranda of our room at the house.
The Lodge has a small porch in the front (right) and a huge porch to the left.
Pool inside the Lodge--just a "few" kids were excited to swim there....I had fun watching Daniel Santos teach his kids--Helama (10), Eliza (8?), and Nefi (5) how to swim. Yes, they named their kids Book of Mormon/church names. Daniel is a bishop and his wife Luana said it's easy to start up conversations about the church when your kids have names like hers do.
"Let's go _____!" Learning just this one phrase in English, the Brazilian kids were able to communicate just about everything they wanted to with Safari Girl.
The party started sometime around 8 pm, I think. Someone covered all the tables with pretty Christmas-y table cloths and put a flower centerpiece in the middle. The main table had a Christmas tree with lights and a small table to the right of that had a huge stereo system. They had Christmas music playing all day and I'm pretty sure Brazilian's only know one way to listen to music--SUPER LOUD!!! We could hardly stand to be in the lodge!
All decorated for the Ceia de Natal, the pretty wreath was made at a Relief Society Meeting by one of the women--out of plastic grocery bags! It was really pretty and you couldn't even tell!
Presidente Cruz gave a nice message about Christ, he and his wife and Vanessa and James and their four kids sang a song, everyone sang a couple of Christmas songs, and then Presidente opened up the floor for anyone who wanted to say anything. To my surprise, no one did! Usually it seems like Brazilians are filled with heartfelt beautiful wishes for others or messages but I think everyone just wanted to eat!
L to R Vanessa, her mom-wife of Presidente Cruz, Presidente Cruz, James holding his daughter Amy. Yes, there was actually another Amy present! They named all four of their kids English names.
However, first they did "Secret Friend". Everyone drew names before we arrived of someone that they were in charge of buying a $10 reais gift for. Safari Girl was so happy to draw Felipe's name. The Boss drew the name of Luana's 5 year old boy named Nefi. Papai drew a 15 year old Yogo and I got and older woman named Ivacel. First, they did the kids "Secret Friend". Little did we know beforehand that part of this "Secret Friend" was saying a little bit about the person to see if people could guess who it was. As we didn't know anyone well yet we just skipped that part. Everyone wanted a picture with each pair of secret friends. Helama drew Safari Girl's name and gave her two really cute headbands that Luana made. She had to hug Helama and get her picture taken. You could tell she wasn't super comfortable so when she announced her Secret Friend as Felipe (with my help) and then gave him a huge hug with a big grin on her face, everyone thought it was hilarious. We gave Felipe a Monopoly Card game. The Boss got Toy Story toys (a Buzz Lightyear and a Woody) from a darling little boy whose name I don't remember and he gave Nefi a Hotwheels car ($6.99 reais here which is almost $3 American for an $.84 car) and some Rolos and Reeces Peanut Butter Cups that we brought from home. Then it was the adults turn. I gave Ivacel a basket full of things to relax and Luana gave me a really cute can she painted and made for me. Papai got a soccer ball from Venicios and gave Yogo a box of chocolates and some American candy. It was fun and loud and fun. There were lots of cheers and chants and animated shouts during the whole thing, which took quite awhile since there were about 70 people in all.
Luana Atunes Santos directing the kid Secret Santa gift exchange
The Boss received his gift from this cutie whose name I never learned, and gave a gift to Nefi. We know Nefi liked his Hotwheels car because he lost it later that night and had all 70 of us looking for it. You better believe we found it with that many people looking.
Safari Girl received two beautiful headbands from Helama and gave a card game to Felipe.
Papai got a soccer ball from Venicio (left) and gave a bunch of chocolates (both Brazilian and American) to Yogo.
Then finally it was time for dinner around 10 or 10:30pm. Dinner was rice, sausage, some other meat, and this salad with onions and broccoli steamed in lemon juice. Our kids were pretty grouchy at this point. It was already waaaaaay past their bedtime and they didn't love the food and they were begging to go to bed. They both actually even fell asleep at the dinner table! We were ready to give up on the rest of the party and take them to bed but Luana got the whole Papai Noel tradition going a little bit early for us and the kids perked up again. Also, the dessert table opened up, which helped get them excited as well.
Our Ceia de Natal
Merry Christmas!!
The dessert table
Lots of Jello based desserts, a pudding (which is not quite like our pudding), a chocolate cake, a banana cake of sorts, my Peachy Keen bars (which turned out too sweet for the Brazilians, I think), cake pops, brigadeiros, and more.
And don't forget the fruits! They are considered a dessert here for a lot of people I think.
Usually around midnight one of the adults spots Santa Claus out the window. All the kids run to the window and shout his name, calling him to come. "Papai Noel! Papai Noel!" If he takes a long time they add some more words, "Papai Noel, cade voce? Eu vim aqui so pra te ver!" (Santa Claus, where are you? I came here just to see you!) This time Papai Noel took a long time and Luana saw him out a different window so all the kids ran over there and just kept screaming and screaming for him. Our kids loved this part. Another adult saw him from outside on the patio so they all ran out there and kept screaming for him.
Searching and calling for Papai Noel out the window. Our kids loved this!!!
Meanwhile, he came in through a door on the back patio. All the kids ran over to him screaming with joy. Safari Girl ran straight out to the back patio much more interested in catching a glimpse of his reindeer and was sorely disappointed that she didn't see them there. Santa was fat and dressed just like he does in the States except that he wore sunglasses, which The Boss thought was pretty funny. I think it was mostly to hide who he was. He didn't talk either. But he did have each kid sit on his lap and he handed out a present to each kid--a kit of nail supplies in a Disness Princess organizer box for the girls and a fishing game for the boys. My friend Dani's baby was screaming on Santa's lap and my kids didn't do much better. They only went up to get their present. Safari Girl wouldn't go any nearer to him than she had to but we did manage to get a picture of The Boss with him. When each of the children received their gift, Papai Noel threw candy to the children as he left--suckers and gum. The Boss ended up in tears because he didn't get as many suckers as he would have liked and instantly he was surrounded by Brazilian kids handing him suckers. He came away with handfuls of suckers! They were so nice to him!
These two brothers, Rogiere (10) and Roger (8) played with Safari Girl a LOT, and tried hard to learn English. You can see the fishing game the boys received.
Poor Sophia!!
As it was midnight already, you'd think that Santa was the grand finale. Oh, NO! Everything you've ever heard about how Brazilians know how to party is true. This was just the beginning of the party!!! It was now time for the dance. They handed out silly dress up gear--feather boas, funny glasses, paper neckties, glow-in-the-dark necklaces, and masks, cranked up the music LOUD (oh, so very, very loud), turned out the lights and let the disco/light ball go. They shot off large confetti poppers (think 10-15 times bigger than those little poppers we shoot off). Our kids loved the dress up stuff and when one of my kids bawled because he or she didn't get as many glow-in-the-dark bracelets as his or her sibling, all the Brazilian kids gave him or her one of theirs so that this kid was drowning in glow-in-the-dark gear. I can't tell you how many times that happened on this trip. My kids would be sad about something and the Brazilian kids would just give them all they could to make them happy. That is Brazilians for you! I love it! Anyway, my kids loved the gear but the music was too loud for them and it was really, really late so we took them to the house and we all went to bed. Dani, who seemed surprised to find out that we don't necessarily get all that fun gear at ever party, came in shortly after we put our kids to bed at 12:30am, but her boys didn't finish until 1:30 am and her husband Mario stayed up dancing until 4:30am. Roger and Rogiere's mom, Merci was telling me that when they do an overnight marriage retreat for their stake some of the people (herself included) don't go to sleep at all--the entire weekend! They stay up the entire time dancing and talking. Woah--these people know how to party. I would have loved to stay up and watch the dance a little more but I was pretty tired myself.
Our family with my friend Dani's family on Christmas Eve
(Actually, technically, at this point it was already Christmas morning!)
Girls in their party gear--ready to rock in the wee hours of Christmas morning.
Felipe all decked out. The Boss LOVED the dance gear the day after--especially the paper ties.
Christmas Day--Thursday, December 25
Christmas Day was very relaxed and slow and included a lot of swimming for the kids and naps for the adults where possible. Papai spent some time outside with The Boss in kiddie pool, which The Boss loved! I guess they were out there a little longer than we thought--both were fried. Brazilians keep warning us about how "strong" the sun is here in the summer and I guess they are right. I really don't think they were out there more than an hour or a hour and a half but The Boss even sunburned his hands!!! How often does that happen? I spent time watching Safari Girl in the indoor pool. My friend, Dani and others kept trying to get me to go in but I don't think it was chlorinated so between that thought, the color of the water, the thought of how many unwashed sweaty kids were swimming in it and the hassle of getting dressed and showering afterward while simultaneously trying to shower and dress Safari Girl I was just too lazy to get in! Dani got in the following day and commented on the stench so I really didn't feel like I missed anything. Safari Girl had an excellent time though. She tried the outdoor pool and the slide as well and had a great time there.
Christmas Eve party aftermath.
The Boss enjoyed having his own personal kiddie pool with no one in it splashing.
Mario in the pool with Sophia (and a bunch of other kids). Sophia was in heaven!!
For Christmas lunch (their main meal--remember?) we had roast pig. The whole thing! (Plus--you got it--rice and beans and the meat leftover from the Ceia de Natal the previous night.) James (President Cruz's son-in-law), who speaks English well, kept teasing Safari Girl, "Look at the teeth in that pig! Oh, I see you are missing some teeth. Maybe we should pull a couple out of the pig and let you use them instead?" Safari Girl did NOT want that. The pig was delicious. We ate out on the porch of the Lodge with Dani's family and it was beautiful weather.
Christmas Day main meal--YUM!!
The kids spent some time at the pond that afternoon. I think Papai napped off some of the sun? Dani was feeling bad that she wasn't with her mom for Christmas and her niece kept calling her asking her when they were coming, so Dani and her family actually went to her mom's house after lunch. She wanted us to come and meet her mom but she knew that her brother and mom had gifts for her kids and that my kids would probably be sad they didn't get anything so we skipped it. Instead, Dani brought back some of her mom's yummy cooking. I guess we know where Dani got her talent! She brought us this apple macaroni salad that was similar to something Papai's mom makes.
While they were gone Papai napped. The kids and I had some leftover desserts and spent some time swinging in the hammock and watching people go down the zipline. There were two hammocks right near each other and one of them was close enough to a tree that if I gave Jason a push he was close enough to the tree to keep kicking off of it to keep swinging but not close enough to actually hit it. Then some boys gave him a couple pirate suckers and he was in heaven! It was perfect.
One of the big strong Brazilians helping people get off the zipline after they made it to the bottom kept trying to get me to go on it but when I even suggested the idea of me going my kids completely freaked out and wanted to go wake up Papai. So I didn't go. I was a bit nervous about it anyway. Usually, I'm all for a zipline but with my weight, it being Brazil, and how painful it looked when people hit the blanket at the end, I didn't feel too bad about missing out. Once everyone was done with the zipline, the kids started playing on it. There were some rolling stairs maybe 30-40 yards from the end of the zipline so that when a person finished they were pulled back to this spot and unhooked from the zipline there. The kids started playing on the stairs and hanging on to the rope to zip down the line from that spot. They weren't far from the ground and by that point the line wasn't steep so they didn't get going too fast--just fast enough to think it was pretty awesome and fun. Safari Girl enjoyed playing on the zipline and between Rogiere and me, the zipline became even more fun as we pulled the kids running down the line. We were still doing that when Dani and her family got back. The Boss was still happily pushing himself in the hammock. I had already spent quite some time swinging myself in the other one watching the kids on the zipline before I got up to start pulling kids on the zipline. It was a very fun and peaceful afternoon. I wish I had gotten a picture of it but my cell phone was running out of space.
Papai woke up at some point and I got a short nap in just before our 8pm dinner. I think this was the night we got the kids to bed around 10ish and they were out so completely they slept through the late night rain and thunderstorm. Since Papai and I had both taken naps throughout the day (Another great thing about Brazilians--they totally get and respect daytime naps! Especially if it means you'll be ready to party more later than they all for it!) so we waited for Dani and Mario to get ready to play Settlers of Catan, which we gave Mario for Christmas. I can't remember what they were doing but it took them a good long 1-2 hours to get ready. I think there were various reasons for the delay--one of them being that they were having a hard time getting Sophia their baby to sleep. Possibly because she slept through TWO of Papai's naps this afternoon. She slept a really LONG time! Anyway, by the time we taught them the rules and got playing it was late o'clock. One of the main Cruz family members who was doing a lot of the cooking during our stay brought out bags of popped corn. I forgot I brushed and I ate some but Papai insisted he couldn't eat any because he had already brushed. Oh, boy--Mario gave him such a hard time about that--for the rest of the trip. It was funny. So we played Settlers of Catan and Henrique stayed up to play as well. Dani gave me a really hard time because I helped her choose where to place her "aldeias" (villages) and her numbers just weren't being rolled. She enjoyed rolling her eyes and acting all indignant that I had chosen lousy places for her. In truth, although my numbers were being rolled so I was getting resources, my villages were placed in worse places--ones that didn't give me room to grow so I arrived at a certain point that I just couldn't get any more victory points. Mario got 8 victory points and then we realized that it was 1:30am!! Dani was actually the one to push us to just go to bed. So we agreed the highest number of points after 10 more minutes would be the winner. Papai and Mario were close but I think Mario won!
Settlers of Catan at 1am on Christmas (technically, the day after...) Papai is fried!
Friday, December 26
Papai was really fried on his head, arms and legs so he spent a lot of the day napping and hiding out in the shade. I had another nice relaxing day with the kids. I spent time watching The Boss in the outside pool. After seeing how fried Papai got, I wasn't taking any chances. I slathered on sunscreen and used an umbrella to shade myself. Safari Girl swam in the indoor pool with the group of 4-5 boys, but soon they all came outdoors. Dani was really worried about her boys swimming in the outdoor pool-something about the shock of their bodies going from the warm to the cool--it seems to be a fairly common Brazilian worry, although no one worried so much about it as my friend did. So I talked to Safari Girl and asked if she'd be willing to go back indoors. She said, "Sure, and I'm pretty sure if I do, all those boys (Felipe, Henrique, Roger and Rogiere) will follow." Sure enough, they did! Safari Girl felt pretty important since those boys and the three girls, too just wanted to do whatever Safari Girl did the whole time we were there. Being American and speaking English raised her status to Super Star in Brazil!
I'm not taking any chances on getting sun!
Henrique discovered us in the outdoor pool.
Suddenly The Boss's own little private kiddie pool was not so private. Just look at his face! NOT thrilled.
A lot of people were packing up and leaving today. Papai wanted to but Dani really wanted us to stay until Saturday when she found out that was an option. We debated back and forth and ended up staying. Papai took several naps again. The Boss and I tried out the hammocks again but they pretty wet from the rain storm the night before. Safari Girl had fun on the zipline--so much so that she considered going on it from the top! She was completely torn though--scared to death and yet wanting to do it. She ran back and forth from the zipline to the house trying to talk to Papai and decide. At one point, she decided she would do it if I would go first. Mario was sent Roger and then Felipe down the line. When he sent Roger down, I was close to the stairs and no one else was around so I tried to help him down. I couldn't pull hard enough on the rope to get him lowered all the way to the stairs to unhook him and had to call for the big, strong Brazilian from the day before. Then when Mario sent Felipe down Safari Girl and I were at the top of the tower waiting for my turn. Mario had to go down to help Felipe get down and even Mario was struggling to get him off. That scared Safari Girl more and I think we ended up backing down after that. Anyway, The Boss was freaking out on me the entire time we were up on the tower. At some point later that day (after Papai woke up and had seen Safari Girl enjoy the zipline) I was trying to help Safari Girl overcome her fears. She was worried about hitting the blanket at the end. (I can't blame her--that was one of my worries, too.) Everyone said it didn't hurt but it sure looked and sounded like it did. Anyway, to help her get over that piece of the equation she agreed to let me pull her from the stairs to the end and bat her into the blanket and see how it felt. So I pulled her running to the end and just as we hit the end, she couldn't hold on any more and her hands slid down the rope as she fell, giving her sharp rope burn. She was screaming in pain and that was the end of the zipline for her. I was worried for her at first because it sounded like it was awful but she does tend to react to pain and by that evening her hands were fine.
That day we went on a walk around the property. There was a trail from the house, down around the pond and up toward the top of the property that I hadn't gone on yet. Papai was up and so we went as a family and eventually Roger, Rogiere, Henrique, and Felipe met up with us.
On our walk around the property we found bamboo! Safari Girl loved it!
Sometime after lunch thick, black clouds rolled in and the heavens let loose in a rip roaring rain and thunderstorm. The kids were terrified so we took them into our room and laid them down on the mattress and tried to get them to calm down. Both eventually fell asleep--Safari Girl with a pillow over her head and dear little The Boss fell asleep with his hands covering his ears. Precious and sad all at once! Once they fell asleep I discovered I was restless and didn't feel tired anymore so I got up. The storm was quite a sight to behold. A new lake was forming in the grass between the house and the swimming pools and we had our own Iguacu Falls right in the house. Streams of water were falling down the walls on the INSIDE of the house so that someone had to stay right at the door with a big push squeegie thing and push all the water out the door. We had to move the piano away from the wall so it wouldn't drown in the waterfall. It was crazy!
Usually such a big storm would pass quickly but this one was remarkable because it lasted several hours! I passed the time playing Uno with the four boys and chatting with Merci and Dani. At some point I helped Dani make her grape/chocolate/sweetened condensed milk dessert. Presidente Cruz passed out bags of "salgados" which I always translate in my head to "salty things" but probably really means chips. They have Cheetohs and Doritos here! Some of the chips I like even though they do NOT taste like their American counterparts and others I can't even stand the smell of. It was fun to try though. My kids woke after the storm had mostly passed but miraculously they kept busy doing who knows what and didn't need my attention. So I joined a game of Scrabble that a couple teenage girls were starting with Rogiere. I did awesome at first--20 points on my first turn and that was playing in PORTUGUESE! But after that I began to be distracted by my kids and eventually Felipe took over for me. It was fun getting to know the girls though and practicing my Portuguese with new people.
At some point in the afternoon, I kept my kids busy on the porch at the lodge and they had fun drawing things on the porch with the big squeegie. Papai emerged from one of his naps at that point and joined us. One of the Brazilian girls was trying to talk to me about a game that sounded like Duck, Duck, Goose. Safari Girl really wanted to play but we didn't have enough people.
At some point we found a frog near the pool. Roger or Rogiere tried to catch it and it landed in the pool. It was cool to see it swim. I think I got a nap in again.
Dinner was a soup made of all the leftover rice and meats. It was yummy. I ate with Merci and Presidente Cruz's wife who was taking care of one of her grandsons. I ended up holding Sophia while Mario was busy for quite awhile sick in the bathroom. He said he was a little too liberal at the dessert table. I was tired and wanting to go to bed but in the middle of all that going on, Dani saw the thawed French Fries out in the kitchen (we were washing our dishes together--for each meal, each family was in charge of their own plates and silverware) and wondered out loud when someone was going to fry them up. That led to her frying them up and the kids were so excited about it that bedtime was shot. There were enough kids gathered together that I helped Safari Girl get a game of Duck, Duck, Goose going (only she changed it to Tiger, Tiger, RAWR!) and they had a great time playing that for a long time. When that finished, The Boss ended up playing Uno for quite a long time with a bunch of Brazilian boys. By this time he was comfortable enough and he knew enough Portuguese and the other boys enough English that between them they had no trouble playing together. I was impressed The Boss was willing to stay and play without me in the room.
Playing Tigre, Tigre (<-----That's Portuguese for tiger), RAWR!
I snuck out of the lodge and parked myself in a sleepy haze at the dining room table in the house. Vanessa was doing Merci's fingernails and I enjoyed just listening to them chat a bit. I was really tired but at the same time I didn't want to go to bed yet. I wanted to ask Vanessa to do my nails but she started on another woman's nails after Merci's and I figured she wouldn't want to do a 3rd after that. Vanessa let me use her polish to do Safari Girl's nails. She wanted orange--like a tiger.
Earlier that same day at the same table, I learned how to sew flower petals out of circles. One woman was using them to decorate an emptied ice cream container that could be used as some sort of organizing container later (hard plastic). I don't know if she was making it to sell or as a gift. Wish I would have taken a picture of that. The French Fries were finally ready and Papai emerged from yet another nap. The kids ate. Papai found a huge toad on the porch and we took pictures. Soon after that we went to bed. Tonight we had the room to ourselves because enough people left that another room and more mattresses were available. We slept great.
Saturday, December 27
In the morning, despite our best intentions of getting up and going we didn't get off until 11 or 11:30am. I woke up before everyone and packed up as best as I could. Then I showered while Papai packed up the car. Dani wanted to eat breakfast with us so we headed to the lodge where we had chocolate cake and chockotoni for breakfast. It was just all the leftovers. The disadvantage to staying the last day was that we felt like we had to help clean up, which is what took us so long to get out of there. Papai had to help carry several beds back upstairs to the bedrooms and move couches back to their original places. I moved some bedroom furniture and swept almost the entire house. Dani wrapped up some homemade bread that was left over for me to take home and sent us with the rest of her grape dessert since she made it in my pan. We made sure to say goodbye and thank Presidente Cruz and as soon as we felt like we could leave politely, we were out out of there. We had a little trouble at the gate with the lock but after driving back to the chacara and getting everyone's insistence that it's NOT locked we just had to wiggle a few things a bit more...we finally made it out. Everyone told the night before that EVERYONE in Brazil heads to the beach after Christmas so the freeway was PACKED that night and would hopefully be better on Saturday morning. That was our reason for wanting to rush off in the morning but apparently we didn't make it in time. It took us at least 3 hours to make our hour and a half drive home. Thankfully we had some snacks in the car that we were able to eat for lunch--the bags of salgados Presidente Cruz passed out the day before, the homemade bread, and some crackers. The kids napped and eventually we made it home. We had to take two trips up the elevator with the shopping cart to get all our stuff out of the car but we eventually made it. Papai Noel had left a few gifts for the kids at our house under our tree so the kids were excited for that. But I'll leave that for another post! We loved our Brazilian Christmas!
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