Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I love red mud, it is kinda like play-dough

Tomorrow I will have been in Brazil for two months. Wow I am really moving along here. Life doesn't stop for anyone. I personally think my Portuguese is getting good and other people tell me it is too so I am not completely dillusional. Or maybe they are just humoring me. Anyway, I am satisfied with my learning curve of the language.
Saturday I left for my family's farm. I believe it is an eight hour drive away. All I know is that the drive is very lonf and very curvey. When Matteus fell asleep his head would slowly tilt to one side and then get whipped in the other direction when the car turned. Carol put a pillow on her lap for him to rest his head. Carol arrived on Friday night from Uberaba. She took the bus to Paracatu.
When we arrived at the area where the farm is located the road turned into a dirt road. We went to this one woman's house where we picked some cherry-like berries that tasted more like a tomato/apple. They are called acerola and have more vitamin C than oranges. Here is a link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acerola if you are interested in tropical fruits. Lol. Or are in need of vitamin C.
After that we went to a mango tree where there were many bulls standing around. I hope you know what mangos are so I won't provide you a link for that. The bulls are docile and will just stare. It is a little strange because I feel like they are watching me. They probably were thinking, "my mangos.....". They eat the mangos. I had two mangos, they were very succulant and juicy so I managed to get the juice all over my hands/face. Everyone else did too so it is okay.
We arrived at the farm. It is located at the bottom of a hill/mountain. Mountains here do not have snow so it is hard for me to tell the difference. I am thinking it was more of a hill though.
The farm and the road were really muddy because of how moist the weather has been and also because of the rain. When I walked later on with Matteus and Pai to visit another house I got mud all over my feet and flipflops and also stepped in a bull paddy. Then on the day we left the car got stuck in the mud going up a hill and pai had to get shovel to dig it out. The mud is really red (makes sense because the dirt is red too). I asked Pai, "why is the dirt red?", only to have him respond, "because that is the color." Makes sense.
A family lives in the house on the farm, a husband, wife, and their three daughters. They are really lovely people and very hospitable. They take care of the farm. In another house quite nears lives another family, some the people lived in the United States for two years so understand English and speak a little. Although I spoke very very little English with them.
The farm has bull, chickens, roosters (that woke me up at 5:00 am), pigs, horses, cats, and dogs. I rode a white horse with Amanda (the eldest of the three daughters) it was very nice, I can't remember the last time I rode a horse. It is almost like sitting on top of the world. The landscape was so beautiful, everything is a lush green, contrasted with the red mud. Everything is different here, the smells, the colors, the plants and animals. Also I don't think there are palm trees on farms in Canada. Or goiba trees. I have a question, has anybody seen chickens in trees before? Because these chickens just liked to hang out there. Lol.
When nightfall came I saw this "spark" flying through the air. It was a pulsing light. Eduardo (the little boy who lives in the other house) was with me and we were both following it. It turned out to be a firefly and the man who lives in the house caight it for me. I put it in a cup. He caught another one as well. It was so beautiful to see all of them flying, they looked like stars, or fairies. I don't think I have saw fireflies before, but I have always wanted to. Anyway I will write more later, right now I am going to go watch a novella (soap opera).

Em <3

1 comment:

Maeghan said...

Chıckens ın trees, red dirt, and fireflies? Sounds like a party! I am extremely jealous of your fireflies, as I too have always wanted to see one. I love the docile bulls and the chickens in trees too. Chickens here just waddle around on the (brown) dirt and I've yet to see anything bigger than a lamb. Are you celebrating Christmas in Brazil? Do they celebrate Christmas?

Gobble Gobble.