Thursday, November 18, 2010

Black Gold, but no Texas Tea

Millions of my readers are probably wondering what happened to me, not having blogged for over a week. The plain and simple truth is that we've just been having too much fun! So, while I apologize for not keeping everyone informed like I had originally intended, I should have known not to embark upon such a demanding task. I've tried to keep journals at various times in my life and have never lasted more than a couple of weeks. Again, sorry; but let me now fill you in on today's adventures in Ouro Preto ("Black Gold"), a beautiful and quaint town in Brazil's state of Minas Gerais.

We arrived here last evening, having rented a compact car at Belo Horizontes and driven two and a half hours through gorgeous (pardon the pun), verdant mountains to the Hotel Luxor. It was a little late to take pictures, so we went down to the hotel's restaurant and each had delicious meals. Robin had Frango ao Vinho Branco and a dessert of Sorvete Simples (of course), while I had a Salada de Palmito, the Lombinho de Porco a Miniera, and a regional specialty dessert called Doce de Leite com Queijo Minas. All the food was very good, the service was great, and dining room had a pleasing ambience with its stone walls over two feet thick!

Ouro Preto is a small 300 year-old mining town that is based in a valley but has houses and churches that sprawl up the surrounding mountains. From our window, we can see four ancient churches and hundreds of houses on cobblestone streets. This morning, we went out to explore this beautiful town, but we probably should have explored more about what we were getting ourselves into before we journeyed forth.

Some of you may be familiar with the hills of San Fransisco. Multiply those hills by ten and you'll have an idea of the steep inclines we have here! I had read that there was a lot of walking to do, and we had been told (the night prior to our trip) that there were a lot of hills. Understatement! You would almost need to have trained for an Iron Man event to tour this city of uneven stone steps and cobblestone walkways. Not surprisingly, the four and five-inch heels we saw women wearing in Santa Catarina are non-existent here. Driving is not something I'd recommend either, unless you have a more powerful car than our 1.0 litre Fiat. In fact, after trying to drive around this afternoon, we decided to take a cab to dinner tonight. The twelve reals was worth less stress. I'd prefer to be beamed out of here tomorrow when we leave, but the technology isn't here yet.

Having said that, the museums and churches here are exquisite, with elaborate sculptures, carvings, and paintings contained within more rustic exteriors. We were not expecting to find such treasures within. Many of the stone and wood carvings were performed by a crippled man named Antônio Francisco Lisboa, an architect and artist with the nickname "Aleijadinho" (Little Cripple). Awesome stuff here.

Most of the shops here cater to tourists and sell the same products, much of it imported from China and Indonesia. One business of note, though, is the gem trade. Because Ouro Preto was a mining town several legitimate jewelers sell beautiful jewelry and handicrafts made with indigenous imperial topaz, tourmaline, ruby and emerald, plus many more "gemmas". Robin really enjoyed seeing all of that. I prefered the stickers, coffee mugs, and t-shirts that said stuff like "I (heart) Ouro Preto" and "My Parents Went to Ouro Preto and All I Got Was This Stupid T-shirt". Just kidding about the last part, but I'm sure you could find them if you looked!

We had some fun here, too. While in the Museu de Ciencia e Tecnica, we were accosted by about twenty twelve year-olds who were on a field trip. One of them heard Robin and I talking and, like bees to the slaughter, we soon were surrounded by wannabe English speakers. After several minutes of exchanging names and nicknames like "Nickito", "Chicken Face" and "Big Head", their teacher (or the museum director, we're not sure) led them out of the room. Each time they saw us they would yell something in English, usually something challenging like "hi" or "goodbye".

This evening, we ate at what was supposedly the best, yet inexpensive restaurant in Minas Gerais, according to the latest Fodor's guide. I'd have to agree that it was probably the best place around, what with the presentation and quality of the food, great service and genuine cloth napkins (something you don't find too often in Brasil). The only problem is that it was R$200! The glass of wine that Robin and I split (two glasses - as if...) was R$18 alone. Andre, our waiter who spoke fairly logical English, spoke with us from time to time and, after dinner, gave me permission to play the grand piano there in the restaurant. The hotel owner dimmed the lights and sat and listened along with others in the lobby and out on the sidewalk. Andre also gave us a tour of the hotel which was fabulous. If you ever wish to visit this part of the world, I highly recommend staying at the Hotel Solar do Rosario. Just remember to wear hiking boots.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Culture, Society & Politics, but I Ain't no Fala Back Girl

Okay, the title is a little odd, right? "Fala" means speak. I had to learn that so I could tell people that "Fala nao Portuguese" (I don't speaka da language). Surprisingly, though, because of the many socio-political similarities between Brasil and the U.S., because God is the same up north as He is down south, and because music unites everybody, language is a minor point. Still, I want to learn Portuguese because it sounds cool (and it would make it easier for the next trip!).

We've talked politics (go figure) quite a bit in the short time that we've been here, and we've also learned quite a bit about Brasilian society, particularly in the southern region. One thing I've noticed in the few countries that I've learned about, namely the U.S., Italy, Vietnam, and Korea, is that there is basic north-south contentiousness. Brasil is no different, except that they don't have racial prejudice because of their population diversity from the beginning. That's a hard concept to accept, isn't it?

Mario, a southerner, says that the northerners are uneducated, poor, and lazy; that each generation stays in a pattern of poverty because, in their view, 1) that's the way it has always been and always will be for them, and 2) why change when the government provides enough with which to get by? Does this sound familiar?

The recent presidential election was an interesting one. The woman who won was promoted heavily by the outgoing president, who promised more of the same government programs and handouts. She had no higher education or valid work experience. She won because of the northern vote. You may say, "The northerners can't be that bad--at least they voted!" Well, here in Brasil, voting is mandatory. If you don't vote, they penalize you with a fine. For the U.S., I'd suggest that we penalize ignorant voters with fines!

Ironically, the underdog candidate was a woman from the north who pulled herself up by the bootstraps, who pursued an education with much difficulty and who worked hard to eventually become a fairly conservative state senator. She just didn't have the experience or the big push from the outgoing leftist party. Mario actually voted for yet another candidate who had conservative views and much more experience in government. He and Lucianne were disappointed in the election because they know that Socialism is a failed system. Mario pointed out that France is a mess, as is China who seems to want Communism for control and Capitalism for the wealth. It went unsaid that America is a mess for some of the same reasons....The running joke here now is that you don't have to be educated or to have done much to become president. Does THAT sound familiar?

Brasilians sleep later and stay up later than we do in the States. Our friends go to bed around midnight to 1 a.m. and rise at around 8 or 9 a.m. No meals are skipped here! Fruit and bread, sweet pastries, juice, soda, and coffee are offered in the morning. Lunch (lanch) is a big meal, often what we would normally eat for dinner: chicken, rice, steak, churrasco, salad, etc. Yesterday, Lucianne prepared a wonderful baked salmon with melted cheese along with rice and salad. We ate that at around 3 p.m. At 11 p.m., we stopped in at Blues & Burgers, a hamburger joint owned by a Texan named Gil. The food was good and Gil was quite hospitable. Then we went home to watch a video of our performance with a band at Mario's church--this was accompanied by ice cream and a super sweet strawberry dessert that Lucianne also made.

Saturday night was pizza night with home-made tuna and cheese, and three- cheese pizzas. The dessert that night is worth a special mention: Chocolate pizza. This she made with regular old mozzarella and milk chocolate. I highly recommend it, probably for any meal!

I mentioned that we played with a band at church. Mario telephoned his drummer and bassist buddies and Robin, Mario, and I had the opportunity to play two praise and worship songs, Let it Rise
and Shout to the Lord
. We only practiced Let it Rise twice just before the service, but it turned out great and the congregation loved it. Mario's pastor/older brother gave a good sermon and we were welcomed by just about everyone as we stood at the door, shook hands, and wished them "bom noite" (good night). Their church service is much like our contemporary one, but it is held at night. More services are held on Sunday evening than on sunday morning--quite the opposite in the U.S. They have the ubiquitous projection system and screen, sound system with sound man, an offering, sermon, welcome time, and even announcements (something I wish we wouldn't do during services). Paranagua has about fifty churches that are open at night. As we drove home, we saw many churches where the people spilled out onto the streets! Though evident, Baptist is not the largest denomination. Catholicism, Presbyterian and Lutheran are the largest denominations.

We met Mario's mom, Mariquinha, who is 91 and a cancer survivor. She's a sweet little woman with a big smile. Hard of hearing, people have to get close to her and talk very loudly. She went through chemotherapy, is regaining her hair, and is in pretty good health now. Uncle Jose is going to be 100 in January. He is pastor emeritus at a baptist church and became a pastor because of the Lord working through American missionaries who visited him 70+ years ago. He's alert and in good health. We also met the winner of the fastest talker award: Mario's sister, Sorah. She was fascinated that we caught our own crabs to eat, but that's because crab harvesting here is way different. It involves digging through mud and actually working for them. I'm so glad that our crabs in the U.S. come to us!

Soon, we'll be on to Foz do Iguacu...

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Day 1.5 em Brasil

Because we pretty much had no concrete itinerary, we decided to plan a little more and make some plane reservations for other side trips for later in our stay. After two hours of talking, internet searching and cost-comparing, we went to use our charge card and found out that the airline wouldn't accept international cards. Lucienne spent even more time on the telephone and the computer on our behalf, staying up another hour past everyone else (sometime after midnight!).

Friday, November 5, 2010

Brasil: Our First Day Below the Equator

My grandmother used to be into "fitness", having owned one of those contraptions that was comprised of a motor and a large cloth belt that you slipped around your waist and, once you turned it on, it shook and shimmied you, presumably, until you lost all of those pounds and inches. In actuality what it did was to re-arrange your organs and while allowing you to keep your fat.

So, what does that have to do with our trip? Well, our first plane ride from Norfolk to Miami was just like that old fitness machine--jossling us around and seeming to re-arrange our internal organs! While Robin didn't have a problem with reading, my eyes bounced off the page like the infamous bouncing ball that we used to follow while singing with songs on teevee. The good news is that the next two airplane rides were fine. I had told Brian that I would sleep on the overnight flight, but, as he predicted, I didn't. We watched 30Rock and Office re-runs in between tossing and quasi-turning in our narrow seats.

At the Curitiba airport, our friends, Mario and Lucienne, greeted us with big smiles and bigger hugs. We went on to enjoy lunch at their favorite churrascuria. For those who don't know what that is, it's a sort of buffet where you can fill your plate with all sorts of veggies and prepared dishes. Several waiters come round to your table with various types and cuts of meats and you can take as much or as little as you please. There's a little sign on the table that you can display with a "SIM" (yes) or a "NAO" (no) to tell them whether you're still interested. Today, the sign wasn't working, but boy, that food was delicious!

We're just resting for the balance of the day, preparing ourselves for tomorrows adventures!