Tuesday October 13, 2009
Pirenopolis
Dear Friends and Family
My apologies for such dismal writing last week as I suffered through my flu. Though still under the influence of its affects, my attitude has improved and I have emerged from the worst of it. Wish I could say the same for Rocket who is spending the day at the veterinarian’s office receiving antibiotics, food and fluids intravenously. We are very afraid for his survival so please join us in praying for him.
Returning to a brighter note, this exotic land of opposites gives much pause for thought. We once thought of this place as the land of the moon, compared with the US which for us represented the land of the sun. Again this notion reemerges. “The land of opposites!” Paul adds from nearby, “The US is the land of contradictions. Obama gets awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for starting wars!” Well. I wasn’t going to go there but merely say that here in Brazil where in many towns it can often look so poor and unattractive by day under the strong glare of the hot sun, but when the moon lights the night, the soft amber glow of the night time lamps from the open doorways and windows, a soft beauty like no other permeates. And this is also true here in Pirenopolis although even by the intense light of the noonday sun, this is a beautiful place. It’s unique, this little city perched atop a hillside in the midst of surrounding mountains reminiscent of the Pyrenees mountain range of Europe, from which it takes its name. This city is sparkling clean; no trash litters the roads or sidewalks. In fact daily people sweep and mop not only the entries to their homes and businesses but the sidewalks in front. It reminds me of a small sparkling town in the Mediterranean I visited once on the island of Santorini, in Greece.
I don’t know if this is true of all of Brazil, though I suspect it might be, but it seems that stores are open and people are out and about very early in the morning for a while, but in the middle of the day with the exception of a few restaurants and businesses, the doors to the shops are closed until after 6 or even 8 pm. Then the streets come alive with people, the shops are all open and the night is just beginning. I can not report on how late into the night this goes on because I have not yet shifted to this timetable myself. On Saturday night at the invitation of Fabio, we started the evening after 8:30 so that we could attend the performance of his rock and roll band at a bar. This was a good thing because when the people really come out in force, you can tell which of the restaurants, for instance are the more frequented which is always a good recommendation. That night Paul fell in love with this town. At the bar, which was also a health food store, wi-fi spot and coffee lounge, we met a diverse group of international people and were surrounded by other English speakers. This has become a thing of comfort and appeal for us in our search for a place to put some temporary (or long term) roots. This is also a community which attracts some wealth and could have a vibrant arts scene. We’d like to think so, but for now it merely hints at the possibility. It’s somewhat difficult to describe but this wealth makes a place a little more welcoming and appealing to us as newcomers. There’s also a sense of safety here in this place, being an obvious gringo, because we feel less of a target for being taken advantage of and more accepted and welcomed.
My thoughts seem to be all over the place today. Perhaps the congestion in my head is interfering with the clarity of my thoughts after all. This life that comes full bloom at night is a phenomenon that needs a little more explanation. I saw it the night we went to hear Aramis’ son play music at the club, the night the whole community of Ecletica came to the celebration of the arts center…. The children are there! Even the babies, they are all up late at night. It doesn’t seem to matter, the hour of the night. Is the concept of “bed time” or “school night” not taken into consideration here? It wouldn’t seem so. I once asked my friend Luana what time her family ate dinner. “Never before 8:30,” she told me. I remember many years ago visiting Europe and having difficulty adjusting to this similar culture with the dinner hour much later in the evening. For me and many other American families I knew, dinner was at 6 o’clock, rarely later. In Paris, a 10 o’clock meal was not uncommon. Well, one shift here in the dilemma of waiting for the late hour of the evening meal, is the addition of a fourth meal to the day. You see we have generally a breakfast (café de manha) of fruits and breads and coffee, followed by a lunch (almoca) between noon and 2pm. Another small snack called lanche around 4pm before dinner (jantar) sometime between 8 and 10 pm. Here in a tourist town you can find a few restaurants serving as early as 6, although many just continue to serve the same foods throughout the day at all hours. So that covers food (and explains why I have become so fat) but as to shopping or banking or conducting other business, for now, that’s just hit or miss. Could be open, might not! The proprietor might be in or might be home sleeping! In any case I like it!
I’ve wondered if this night time vibrancy might be a result of people having more time to play and enjoy life after the long workday is over. If one could get by on less sleep, it would certainly create more hours in the day to have fun, be with friends, make music, kick back. If teenagers can do this, why not the rest of us? I’m all for a change, maybe dividing sleep to 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon and 4 or 5 at night… I’ll let you know if I manage it……
This morning we followed a lead from the young man at the cell phone store and stopped at his language school to inquire about Portuguese classes. We met there a lovely family all working together who will be happy to teach us. When we inquired as to the cost, the answer was, “if you spend some time here talking to our students in English, we will teach you Portuguese at no charge.” Again this theme comes back: either some will charge you twice as much because they think you have a lot of money or more commonly in my experience they will charge you nothing! At the open air market last week, I wanted to only buy 2 bananas for breakfast. When I asked for the price, the young girl looked surprised at her companion who simply gave them to me for free and then wanted to know where I came from and why I was there. That day I mentioned visiting Ecletica and they both wanted me to know that they love the people who come from there, especially the children and young people who always say hello and are so polite. So many times people are insisting on giving me things for free! I love this different kind of value there often seems to be around money.
But tomorrow we will go to the language school, speak with the students in English for an hour and then spend the afternoon learning Portuguese with our new teacher, Marta…..
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
It’s two months now since arriving in Brasil. Unlike the 1st time when we came for 6 weeks, we were healthy until last week. That time we started our 1st half of the trip ill. Now I don’t think this has any significance necessarily. It was a nice easy way to start our new life, coming to friends and so much help and welcome, a place to stay waiting for us, even though it was a hotel room. While I was at wits end about 3 ½ weeks into the trip, craving my own little house if only for a kitchen, the panic eased and I relaxed into being here just as it was. Paul, who has very little interest or inclination towards domestic activities insisted that he was happy with no dishes to wash or bathrooms to clean. At last his tune has changed, now that he is ill and wishes he had the ability to stay in, eating meals from his own kitchen. He is urging me to begin a search for a house to settle into as he is quite content in this town. I agree. It has been 4 months since we left our house in Vermont and a normal home life; longer if you factor in packing up and moving out for many weeks before that. Four months of living on the road though! It’s enough. I love to travel, but traveling from a home base is entirely different than this way with all its peculiarities. Still, we are on a quest for something, so there is a price to pay for this. And no one said it would be easy. Easy, there’s a concept we’ve been in search of…. Could happen yet!
Last week David Icke said something in his interview in Amsterdam that we’ve always agreed with, “If it flows, go, if it’s stuck, chuck.” Although we might have worded it a little differently, this is pretty much our philosophy. Because we follow the basic philosophy of the Tao, we feel and see the subtle messages in the natural flow of things. When things do not progress easily, with a free flow, when they are seemingly stuck, we understand this as a message from the Way that this is not the best course for us to follow. David says, if the door is stuck, find a different way out. We would say, if it doesn’t seem easy, it isn’t meant to be. Such were the events unfolding for us in Ecletica. When you’re stuck – chuck (it out). Yesterday things flowed easily into place for us, it seemed. Even though Rocket was so sick we returned with him to the vet, at the end of the day he was eating a little, running and back almost to his former self. We made a great connection with a language school to begin Portuguese studies. The bank seemed happy to help us open a savings account, a task we have been struggling with for 7 weeks at 4 different locations. Only a small detail left to complete. On inquiring at the café, help was forthcoming on locating a house for rent and the word is out on our behalf. There’s a certain flow to the ease of putting things in place to stay.
Two nights ago while questioning our next move, whether to head straight for Rio, I opened my email to find a response 6 weeks in coming from our friend in Alto Paraiso. “So sorry!” he said, “I almost never check my email. I hope I’m not too late. Please come here to visit. I have a lot of land to show you. This is the time. Everything is happening now. I want to help in any way I can.” It’s so perfect, we think, how everything comes at just the right time when you need to hear it. That very day, Paul thought not to go there 1st to visit, but now we will go and see if that might be the better place for us. Our thoughts this week are to settle here or there and from this place take other trips, less encumbered, to see the rest of the country. But we know we were led here to this part of the country. Many people have come here, relocating from the cities, especially Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They feel quite aware of an end time scenario and we wish to hear from them what their particular version of this is. This place has an institute where they are teaching permaculture and the creation of food forests. It has drawn an international following of ecologically minded people. We hear talk of the importance of owning land with water and eating organic foods. It is like another Brattleboro, here in Brazil. And these concerns have long been some of our own concerns, knowing what we know about the intentions of the ruling families. However, at this stage of our lives, we are not so sure we want to survive the end times. But it has not curtailed our insatiable curiosity or our desire to do what we can to help ease suffering and promote the expansion of consciousness on the planet.
Thursday October 15, 2009
Yesterday continued to be good all day. In the middle of the day we took an 18 km ride outside of town to one of the many cachoeras (waterfalls) surrounding the town. It was a beautiful ride though the mountains on gently curving roads, passing small farms. It seemed a long time before we spotted the sign to the waterfall, leaving the main paved road to start a 2km drive down a dirt road. It was strangely reminiscent of some of the drives to the campgrounds in West Virginia when as soon as we’d round the 1st bend, we’d have the thought, “oh my god! What have we got ourselves into and how are we going to get the hell out of here?” The narrow road led through some fairly remote terrain with deep ruts and places partially washed out from the rain making us question the good sense in continuing without endangering the car. At one spot we passed two women, each pushing a wheelbarrow carrying a mattress. They weren’t particularly friendly and it gave us some pause for thought as to our safety in venturing further. Without voicing my concerns, I knew Paul was having similar thoughts but perseverance has paid off in the past under similar circumstances and we continued to the end of the road which led to a parking area. Although deserted, it looked safe enough and we parked, stopping to change sandals for hiking shoes before searching out a path that would lead to the promised waterfall. Within view we noticed a small and very creative wooden foot bridge crossing to a bathing area with a very small waterfall.?. It was little more than a trickle and we questioned that we had ended in the correct place. Upon further reflection, we re-crossed the bridge in search of a different path when we encountered a woman and three dogs. It was a good encounter for Rocket who has been shying away from other dogs since becoming ill which is totally out of character for him, but they were great and she was lovely and she showed us the way to continue to find the path to the waterfall after collecting the entry fee which was posted at the parking lot.
She left us standing at the edge of the river pointing us toward a suspension bridge which swayed and bounced and was barely wide enough to place both feet side by side. It consisted of a series of 6 to 10 foot long planks of wood, maybe 6 inches wide, placed side by side, some with loose bolts, connected with heavy gage wires to a long heavy wire handrail which suspended the bridge across the river below. It scared me, as each step I took made the bridge bounce, so I walked very slowly, placing one foot at a time and waiting for balance before proceeding. Paul was much braver than I, carrying Rocket in one arm and holding the handrail (a braided wire rope) with only one hand. Had the river been much further below than it was I’m not sure I would have been willing to cross.
I breathed a sigh of relief when the three of us were safely across and we followed the directions to continue on our way to the waterfall. The place was deserted and it was hard for me to tell if it had been days or months or years since there was activity here as we passed first one small restaurant and then later a large seating area under a covered pavilion filled with hand crafted wooden tables and benches on the way to stone paths edged with rocks bordering small alcoves set up with barbecues, the occasional table and stool, small picnic areas under the palm trees, opening out to a large sand beach with a bar and the waterfall as centerpiece. As we looked out over the river which the waterfall emptied into, a new species of bird flew past and up into the trees high on the opposite bank, screeching its exotic call. It was quite spectacular in its uniquely Brazilian way and I could imagine the place filled with happy Brasilieros drinking beers and playing music. But this day it was only Paul, Rocket and me and our 3 new canine companions who had no trouble apparently crossing that crazy suspension bridge.
We felt that many things moved forward this day and in spite of the fact that Paul’s flu was a little worse, we enjoyed the day which so happened to be the 2nd anniversary of our wedding day, and 9 years to the day from when we met. Rocket’s health continued to improve which made our hearts both sing with joy.
Today we began by spending an hour speaking English with the students at the language school. It was teacher appreciation day and we joined the class celebration with some local foods and drinks. It has been 9 days since arriving in Pirenopolis. Since that time we have joined in 5 days of different celebrations! We have honored saints, children and teachers and the birthday of the city. I could be mistaken but I get the feeling that Brasilieros love any opportunity for a celebration.
The pappagaios are loud and plentiful here and quite large. The wildlife seems much more abundant than where we came from. There we saw only the kind of predator bird that ate other birds, and a few small owls and monkeys. Here we have seen macaws, toucans and parrots, fascinating insects, very large and assorted lizards and the same wonderful little monkeys. I wish I could record the sounds in the air as they are so varied they create an orchestra. I am sure the percussion instruments of Brazilian music are inspired by the wildlife, especially the birds and insects.
After class our teachers drove us through the city looking for houses for rent and showing us different neighborhoods we likely never would have known about. Then we picked up their daughter and had lunch together in a spot we may never have discovered on the 2nd floor of a supermarket. It was excellent fresh food and amazingly cheaply priced. Anything you could load on your plate for about $3. The sign on the wall read (in Portuguese of course) R$6 per plate; R$8 with leftovers. Afterwards we succeeded in completing the necessary paperwork and opening our bank account. This may sound like an ordinary non event to most of you, but for an American in Brazil, it was no small feat! We treated ourselves to the most delightful milkshakes at the café where the owner was putting out the word that we were in search of a house to rent and were given 2 leads to follow up on. Back to the room to retrieve the numbers from our email, we attempted to phone from our new cell phone only to be foiled by yet another obstacle to overcome- the necessity of phone credits! Who knew? We thought they came with the chip we bought which we understood to contain 4 hours of time. I mention this because I want you to get the full flavor of the difficulty of functioning in the most simple of occupations. Making a phone call here is very complicated! Now granted I am not at all cell phone savvy, since I haven’t had one that could function in the mountains of Vermont nor on the Cape of Massachusetts and the technology of cell phones have changed so much in the last 6 years since I had one I could operate. But here, there is a code for the city, a code for the state, a code for the phone service, before you even get to things like chips and credits. And the phone has a TV! Not only that but a camera and an FM radio and audio and video player. There’s little hope I’ll learn how to operate it. And I am even a little technically inclined, I can write html and post things to a website! But making a phone call in Brasil – that’s a different matter all together.
Fortunately for me, Izzione (pronounced Easy-own-ee) the most delightful girl ever, who doesn’t speak English but can communicate well to me regardless, is here to help. And as luck would further have it, a couple from the south of Brasil arrived speaking perfect English to help intervene on our behalf to phone and follow up on some possible houses to rent. More on that saga tomorrow perhaps….
Tonight in one hour, we will return to school to speak with another English class. Tomorrow more Portuguese lessons….
I can not find a way to segway into this last note, but one I find so useful, I want to add it in. Here in Brasil, everywhere you go, people have a thermal pot of coffee (and sometimes tea) out for their guests, patrons or clients. The tray of sugar with accompanies it has the unfortunate problem of attracting ants, for there are many ants here in the tropics. Here in this pousada, they came up with an ingenious (in my opinion) solution to this problem! The sugar bowls (one natural or raw and one brown) sit inside a shallow tray of water. No ants! Just thought I’d pass along that tip in case you might also find the occasion to do this.
Now that the worst is over with our flu, we are beginning to explore more of what this town has to offer. I hope to have more to write about that might hold some interest again. It may not be ballandrous and angel entities, but one never knows what lurks beyond the next corner. With any luck life will continue to be full of surprises.
Until next time we send love