Travels Part 3: Praia

And now the third, and probably most famous of regions in our beautiful state of Ceara... Beaches. Ceara is graced with endless kilometres of white sandy beaches. Just as the fields in Manitoba roll on and on, so do the beaches here.

All of the following pictures were taken in and around Lagoinha, a small fishing village about an hour up the coast from our place. We spent an entire day cruising up the beach on a dune buggy.  As always, photo credit goes to my hubby, Karl and Outtafocus Photography. 

Jellyfish washed in by the tide. 

It seems like every bend in the beach has a palm tree cluster on it. 

Literally, endless miles of beach.

Beachside restaurant on the other side of a river. 

Crossing this river on the 'ferry' (aka, a raft to hold our dune buggy and a kid pulling us along.)

Typical fishing village.

Typical fishing boat, called a Jangada. They are pulling it up out of the water, out of reach of the tides. 

Taking a break from dune buggies to enjoy the views atop a sand dune. 

The view we savoured as we had a most delicious breakfast in our hotel. 

Rainy season vs dry season.

These photos are both taken from the highest point in Ceara, about 1000m above sea level. The first was taken a few weeks ago, right in the middle of dry season. The second was taken in rainy season. 

Travels Part 2: Serra

The second region we explored with Karl's cousin was the Serra. While the word SERRA translates as mountain, don't go thinking we have the Rockies in our backyard. About 100 km's off the coastline, there are several 'ranges' of mountains. They look kind of funny because there are no foothills leading up to them or anything. It's just a giant mound plopped right in the middle of the flatlands.

What I love about the serra is the climate, and with it the flora and fauna. Insert quick history lesson: Nearly all of Brazil's 7941 km's of coastline used to be Atlantic Rainforest, but thanks to European explorers and their lust for natural resources, well over 90% has been destroyed. Much of the serra, though, still has this rainforest, and it is beautiful. Unlike the surrounding sertão, which is plagued by drought, the Serra receives generous amounts of rain. The forests are lush and the flowers are beautiful. Driving through the dry dry sertão and then up into the lush serra feels like you have stepped into paradise. The rain, combined with the altitude helps to cool things down. People from the city like to go up into the mountains to 'get a little chilly', as they like to say. But don't worry, you can buy parkas there. And you might need it, seeing it gets down to 16 or 17 degrees at night!!

A typical centre square. Gotta love all the bright colours!

Public transit.

The road leading up to the highest point in the state becomes more... interesting... every time we brave it. This last time we went, we noticed this sign at the turnoff. "The next 5 km's are intensely dangerous". 

A little chapel, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. That's bamboo on the other side of the road.

We have noticed this building many times before. We finally stopped to see what it was. It is a former Jesuit seminary and church, now used for retreats and rentals. 

To build this church, they essentially chiseled away the top of a mountain (by hand). Then they took all the little pieces and constructed this building, stone by stone (by hand). No cement was used. It took 14 years to complete. 

Alice in Wonderland sized flowers.

Photo credit: Outtafocus Photography by Karl Enns

Travels Part 1: Sertão

One of the perks of having Karl's cousin live with us for a few months (aside from all the help he has provided with our renovations) is that it gives us an excuse to get out and explore. Whenever we have someone come visit us, we always try to visit at least one place we ourselves have not been.

Over the past couple of weekends we have visited each of the three main regions of Ceara (the state we live in). They are: Beaches, Mountains and Flatlands (or the Interior).

First: The Sertão (Flatlands/Interior)

We don't have to go too far to see what life in the interior is like. I suppose you could say we live right on the edge of the Sertão. In fact, I do believe all these pictures were taken within our municipality. In general, this is the least developed part of the state. People tend to live off the land - ranching cattle, goats and other livestock, farming sugar cane and tall grass, and fishing in the lakes and rivers (when there is water). This is an incredibly dry area. It is not considered a desert because for a few months of the year it receives quite a bit of rain, but during dry season, it is not uncommon to go a few months without a drop of rain. Less than half the normal amount of rain fell during rainy season this year. For some communities, this means hauling water, rationing, and many have declared a state of emergency - and we still have almost 3 months left before the rains start refilling the reservoirs again.

Anyway, here are a few pics from the Sertão...

The roots of Catholicism run deep in Brazil, and this area is no exception. This is the Sanctuary of Saint Edwiges, built on the side of hill, overlooking the town of Garrote. (See how brown everything is?)

Quite possibly the most popular mode of transportation in the interior, donkeys and carts are reliable and can go places your car can't (or maybe down roads you don't want your car to travel!)

Typical housing in the interior: Interwoven branches packed with clay-mud. 

While rail transport is not widely used in Brazil, it does provide reliable access to the interior. 

Like I said, donkeys are the way to go!

The capital of our municipality, also called Caucaia, is the centre of commerce and government. We live just about 5 minutes from the Centro (Downtown) where we do nearly all of our shopping. They just finished building a MALL in town, and this is the view from the outdoor food court to the Catholic church and centre square. 

How To Request a Criminal Record Check in Brazil in 27 Easy Steps:

(aka: The Only Way to Get Things Done in This Country)

1 - Go to the courthouse during 'normal' working hours. (in our case, 3:30 pm)

2 - Find out that normal working hours at the courthouse are 8-11:00 am and 1-2:00 pm. (yep, that's four working hours)

3 - Return the next day at 8:30 am.

4 - Have your husband denied entry to the courthouse because he decided to wear shorts instead of pants.

5 - Stand in line.

6 - Get photocopies of all the documents you were told you needed.

7 - Stand in line.

8 - Find out that you actually need copies of one other document.

9 - Stand in line.

10 - Get copies of that one other document.

11 - Stand in line.

12 - Fill out forms.

13 - Run outside to get a signature from your banished husband.

14 - Stand in line.

15 - Find out that you also need a document that has both your parents names on it.

16 - Sigh, because you left your special birth certificates with this information at home.

17 - Drive home.

18 - Make copies of documents at home to avoid standing in one more line.

19 - Drive to the courthouse.

20 - Stand in line.

21 - Submit application for criminal record check.

22 - Drive through downtown traffic. Sit patiently in a traffic jam. (Preferably singing Johnny Cash songs loudly to pass the time.)

23 - Stand in line.

24 - Pay bill (oh, and the machine is broken. Good thing I have cash on me)

25 - Drive home.

26 - Wait until tomorrow at 8:00 and hope that it will be ready for pickup.

27 - Remind Karl to wear pants, because only he can pick up the one bearing his name.

Look Mom! I finally made my bed!

I like hands-on projects. I love starting with nothing and being able to see good results at the end of the day. So much of what I have been doing recently doesn't appease this need in me. Keeping the books? Umm, that's the opposite of productivity. Seeing the money we spend just depresses me. Writing policies? Definitely not. Researching all sorts of things from health care plans to food handling law. Groan.

This week we have entered a new phase in our reno/prep work here: Finishing touches. Today I decided to crawl out of my hole of an office and take it upon myself to make my beds. Literally.

Here's what I started with:

A stack of head and foot boards (Technically these are designed to be bunk beds, so those are the steps on the right)

And everything that goes between the head and foot boards.

For the record, I did not receive an instruction manual.

So I laid it all out and did a 'dry run' of putting it together. It seemed to work ok, so on to nails and screws:

And then...

Ta da!

Then something occurred to me and I started doing the math... It took me 4 hours to put this bed together. We have 16 beds. That's 64 hours, or a week's worth of work. Gulp. So I pondered this while eating my lunch of rice and beans and while I took my daily rest in my hammock. By the time I went back to work, I was armed with a new strategy. 

I think the new strategy worked, because this afternoon I whipped out two more beds in 2 hours. Definitely a better pace!

It was exciting to pull out all the sheets, blankets, towels and pillows we had purchased about two weeks ago and see how it all actually looked together. I think it is pretty sharp, if I do say so myself. 

Yes, there is a third bed. I just couldn't get all three in the same picture. 

So now have one guest room that is totally ready to go. We just need to get some artwork to put on the walls! Tomorrow I'm hoping to put together another four beds in two more rooms and finish off details in the bathrooms and the courtyard. 

I guess the one other thing we need is people to come fill these beds! Who wants to be first?!?

Preparing for the bounty

It's the most wonderful time of the year. 

No, not Christmas, but close. It's the time of year when so many of the fruit trees are laden with ripening fruit! 

I can't claim expertise in the area of tropical fruits. Growing up in Canada doesn't really lend itself to firsthand knowledge like that! It strikes me as odd, though, that this is the time of year that fruit is produced, mostly because we are right in the middle of the driest part of the year. According to weather-and-climate.com, we receive an average of less than 10 mm of rain a month, more than 300 monthly hours of sunshine, and have an average temperature of 29-30 degrees this time of year. How does all this fruit manage to grow when it is so hot, sunny and dry? If someone feels inclined to educate me, please feel free to do so! 

What I do know, though, is that our backyard is getting ready to explode with fruit!!!

We have a mango tree. (Actually, we have three mango trees, but that's not the point.) The mango tree is big. Like the canopy has a diameter of 30 feet sort of big. It started budding in August.

When I saw this, I wondered how many of the buds would turn into fruit...

Apparently the answer is: All of them!

Yesterday I decided I would try counting how many mangos are ripening on that tree. I counted 100 mangoes on one branch. Then I estimated that there are about 75 branches like this on the tree. (That I can see from the ground!) Good thing we bought a deep freeze! Not sure we can keep up with eating all those mangoes! 

Our orange and tangerine (or maybe tangelo, I'm not entirely sure) are also nearly ready for picking. Unfortunately, due to a bit of neglect over the last few years, they only have a couple of fruit on each. We will have no problem eating those as they ripen. 

The other fruit that might just overwhelm us is the cashew. Hang on, I know you are thinking I have made a typo calling a cashew a fruit. But it is. Really!

See?

The nut is tucked inside two shells at the top. The fruit is in my hand.

Except I am holding it upside down. It actually grows with the nut pointing to the ground. 

This is a baby one growing on our tree.

The cashew fruit (or cashew apple, as Wikipedia tells me it is called in English) is an incredibly fragile fruit. I guess the reason they don't get exported is because only juice would be left after transport. And yes, makes a very tasty juice! It tastes a little bit like a mango crossed with a pear crossed with a bit of mouth-drying choke cherry goodness. I love it! 

We have two cashew trees on our yard, and if all their flowers produce... gulp.... They say each tree produces about 15 kilos of fruit a season. Once again, I am so glad we bought a deep freeze!

So I eagerly look forward to the harvest of our bounty over the next few months. It should be a delicious season. And if you want to come taste a cashew fruit or pick your own mango off the tree, you'd better get packing!

PS: I started writing this post yesterday. Then I got an email from my parents in southern Manitoba. They told me they had just had the first snowfall of the year. If you are reading this and live in a climate that is preparing for winter, I want you to know that I do feel a twinge of guilt and like I might be rubbing it in just a little bit. On the flip side, what better way to get people to come here on vacation?!? 

Sometimes I wonder about him...

This seems to be Sandy's favourite pastime. He can do this for at least 15 minutes. Crazy mutt.

How to buy fresh produce

Some people have gardens. Some people have co-ops. Some people go to a grocery store. Some go to the market. Me? I don't go anywhere! My fruit and veggies come to my front door!

How is Kim so lucky, you may ask? First, some background...

When we first moved here, I got used to a lot of different noises. (See my very first post for more on this.) There are a number of noises that come from the street: People blare music in their cars as they drive by. Stores will hire people with massive stereo systems to drive around all day playing advertisements. Most recently, in light of the impending elections, (October 7) candidates like to promote themselves, mostly through writing catchy little ditties about how wonderful our municipality is. (ugg... just writing about it got one of them in my head!)

But there was one sound, though, that just I could not figure out. It was someone driving around with a large stereo, speaking into a microphone, saying something like this: "whoa wha whoa whoa who whassaaa sasaaaa aaa"(If you are confused, think of how adults speak in Charlie Brown cartoons.)

After hearing this a couple of times, I started asking my neighbours what that person was saying. You know what they said? "We have no idea!"... Then they said, "But we do know who it is. It's the fruit and veggie guy!" Hmm....

So the next time I heard "Whoa wha wha wha..." I grabbed my wallet and dashed outside. Sure enough, there was a pickup truck driving slowly down the street. The driver had a microphone to his lips, mumbling incoherently. The box was filled to the brim with goodies. So I flagged him down. Turns out he is not incoherent. He just has a brutally bad sound system. It also turns out that his produce is beautiful, fresh, and is pretty much the same price as in the open air market. The differences are: #1: I don't have to drive 10 minutes each way, wasting time and gas to buy produce. #2: I don't have to dicker for prices. His prices are always the same. #3: He doesn't sell meat, so I don't have to walk through the open air meat market. (While I like a nice steak, the meat market is just... gross.) #4, and possibly most importantly: I don't have to compromise my personal bubble while elbowing my way through crowds.

He comes down our road every Tuesday and Friday sometime between 8:00 and 9:00 am. There are a couple of things I can't get from him, but for the most part, this is now how I do my produce shopping. What a magnificent concept!

So if I am ever in North America and hear garbled voices through a microphone, don't be surprised if my knee jerk reaction is to grab my wallet and sprint for the front door. If you want tomatoes, you've got to be quick!

The truck

The selection

Make sure you turn your volume up to watch the video. Sorry about my bad acting. Can't say I enjoy being filmed!