May: A Retrospective

May was my last full month in Brazil. Crazy! Here’s some fun stuff I did.

-       Took a French cooking class. It was very fancy and I learned some good stuff. But mostly I ate good stuff

good stuff

-       Went to the zoo! I went with the ladies and the kids who stay permanently at the convent. It was such a fun time. I found out there is another Missionarios do Caridade in the city that only accepts men. They met us there (I didn’t know it was going to happen – one minute I looked up, completely surrounded by nuns. It was confusing). The kids loved the animals – it was such a treat to show them around and share their enthusiasm. 

       We had a “picnic” of sorts, and I’m pretty sure I had some slave-style feijoada. After lunch, we just chilled for a long time. We spread a blanket out on top of a grassy hill overlooking the ocean so the kids could nap. I layed down with them for a while. It was so peaceful. I also got to see the nuns just hanging out and having fun. Normally, it seems like their always in the midst of doing something. That day they just had a good time – laughing and teasing eachother. It was nice. This was the first time I spoke Portuguese all by myself basically all day. It went really well. It was one of my favorite days.

-       Sanjay’s Surprise Party: Our good friend Kavita threw a surprise birthday party for her husband, Sanjay. We went over a little early to help her set up, and we thought we saw him outside the house. We all immediately ducked our heads down in the car and dad tried to stealthily and quickly drive in reverse, head-down, until we were out of sight. Turns out it wasn’t Sanjay. We just panic easy, I guess. The party was lovely 

-       Ripley caught a baby monkey, and Mom and I got her to let go of it, but it ran and hid in the TV room. It’s mother was screaming for it from the tree, but it hid under the couch, in a cabinet, under a mountain of yarn…not knowing what to do. We had to catch it four or five times before we really secured it and could put it out in the tree with its mom.

-       We visited Escolar Aberta do Calabar in a Salvador favela with ASI. The American Society supports this school financially. I was very impressed by it! It seemed like an awesome school, and all of the kids were remarkably friendly. Fantastically. The curriculum is neat – the school teaches the core academics, computer skills, and capoeira. The kids did capoeira and hip hop demonstrations for us, it was very impressive. 

-       I visited the orphanage the twins like to go to – Ajuda Social das Criancas. These kids were also super friendly. We just went to play for a couple hours – very fun. One girl, Raquel, was very attached to me, and I gave her piggy back rides forever. She showed me an awesome plant she called “Maria, fecha a porta” (Maria, shut the door). When you tap it, it wilts and seems like it dies, but it revives and goes back to normal in an hour or so. I think I tried to close every one. We drew pictures, played hide-and-seek, I got but by dengue mosquitos…all around good time. The kids were so sweet. At the end, A boy named Daniel, kept blowing me kisses and making a heart shape with his hands. A girl told Amanda, “Your mom is my mom and you are my sister.”

-       I tried to make some cakes. My first attempt, a 1-2-3-4 layer lemon cake was the worst. All the batter overflowed, so I put a cookie sheet underneath it. Then more batter overflowed and the previously fallen batter burned and filled out entire house with smoke.

disaster

       I still tried to assemble the cake. It looked stupid and almost fell apart. The strawberries on top molded in record time. The second cake, a simple vanilla, fell severely. I tried to pour some glaze on top, but it basically just made a glaze pool in the middle. Then I made a buttermilk cake with strawberries. It tasted good, but it stuck to the pan badly and looked really ugly on a plate. I gave up on cakes and made blueberry pie instead.

-       Myra’s Despidida! We had Myra’s going away party at our house. We cooked a lot. We had red, white, and blue balloons. We had a caiparoska guy, which always makes a party awesome. The whole thing went really well and we had a nice turnout. Amanda held a baby for the first time ever. 

       It seemed like everyone had a good time, but most importantly, I think the Abbas’ had a good time, and Jehad wasn’t disappointed with the food

-       We finally met the twins’ best friend’s parents. They had us over for a barbeque. Pauline and her dad are Belgian and her stepmom is Brazilian. They all speak English, Portuguese, and Dutch, but her stepmom doesn’t speak English very well at all. It led to some real awesomeness at dinner. It was a really fun and funny.

Fernando de Noronha: Sunday

We’re waiting in the airport for our delayed flight.

This morning we went on a boat tour of the west side of the island. The boat was really nice, and we weren’t with a huge tour group. There was an upper deck with reclining beach chairs, but the ocean felt more turbulent up there. At first, I was a little disappointed because it seemed like we were going to duplicate a lot of what we had already seen, but that turned out not to be the case.

Half the sky was very menacing – looked like a lot of rain was coming our way. But we were driving towards the sunlight during the first part of our trip, which was luckily also towards where we hadn’t been.

the face of menace

We saw dolphins! They were so beautiful! There were a couple swimming at the bow of the boat and we saw 3 jump a little out of the water. I didn’t really get any good photos because (1) I was too busy spotting them and (2) the whole encounter was over very quickly. That was the first time I’ve seen wild, salt water dolphins, and they were so much prettier than the Amazon ones. I wish we could see more! Alas, not on this trip.

We sailed all the way to one tip of the island, which had an Africa-shaped hole worn away in the rock. The whole coast was very beautiful. 

Then we turned around, directly facing the rain storm – but we hadn’t reached it yet. We stopped to go snorkeling in Praia do Sancho. I didn’t really have high expectations because we snorkeled there yesterday. But this was the best snorkeling we’d done here yet. I found an awesome bunch of coral where there were hundreds (thousands?) of colorful fish very close to the surface. As I was swimming through them, I wondered how I wasn’t constantly kicking or hitting them.

When we came back up, it was raining, so we loaded into the boat and started back to port. The coast had a different kind of beauty in the mist and the rain – it looked especially jungly. 

We stopped and turned off our engine at this enormous rock with caves in it. When the waves rushed in and out, there was a really loud roaring sound like a lion or a dragon (they call it the cave of the lion). It was so cool and mysterious.

When we got back on land, we had to shower and pack. Before we left for the airport, we got lunch and açai at the same place as before. It was yummy – a nice last snack. At lunch, most of us got really attacked by mosquitos and gnats. In the first couple minutes, Andrea got bit 11 times. Manda eventually killed the mosquito and we found out it was a dengue one. 

DENGUE

So then we had to go to the tiny airport and our flight was delayed, so we’ll probably miss our connection in Recife.

Ok, we’re finally on the plane. Manda took a full bottle of water through “security.” 

in the air

I’m so sad this vacation was so short. We really did not have enough days there. There were so many more things I heard about that I really wanted to do.

I want to go back already. I was in love with its waters. 

"for whatever we lose (like a you or a me) it's always ourselves we find in the sea."

- e.e. cummings

Fernando de Noronha: Saturday

So much to write about today! It was fantastic!

We took a tour of a bunch of beaches on the island.

First we went to Praia do Sancho, which is voted the most beautiful beach in Brazil and top 10 in the world. We saw it first from 50 meters above. It was stunning. 

Really, for most of the things today there really are no words to do justice to what we saw/experienced. The beach was so pristine. And the water was so clear and blue.  We saw a ladder that seemed to go down to the beach, and we joked that was the way we were going to get to it. 

We walked a ways on the upper trail. It rained a lot last night, so all of the trails were wet/muddy and hiking was precarious and slow going when there was mud. All day we flung it up all over our backs. So – we followed the upper trail to a view over Baia dos Porcos (Yes, the Bay of Pigs). This beach is voted Brazil’s second most gorgeous beach, but I liked it best (especially after the rest of the day). 

We walked back to our starting point and found out the ladder wasn’t a joke. We had to go down two steel ladders through a skinny ravine – it looked very 127 Hours. 

It was awesome! Then we went down a long, steep staircase of stone carved into the cliff. 

The beach was so gorgeous. Especially from the water. Everything was so clean, the sand was so soft, the water so cool. From the water, looking toward land, you could see a waterfall in the cliff, cacti stuck in the rocks, and long-winged birds lazily gliding 

We went swimming for a while, then snorkeling in a little inlet. It was better than the snorkeling yesterday because it was much more shallow – you could get so close to the fish. I saw one of those totally flat fish with two eyes on one side. I only caught a look because it kept moving.

Then our guide took us on a little adventure – he told us we were going to “take a shower”. We walked a ways down the beach to where some fresh water was flowing from the cliff to the ocean. The water was so cold (comparatively) – it felt amazing. The whole day was very hot. We followed it up toward the cliff, over rocks, under branches, until we found a beautiful hidden waterfall. The shower felt wonderful. In Portuguese, fresh water is “agua doce” – this water felt truly delicious. It was exactly what we needed to cool off and wash off the salt water. 

Then we had to leave back the way we came. Oh man, it was a brutal trip back up those stairs. We walked back to the truck – a long, muddy, uphill walk. Andrea fell and broke her flip flop – the guide gave her his pair. Our truck was really fun and cool. Manda and I sat in two tiny seats in the trunk. Since most of the roads are unpaved and horrible, it was quite a bumpy ride, and we had to hold the bars over our head.

We went to a couple more beautiful beaches. Then we made it to Museu do Tubarões – the shark museum. There was an awesome rocky shoreline. We actually saw one sea turtle from up high! We bought some awesome shark tooth necklaces – very cool. 

Then we drove to Praia da Cacimba do Padre which is where Dois Irmãos actually is. We were there for its access to Baia dos Porcos. We had to do some more rock climbing to get there, which was fun. 

Baia dos Porcos is amazing. It is so gorgeous. There isn’t really a sandy beach area, so it’s best for swimming or snorkeling. When we got to the cove (far ahead of the rest of the group) our guide toldus to dive in from a high-ish rock as long as we cleared the rocks around us. It was kind of scary, but we all did it and it was thrilling! No other groups after entered that way. It was so fun to be there. It’s small and secluded and there were constantly fun waves to swim in. You did have to be very vigilant about all the rocks. We had such a great time there. 

Mom's a rockstar

We walked back to the truck and drove to a lookout point (which was also a restaurant and a goat pasture) that overlooked Praia do Americano.

what?

 It was late afternoon, it was getting cloudy, and we could see a lot of dark rain coming our way from far out on the ocean. It was such a great view and really peaceful just sitting up on the rock ledge looking out. 

Then sings my soul

My Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul

My Savior God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

That was our last stop, and we got back to our pousada right before the rain started.

Two notes:

(1)  there are cats all over the place

(2)  thank goodness I got contacts. It was a crazy stupid process (I’ll write about it sometime), but everything would have been way less awesome and might have downright sucked without them

Fernando de Noronha: Friday

The hotel is charging us R$25 because we got mud on a hand towel. They will charge us R$25/hand towel and R$40/regular towel if anything is on it besides water (they said it couldn’t possibly come out). Come on! 

This morning, we went scuba diving! Beleza. Maravilhoso. It was fantastic. Firstly, we took a nice boat out to this beautiful cove. The water was so clear! Seriously, I can’t get over how blue and gorgeous all the water here is. 

"My soul is full of longing

For the secret of the sea,

And the heart of the great ocean

Sends a thrilling pulse through me."

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It was perfect weather this morning. We got briefed on our dive and got into gear – each of us got a personal guide to be with us the whole time. Here, they call your first dive Batismo – baptism.

When I was still in the boat, we had to practice breathing into the mouthpiece. I got nervous, because it felt really unnatural and difficult to me. I started worrying a little that I might freak out under water or something. But once I actually was underwater, I had no problem at all. Breathing made sense and was easy, even when I had to equalize my ears or swallow.

Immediately, I saw a school of 3 or 4 sting rays (is it called a school?). Fernanda (my guide) brought me really close to them. I’ve touched a lot of sting rays in shallow petting ponds before, so I didn’t feel afraid, but I did have a moment of realization when I remembered that these rays had stingers fully intact and had killed Steve Erwin. It didn’t really make me afraid though – it just made everything more thrilling. Then we found a nursing shark. I knew it wasn’t dangerous, but it was still pretty big. Fernanda brought me so close! Just like the rays, if I had just extended my arm, I would have touched it!

Everything I saw was exciting. There were so many colorful fish. Even tiny ones had such vibrant colors. I saw an octopus (though I didn’t know it until I came back up – it was hiding in a rock, you could only see it’s eye). I also saw a barracuda. Fernanda took me under some rock croppings, so it was almost like being in an underwater cave – it was so cool. I loved the sensation of scuba. Because of all the wildlife we saw, it was at once peaceful and exciting. 

After we surfaced, we still had some time in the cove. So we went back in and snorkeled some, which was nice, but on the heels of scuba not so exciting. Eventually I have up the goggles and just swam around, enjoying the setting. I burst into How Can I Keep From Singing – everything was so marvelous! Such a wonderful gift. 

Seriously, I want to go diving again.

When we got back, we rented a buggy for the day, which was really fun and quite the adventure. It was a manual with an awful clutch, and the placement of the pedals made it almost like driving the kiddie cars at Cedar Point. 

After a nap, we decided to find a beach. First we got some açai at a little roadside place. It was the best I’ve ever had – very refreshing. 

yum :)

gone

Then we found Praia do Bode. It was so gorgeous. Really, everything about it. The water, the sand, the rocks. The sand was so soft. When I walked along the beach up to my calves in the cool water, my whole leg felt like it was wrapped in velvet.

"Such art thou, stupendous ocean!

But, if overwhelmed by thee,

Can we think without emotion

What must thy Creator be?”

- Bernard Barton

We watched the sunset there and it was so beautiful and serene. 

I wish we had more days here.

While were at the beach, I was wearing a short sundress, and I was sitting, and the sand got all up in everywhere. Then we went to a hotel restaurant, and I was really uncomfortable – you know how it is. Sand. Not knowing exactly what I would do, I asked for a bathroom. Stroke of luck – it had a bidet hose, so I used that to clean off.

We have been getting so many bug bites. Mosquito and others. For some reason, whenever I get a bite that swells any worse than a normal mosquito bite, I immediately suspect that a spider has laid eggs under my skin (I realize that it’s absurd, but I can’t rule it out, and I can never banish that suspicion). I have no idea where that thought comes from, but that’s what’s going on right now with my big toe.

Fernando de Noronha: Thursday

We just got back from Fernando de Noronha - a fantastically beautiful, tiny island off the coast of Brazil. 

Same pattern as my Amazon posts, I wrote while I was there, and I'll transcribe most of it here by day.

----------------

So at the end of our first night in Fernando de Noronha. This is a beautiful place.

The flight approach to the island was so beautiful. I couldn’t even see it until we were on top of it. The water is so clear and blue! 

Andrea and I got to ride in the back of a pick-up to our pousada (hotel), which was a fun, pretty drive. Our driver told us they have very little crime here because everyone knows everyone else and their business, so you can’t easily get away with anything. We saw the evidence – everyone was so friendly all the time – honking and waving at everybody.

We are staying at the Solar de Loronha – very nice. The room’s are way more posh than I expected and the view is great. You can see the ocean and we’re right in the shadow of a…tall…mountain. 

I relaxed, reading, for a while in a hammock on our front porch. Around sunset, we went walking to explore, buy some bug spray, and maybe find a beach. The walk toward these things was very pleasant – this island is so cool. It feels so small and everything is cute and rustic. We found bug spray, which we can already tell will be absolutely essential. We never found a beach, but we got close to the ocean and could tell the sunset was beautiful.The walk back to our pousada wasn’t quite as pleasant because it was steep uphill the whole way.

Once it was full dark outside, we could see the stars – I’ve never seen anything like them before. They were so twinkly! It was crazy. They weren’t particularly bright or visible but they were twinkling so much. It was so distinct they almost seemed to be blinking on and off? Why? Does that happen on islands?

We got back to our room after dinner and got ready for bed, but the lock on our door broke and we couldn’t lock it from the inside. We tried for a long time. But what was awful was that in the midst of our fiddling with the door, the cat that hangs around the pousada (who we’ve named Claude) came up crying for us to let him in out of the rain. So we couldn’t open the door much to see what the problem was. He was so sad. He even put his paws up against the glass. But the door is well and truly broken. I rigged something with a laundry cart and a chair to prevent the glass door from sliding.