farm days recap

6/9/09

The rest of the week at the Fazenda da Santa Maria was pretty relaxing. In the mornings I would go play outside with Laura on the playground, have some breakfast and then go swimming sometime in the middle of the heat of the day. Afternoons, we’d head out to the large pond to feed the fish, go for a walk or bike ride. I’d usually get a run in a little before sunset and then we’d head off to bed after showers and a little dinner.

A few highlights of the week were checking out the baby bunnies that were born a few days ago (so cute!!) and then being run out of the yard by two crazy geese (…not cool). They were hissing at me like snakes! The kids, after that, started planning on how to get them back so we could have goose for dinner. : ) One of the nights, a dozen or so men from the nearby town came and played and organized game of ‘bol’ –short for futebol- on their lit soccer field in front of the house. It made me realize how long it had been since seeing males around my age….cute, athletic, diverse ones at that. ; ) My runs in the evenings were nice too, which were just inside the walls of the property. The smell of sugar cane is quite distinct. The best way I can describe it is that smell in the kitchen when you’re in the first stages of making cookies….that melted butter and brown sugar smell. Mmmmm. It’s a nice smell, but sometimes upsets my stomach on my runs.

Oh! Feeding the fish was much more entertaining than I expected. We threw huge chucks of French bread off the dock and then stepped back to wait. Literally, these fish would jump up to grab these pieces of bread and swallow them whole. The water looked like we were cannon balling rocks in the water and making huge splashes….but you never once saw more than a tail of these fish either. Kinda crazy. All in all, nice relaxing week, and good bonding time for me and Laura. Still tan, covered in bug bites, and managed to sit on a bee : / this weekend...but still smiling.

Below is a picture of a jabuchicaba tree that is native to and only found in Brasil. The fruit grows on the branch itself and you eat it by biting down on the whole thing (size of a gumball) and sucking off the white juicy inside off the pit. They love this stuff down here, but to be honest I am reminded of that gel inside a wet diaper from it's consistency....so I don't dig it all that much.

Oh, and here's a strange tree I saw....but it made me laugh, because now I have proof that
beads do grow on trees!!!