Stories Inspired by Life in Rural Brazil
Describing the world around me–from the big picture all the way down to our little local news.
It was a particularly nasty work-related accident. One of our best friends had cut himself on both his arm and his belly with a granite sander. We were all worried, and glad to hear that he was Ok. This was the text I sent to his wife: “That goodness he’s Ok. God bless. You two …
Of course I brought things home from the USA. My latest and most precious possession was a carefully packed and hand-carried 5inX5inX5in box: a Sawyer Point Zero Two Viral water purifier and bucket adapter kit. Ok, so maybe my preferences are a bit weird. Most Brazilians bring back things from Victoria’s Secret and Calvin Klein …
We’re on the road today from Maine to our little Brazilian town. Between packing, weather craziness in northeastern USA, last goodbyes and the travel itself I haven’t had much time to write this week. So just two quick fotocrônicas for you this Sunday. These are images from our road trip from the coastal airport in …
Remember that post from last week where I talked about connecting with your loved ones because who knows if they’ll be around tomorrow? Sometimes the universe sends you a comment back so fast that it makes your head spin. We lost two loved ones this week. First a darling aunt of my husband, whom I …
This place is magic. When I was young, the road rippled like a Willy-Wonka roller-coaster and my dad–despite the oppressive fair traffic–would turn the car around at the fairgrounds and drive the whole distance again just to give me another chance to go: “WhEEEE!!”. Today the walk from the parking lot to the fair is …
These days the windows rattle to throbbing beats until 10pm nightly. Dust drifts down from the rafters. The family dog has lost a kilo (or two) from sprinting to the garden wall–always the same garden wall–every two minutes to defend us from invisible intruders firing rockets. What’s happening? It’s politics, Brazilian style. Candidates do come …
They call him “Speedy.” It fits–fast talker, faster driver. He met us in one of the parks and quietly herded us and another five or six passengers with all their shopping bags to his van. It was clear that he had a silly sense of humor that laughed at everything and no one, and he …
Life has a way of dishing out lessons in humility. Not one week after writing about how there were no lesbians anywhere in the Brazilian mainstream media, I watched Assalto ao Banco Central and now feel the need to throw some guilty applause in their direction. The character of Telma Monteiro (played by Giulia Gam), one of the …
People don’t usually post signs like this without provocation. Which makes me wonder–how many times did it have to happen before the poor cleaning lady finally snapped?
