Sunday, July 13
Location: Nova Brescia, Rio
Grande do Sul, Brazil
Today's weather: 20░C, Sunny
This morning we got up early, about 6am. After several
days of travelling and getting used to different time
zones, getting up was very difficult for me.
After breakfast and packing our bags, Susi and I drove
over to Marli and Camilla’s apartment block. Because
their apartment is also protected by high fences, we had
to push a button on an intercom panel by the gate to
announce ourselves. After a couple minutes, Camilla came
skipping out the apartment building door, clutching her
pink schoolbag, with Marli following not far behind her.
Today we were all going on a trip into the countryside to
visit a place called Nova Brescia, and the farm were Susi
and Marli were born. This is where Susi’s mother and
brother still live.
The drive from Porto Alegre to Nova Brescia was
interesting. The area around the city has been settled
since 1755, so it is very developed. Jungles of trees
have long since given way to jungles of power pylons, and
big ships routinely travel up and down the rivers
carrying cargo to and from factories. There are many
trucks on the highways also carrying big cargoes. In some
ways the countryside is similar to New Zealand, but not
as green. The Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul is
gaucho country. Gauchos are famous South American cowboys
who farmed the cattle ranches of Southern Brazil,
Uruguay, and Argentina. This means that the only farm
animal you see in the fields are cattle – although
there aren’t as many as on New Zealand farms. These
animals are more fierce looking than NZ cattle because
they are bigger and have horns – just like the
cattle in American cowboy movies and rodeos. There are no
sheep.
 Susi’s
driving is a little scary. Although she is only
travelling at 100 km/h, the roads are rougher than in NZ,
and she regularly zips in and out among the other cars
and big trucks. Cars often pass each other within the
same lane or driving partially in the other lane even
though there are cars coming towards them. Brazilian
drivers are used to this and frequently make it easier
for the drivers who want to pass – they are more
courteous than most drivers in New Zealand. Even though
the roads only have two lanes, the lanes are very wide so
that two cars can fit side by side if necessary. Susi
even passed a police car at high speed – but
everyone does, and the police rarely do anything.
Sometimes when we passed a police station I saw a small
pile of crashed cars from recent road accidents. Each
year, 80,000 people die from car accidents in Brazil.
It took two and a half hours to reach Susi’s
mother’s house in Nova Brescia. Because Susi’s
mother lives in a remote area where the roads are
unpaved. The roads are dirt tracks which can become
slippery and muddy in the rain – but fortunately
today was warm and sunny so that they were easy enough to
travel. Susi’s mother’s house is very simple
and lightly built with thin wooden walls – but it is
comfortable. There is a small porch, and a basement below
the house which serves as a workshop and storage area.
Most importantly, the house has electricity and plumbing.
The floors are polished wooden planks.
Here we sat and chatted for a while before being
served lunch Most of the conversation was in Portuguese,
so I tried very hard to understand what everyone else was
saying. I was able to say a few things, and Susi helped
me when I had difficulties.
Lunch was beef and chicken barbecued on long skewers
in a brick oven (built into the house), served with a
potato salad, lettuce salad, and rice. We also tried some
home-made wine – but it wasn’t very good. The
people in this part of Brazil are descended from German
and Italian immigrants who arrived from Europe early this
century. Many people still keep their old traditions, and
some even still speak in Italian or German (although they
have Brazilian accents).
After lunch, we took Mario (Susi’s brother) to
the local football clubrooms where he played soccer with
his local team.. Other people in the clubrooms were
playing cards, talking, and smoking home-made cigarettes
which looked like sticks of wood. We watched the soccer
game for a while, but then some of us wandered off up the
road to explore the small town. Camilla made friends with
a local girl called Bruna, so we took them to play in a
local schoolyard. There were many mandarin trees
producing fruit, so we picked fruit from trees in the
schoolyard for a quick snack.
Dinner that night was a simple meal with small pieces
of fish coated in flour then deep fried so that they were
crispy and golden brown. We watched the small black and
white television and chatted some more before going to
bed.
   
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