Brasil 2022-23 Diary/Photo Journal

Week of 018 of December 11, 2022 - December 17, 2022

Time to move on yet again and this week found us visiting another friend, Kike, and his family in Goiania.  


Coming into Goiania

Gerson wrangling Ursa and Milka - both useless and fun

   

Kike is a long-time friend of Gerson's and I love his story of success in the Ice-making business.  You can find his story here: https://www.solsearch.us/saII-diary-page-3.htm

We had the opportunity to tour Kike's ice manufacturing plant, Gelo Mineral, and on a warm, humid day, the ice rooms were refreshing (for a few minutes at least).  Quite the set up with extensive solar panels providing the electricity to run the plant.  Kike designed the entire facility and streamlined ice-making process.   


Aerial view of Gelo Mineral
Extensive solar panel brains

Kike and Gerson at Gelo Mineral


The ice rooms store 100's of thousands of pounds of ice

Bagging and stacking of ice

Massive motors for the ice machines

We were quite keen on the inspection of Kike's plant because Cindy was going to be tucked away in a storage building on site.  She fit in perfectly and gave us the opportunity to remove our things, and clean and prepare Cindy for a long sleep. 

Kike also took us to see his new house he is in the process of building.  It was just in the stage of 'framing' and will take another two years to complete.  Not quite the speed of building in the U.S., but when it is complete, it should be a beautiful, modern home.  And, it was cool to see a toucan hanging out in a nearby tree, not to mention seeing several Emu's in the neighborhood. 


Architect drawing of Kike's home

Framing under way


Resident Toucan

Emu neighbor

Quite the 'hair' style on these mallards

Kike and Isabele took us to a little 'lake' that is in their new neighborhood and very nice to walk around.  Quite a few monkeys were in residence and learning very quickly that trash bins hold lots of tasty things.


Capuchin Monkeys

Capuchin taking a stroll to the shore
(it walked upright for about 25')


Gerson laid out several pieces of bread
(that we brought to feed the fish)
and one monkey grabbed all the pieces
and ran up the tree

Nice mossy (albeit a tad slippery) walkway

We spent our few days taking care of Cindy, catching a few World Cup games, enjoying our time with Kike's family and even went to a fun birthday party for grandson, Carlos Henrique.


A nice restaurant that serves this fish
Tucunar
é

Very nice!


4th Birthday party for Carlos Henrique - love the Hot Wheels theme
Lucas and son, Carlos Henrique
Bruna and Kike
Kike, Isabele and Carlos Henrique
Rafael and girlfriend
(back) Gerson, Kike, Rafa
(front) Lucas, Carlo Henrique, Bruna, Isabele, Louise

We got Cindy tucked in, propped up and secured for her long sleep.  We may return in 2023 to take her for another trip; however, we also put the word out that we would be willing to sell Cindy if someone wanted to buy her.  We know that we cannot come back every year to use her and we don't want her to just fade away.  So, we said our good-byes and flew back to Curitiba.  But what dreams and memories Cindy helped us to realize! 

Cindy all tucked in

We sure had many great memories with Cindy

Flying over Pontal and Ilha do Mel

No sooner than we arrived back in Curitiba, were we making ready to go to a 'high school' graduation party for Grazi's daughter, Lavinia.  And, what a party!  I was very thankful to Grazi for lending me a nice little black dress as the occasion was rather fancy. 


Grazi's family:  Juliano (brother-in-law), Daniele
Bernardo, Lavinia, Grazi, Marli, Cassio, Silvestre

Enjoying the evening

Gerson - busted enjoying petting Alaska

The rest of the week was just settling into the Curitiba routine and dodging the rain.  We spent a couple of mornings enjoying Parque Barigui and seeing some of the locals hanging out. 


Parque Barigui is a large and very nice park
to walk, jog, bike, skate...

Local Capivaras have leisurely mornings
Great photo provided by cousin Mariana
Lincoln, Alcindo (cousin), Vinicio (cousin), Edson (cousin),
Marjorie, Gerson and Vanessa (circa 1976ish)
   

We are now entering our last month in Brasil.  With the holidays approaching, we anticipate a lot of  "F's" - family, friends, food, fun....

 

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