Cassio, Mauricio, Neto, Gerson and Mario
Gilberto, Eduardo, Alvaro, Almauri, Gerson
Brasil 2022-23 Diary/Photo Journal
Weeks of 019 and 020 of December 18, 2022 - December 31, 2022 - end of a good year!
The week started off with the much awaited World Cup Final, and what a game it was! Although Argentina prevailed, many in Brasil wanted France to lose more than they disliked Argentina so a good game all the way around.
Let the holidays begin...
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Watching the World Cup
Final: Cassio, Mauricio, Neto, Gerson and Mario |
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Gerson found time for a
night with the Agronomy boys Gilberto, Eduardo, Alvaro, Almauri, Gerson |
A bit of unwanted rain kept us close to 'home' and we were able to just relax and make ready for what will be a busy last few weeks in Brasil. We visited family and friends and before we knew it, Christmas was upon us. We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas Eve with Marjorie's family and were very thankful she arranged the small gathering for us to enjoy (as she was having a larger dinner for Carlos' family on Christmas Day).
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A visit to Tia Marilda
brought forth a couple of gems: An old photo of And a rotary phone that still works as her landline! |
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Christmas Eve A favorite - Fios de Ovos Quite the spread: Carlos doing the carving of
the pork loin honors, |
Christmas Day 2022. After such a nice Christmas Eve, we were up and off to stay the day with friends at Capivari, a reservoir lake outside of Curitiba. Our friends, Bela and Julio were visiting their families during the holiday and were gathering at Bela's family's lakehouse. We crashed the party (as we are sort of adopted into the family anyway), and while keeping an eye on the sky for the expected deluge that never came, we enjoyed a fantastic BBQ, some pool time and lots of catching up.
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BBQ and pool time Lots of memories made |
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One of my favorite places
to visit Beautiful views from the home Hydrangeas (Hortencias in Brasil) in bloom |
We even popped over to a somewhat eccentric neighbor's property to visit a few of his menagerie. Apparently, a neighbor likes to have some odd animals kept at the lake so we took the opportunity to 'pet' alpacas and a camel.
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Loaded up the crew in the
back of Julio's classic Toyota truck Gerson, Nathalia, Rodolfo, Isadora, Enzo, Giovanna, Angelina, Ana Paula, Bia and Bia's boyfriend. Having fun with alpacas |
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Camel fun Gerson trying to avoid getting a "Camel kiss" Christmas Day enjoyed by all - Bela and Julio's family are awesome |
With Christmas behind us, it was on to New Years and quite a few visits. First up: a few days with our friends, Marco and Akemi, in Morretes. We dodged the rain from Curitiba and were fortunate to have a couple of days of sunshine, relaxation and good food. Although we had to make a last-minute change of plan and not spend New Years Eve with Marco and Akemi, we decided to have an early New Years celebratory meal because it was probably New Years somewhere, right?
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Our 'New Years Eve' pork
leg Look at that crackle! Quite the spread and such a nice evening |
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Rainbow over BBQ Marco and Gerson solving the world's problems in the pool Birth of a caipirinha - Gerson collecting limes |
From Morretes, we were a short drive from Marjorie's beach condo just north of Matinhos (referred to as Florida beach). Another of one of my favorite places to visit, we planned on staying a few days and enjoy a bit of sun, sand, surf and swim while bringing in the New Year 2023.
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Always enjoy taking the
Estrada de Graciosa - originally completed in 1873 and beautiful at every turn
Lots of full rivers because of all the rain |
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A pre-New Years at
Monica's place - with Marjorie and a photo
from 2007 when we celebrated New Years Eve with Happy New Year! |
New Years Eve was spent enjoying a wonderful day at the beach and then lazing around the pool. I figure I would make my New Years resolution to go into 2023 with a bit of a tan, so success was assured!
And, in keeping with some traditions of Brasil, we enjoyed a very nice bacalhau (salted codfish) dinner with Marjorie and Carlos. As we are not for late nights, we retired at our normal time and looked forward to greeting 2023 with optimism.
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Never tire of this view (unfortunately, the construction of a 'jetty' mars the view for awhile) Gerson emerging from a refreshing dip in the Atlantic |
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CHEERS! SALUDE!
Bacalhau - traditional salted codfish dinner |
Memories of the good in 2022 far outweigh any bad. I am fortunate to be heading into 2023 with optimism and excitement.
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