Brasil 2022-23 Diary/Photo Journal

Weeks 006 - 007 of September 04 - September 17, 2022

These two weeks were spent primarily working on Cindy, with visits with family and friends.  Cindy is coming along; however, we are dealing with a 44 year old vehicle that has been sitting relatively idle for 17 years so we are checking every hose, belt, water line, etc.  My time was filled primarily with chasing down any water intrusion (leaks) and making Cindy watertight once again.

We started off the week's visits going over to a friend's home for an excellent B&B (bbq and bull).  Kiko is a longtime friend of Gerson's and owns a terrific restaurant in Curitiba.  Kiko and his family (wife Karina, sons Pedro and David), recently lived in the U.S. (San Diego area) for a year while the boys went to High School to test out the education system.  They are making plans to return for their boys to have opportunities that are not available in Brasil and it was exciting for me to see how excited Pedro and David are about going to University in the U.S.

Other friends joined the fray and it was nice to meet Gusti, the brother of a dear friend, Gabriel (who, after 17 years, finally lost his battle to melanoma) and other longtime friends, Sinval and Ache .  Other than having to excuse Kiko for being an Atletico fan, the night was a huge success.

Kiko's dinner party: Gusti and his wife, Ache and his wife, Kiko, Karina and Sinval Gerson, Kiko (proudly wearing his Atletico colors) and Gusti

Still not quite recovered from the evening at Kiko's and a long day working under and in Cindy, we had a bit of fun with Gerson's sister and family.  Marjorie, Flavia, Felipe and their partners popped into our temporary home and a lot of wine, cheese and non-meat goodies were consumed in between laughing and dancing. 

And, while we were tooling around Gerson's old neighborhood, we stopped in to visit another childhood friend, Marcio, and especially his aging father, Ico.  Ico is 93 and has mobility issues but when told there was someone there visiting from the "Estados Unidos", Ico said "That would be Gerson come to visit me" with a big smile.  Inasmuch as it was difficult to witness Ico's aging, that glint in his eye brought back memories of the loved and respected man. 

La Familia:  Louise, Gerson, Flavia, Thiago, Felipe, Marjorie and Jennifer

Gerson with Ico

The rest of the week was spent in relative quiet with Cindy and a gatito.  With Cassio and Grazi gone for the week, we got to take care of Grazi's cat which we called "Gatito" or "Little Cat".  Gatito and I bonded very quickly and he was always on hand to help me with preparing lunch.  Between Gatito and the local monkeys, we had a bit of fun with the animals.

Gatito Black Maned monkeys coming for their banana treat

The weekend made for a wonderful visit with Gerson's uncle, aunt and cousins and gave us the excuse to pick up Italian food at one of my favorite restaurants, Madalosso in Santa Felicidade.  Fortunately, they had a 'family' package and of course, we added a few other dishes to the mix.  It really was a terrific, long lunch just catching up, viewing old family photos and laughing at some old stories.

Gerson, Louise, Tia Marilda, Bruno, Cleide, Celso and Tio Sebastiao

Tio Sebastiao proudly showed his awards when he played for the Coritiba Football Club and they were Juvenil Campeao in the early 1950's

Another highlight of the week (I mean, working on Cindy certainly can be fun and rewarding, but rather dull in comparison to visits with family and friends), was a visit with cousin Carlos Vinicio, his lovely wife, Thali and their adorable daughter, Luah.  Although Carlos is an Engineer by profession, he and Thali decided to pool their resources and build a large dog kennel out in the country a bit, on Thali's parent's property.  Their love of dogs has led to their success and now expansion of the kennels to be able to take care of even more pups. 

Time flew by between conversation and a tour of the property, and especially with a wonderful meeting with Thali's parents.  With her father being a big 'muscle' car fan, he and I had no problem communicating our mutual vehicle appreciation.  Definitely another visit is in the future.

Carlos, Thali, Luah (and Bela..soon to arrive) Their home and kennels in the back Beautiful property

In keeping with the theme of the past two weeks, worked on Cindy and ended the week with a visit with more family.  I keep saying, I married Gerson, I married not only soccer, I married a clan.

We went back to Gerson's old neighborhood to visit cousin Ana Lucia and her daughter, Mariana and her son, Eduardo.  We were surprised to meet another cousin, Victor as well.  Just when I thought I had them all figured out, another one shows up.  Talk about a lot of talking!  We just meshed Portuguese and English into one language and shared stories, adventures and caught up with the family.  Eduardo is a Veterinarian and Mariana is a (teaching) Dentist.  Victor works in programming for TV and insurance sales.  Lots of interesting people in the room.

Ana Lucia, Louise, Gerson, Leticia and Maria Eduarda (Eduardo's wife and daughter - Eduardo had to go to work), Victor and his girlfriend, Fernanda

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