Diary/Photo Journal
Weeks of January 16 - January 29, 2011
These next two weeks were spent around Curitiba somewhat and definitely, around food. I am just glad that the airlines do not charge for the extra kilos (pounds) we are going to carry back in our bellies (I probably should not give them any ideas. I can just see it now, the airlines weigh you in when you leave the U.S. and then weigh you again at the airport when you are returning home. "Yo, Ms. Wright, you gained five pounds, that will be an additional $50US per pound!).
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Carlos anticipating his dinner
You would be smiling too if you |
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Gerson being a good citizen and
helped to push the police officer's stalled car up the hill and into a gas station An ice
rink in a local mall - very unusual |
We made a bit of progress on Cindy as Gerson was able to remove her carburetor for repair and remove her gas tank for cleaning. I took apart the interior, cleaned anything that did not move (fortunately, there was nothing moving ;-) ) and put everything back into place. After a few days of grease, grime, dust and dirt, we were ready for a bar-b-que at Marco's family's fazenda outside of Curitiba.
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Marco's family's fazenda is a
beautiful place and have many thoroughbred horses for tenants. Views around the fazenda: |
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View to the main house |
If eating until we just about burst at Marco's place was not enough, the next day we went to a birthday party for Kike's son Lucas (see BRIVdiarypage6) at Kike's family's fazenda. Kike hired a caterer who basically made sure we never were without food and as we brought 100 brigadeiros, we indulged in a significant amount of goodies (gee, I wonder where the extra pounds are coming from).
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Our brigadeiro donation A great turnout for the party Lucas watches while his mother, |
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The coolest thing for kids:
A bouncy-soccer field |
We spent more time with Cindy and running around trying to get parts. We always are reminded of how much we appreciate the United States when we have to locate car parts or building materials or labor services of some sort. Finding things in Brasil is like working in an office that has a filing system based on the 3rd, 6th or 8th letter of the alphabet, the colors of the spectrum and only filed numerically every other first Tuesday of a new moon month. Yeah, it makes no sense at all!
Needless to say, it takes a long time (and a LOT of patience) to get things done. Well, at least I learned whole lot of new palavroes (pal-a-vrones - bad words) from guess who.
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Sunset seen from Marjorie's apartamento |
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On the way to the beach Paranagua Bay Trees are in bloom on the hillsides OK, this is not the normal animal crossing |
At the end of the week, it was time for the beach. We joined Marjorie and Carlos for three days of fantastic sunshine (as this is the rainy season, we would usually see rain at least one day). Not much to add accept "ahhhhhhh".
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Marjorie entertained us with her
attempt to get in her new flotation chair Success! |
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We got our storm - it was so eerie, it was like something out of a horror movie |
We ended the two weeks on a relaxed note and looked toward figuring out what to do with Cindy. We have to find a way to get her running and legal in Brasil so we can again give her a good stretch of the legs.
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