Brazil Part 1

For those of you reading who don't know me from high school, my family hosted an exchange student for a year while I was a senior in high school.  We had seen other families take in students from other countries and have great experiences with it, so we figured we would give it a try.  We picked an exchange student, Fabio Lemos, from Brazil, and he arrived to live with us for a year never having met us. It ended up being a great experience for our family and for Fabio, too.  A few years later, Fabio's brother, Gustavo, wanted to be an exchange student and chose McDowell Country as well.  He didn't have a host family right away, so he ended up staying with my mom until the exchange agency found a family for him.  I was only able to spend a little bit of time with Gustavo, seeing that I was in school in Raleigh.  Fabio came back to visit this past summer for 5 weeks and invited Rachel and I to visit his family in Brazil.  This sounds great, you know, because I only travel these days, when can I come?  

Fabio lived with us for a year, got to experience our everyday life, meet our extended family, meet all of my friends, and even attended good ole McDowell high school for one year.  We got to know Fabio very well, but only had a small glimpse into his life.  He invited us to come visit, and I think our visit was much overdue.  Rachel hopped on board for the trip after failing out of college, I mean finishing number one in our class at NC State.  (For those of you counting at home, Rachel is a year younger and we graduated together.  This was due entirely to the fact that I wanted to make sure my mom only had to attend one graduation for her children, not the fact that my GPA didn't break 2.5 my freshman year.)  We made plane reservations for a 2 week visit to visit the Lemos Family, got our visas to visit, and were prepared to get a taste of Brazil.

L-R Rachel, Denis, Fabio, Gustavo and me

I'm breaking Brazil into 3 parts coinciding with our stays in 3 different places.  We spent the first part of the trip in Atibaia with their family's house, the second part at the beach about 4 hours away, and the last part in Sao Paulo, the biggest city in Brazil.  And since Brazil is in the Southern Hempisphere, it just happens to be summertime.  Perfect time of year to break up the winter in the U.S.     

To get to Brazil required a 3 hour flight from Charlotte to Miami and then an 8 hour flight to Brazil.  We flew through the night, arrived tired, bleary-eyed, and ready to meet the family.  Fabio, Gustavo, their mother Denise (pronounced De-nise-e) and their dad Carlos were all at the airport to greet us.  Fabio and Gustavo both speak fluent English, while their parents speak little English.  They could understand a little bit and could communicate somewhat, but most of the time, Fabio and Gustavo would have to translate back and forth.  We grabbed a bite to eat at the airport for our first experience with Brazilian food.  Here, we had coxinha, (I have no idea how it is actually pronounced or if it translates to English) a breaded item with an inside filling.  Ours happened to be chicken, but pork and steak coxinhas were very common too.  Words like coxinha are very hard to pronounce because of the n followed by h, which to the best of my knowledge, doesn't occur in the English language.  

We made the hour drive to his parent's house in Atchibia, about an hour away from the airport.  I didn't really know what to expect in Brazil.  Is it a first world country?  Is it a third world country with a small wealthy population?  What is the landscape like?  You hear about how their economy is booming and how they are growing so fast but I had no idea what Brazil would be like.  Most of the time when you travel somewhere, you have everything planned and know on a day to day basis what you might be doing.  However, I have never actually been to visit someone I know in another country, so the Lemos family planned everything for us.  Rachel and I arrived not quite knowing what we were even going to do in Brazil.  

The countryside in Brazil outside of the city was beautiful, with mountains and lush green hillsides all along the drive to Atibaia.  Just a few minutes outside of the city, it was almost like a rainforest on the mountains towards their house.  In the cities, houses were built almost on top of each other, with so much packed into one area, while 5 miles away, there were absolutely no houses to be seen.      

This leads up to the first lesson of the Brazilian lifestyle, the proper way to greet someone.  For girls, whether you meet a guy or girl, it is expected for you to do the "give a kiss on the right cheek as they kiss you on the right cheek at the same time."  For guys, the same is expected when greeting a female, and often the same for males if they are family or a close friend.  If it is a friend or a guy you are meeting for the first time, a handshake is acceptable, or in some case, a simple thumbs up seemed to work.

Brazil has a wide gap between the have and the have-nots.  For people who live a decent lifestyle, it is very common to live in gated-communities with security guards outside of the gate 24 hours a day.  It is also very common to have a maid in the house on a day to day basis.  They had one who came everyone to help cook breakfast and lunch, to clean the house, do laundry, etc.  In the US, unless you just have money to blow, it is tough to have someone come and help with the meals.  In Brazil, it's just a part of the normal lifestyle.

We arrived in Atibia to stay at their parent's house and meet the extended family- his cousin Victor, Denise's brother Ricardo and his two kids, Fabio and Gustavo's grandparents, Evete and Edgey- all came over to meet us and have a few celebratory drinks before lunch.  Within 5 minutes, I felt like we were a part of the family.  It was like I had known them my entire life and was just in town for a family visit.  I told them this and they said, no no, you guys are family.... and you could tell that they meant this with all sincerity.  

They introduced us to Caipirinha, a drink that consisted of vodka, crushed fruit, and sugar.  Somehow, without a legit mixer, this drink was still tasty and ended up being Rachel's favorite drink in Brazil.  We settled in for lunch, which by American standards was almost dinner, seeing that we ate at about 4:30.  Beans and rice are a common fixture at most meals along with some type of meat with a few sides.  Feijoada was the name of the main dish and it consisted of Sausage, beans, chicken, in a somewhat spicy sauce.

Fabio and Gustavo's grandfather, Edgey, spoke no English, but through translators, told me to name American movie stars to see if he would know them.  I started naming a few off, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Will Smith, and Tom Cruise just to name a few, and he would give off a different reaction to each one that had everyone laughing.  Clint Eastwood- ahhh, bang bang bang.

In Brazil, the lifestyle is very family orientated.  If is expected that you live with your parents until you married.  Fabio and Gustavo live in Sao Paulo during the week for school, but come home every weekend to stay with their parents.  The extended family usually all live in the same general area as each other.  Denise's sister and her family lived next door, and their grandparents lived about 10 minutes away.  In Brazil, it is also very common       

Ricardo, Victor, Gustavo, Rachel, Fabio, Carlos and Me

So when Fabio first arrived in the United States, he brought 2 suitcases.  The first one was for all of his clothes and what not, while the 2nd one was filled with nothing but gifts.  The gifts never seemed to end for my mom, Rachel and I on the day he arrived.  He even had gifts for our extended family that he gave out later.  In order to not be outdone, we had to bring all kinds of gifts for their family.  Rachel bought a few shirts for the guys, while Carlos got cologne and chocolate and Denise got all kinds of lotions and all that random stuff girls like.  Before we left the United States, Fabio told us that they also really wanted an iPad and an iPod touch.  We bought these for them and they paid us back when we arrived.  The two totaled about $1,200- not cheap, but not awful considering the products you get.  I shared with their family how much we paid for the two and everyone was so surprised and shaking their heads.  We looked online and in Brazil, for an iPad and and iPod touch, the price totaled about $3,500. 

Before we went to sleep that night, Rachel and I were told there was going to be a big barbecue at their house tomorrow.  If you aren't talking about the United States, it is pretty much understood that a barbecue means grilling all kinds of meat, not actual barbecue like we do in the South.  We slept in the next day with hopes of getting adjusted to Brazilian time, and before I knew it, the barbecue had started.  If I had to guess, I would say we started at about 3 o'clock.  Fabio's cousin Victor took control of the grill, and they passed out a round of beers for the afternoon.  Victor's sister Bruna stopped by to meet Rachel and I and we all talked bs as food came off the grill.  As we ate, the rounds of beers kept coming, and as we kept drinking, it seemed like food just kept appearing.  As the food kept appearing, we continued to drink, and as we continued to drink, food just kept piling up on the table.  Before we know it, it's 9 o'clock, there were about 25 people there, I had learned a popular Brazilian dance, and had taught the Cupid Shuffle to everyone.  I have been to some good cookouts before, but not one included a 6 hour non-stop eating session.  

Gustavo making Caipirinha

Chicken Hearts!!

Rachel and I with the grandparents.

The next day, Fabio, Gustavo and Denise wanted to take Rachel and I to the Grande Pedra, or in English, the Big Rock.  You could spot it from their house, and it stood above the city with a supposedly awesome view of the surrounding area.  We were told it was about a 45 minute drive on dirt roads after getting out of the city of Atibaia.  As we are about to leave, Gustavo asks if I want to ride on his dirt bike with him to the top.  This doesn't seem like an opportunity I should pass up, so what the hell, let's ride.  Backtrack to the ride from the airport, in a little bit of traffic, I had noticed that people riding bikes really don't follow the same rules of the road as cars do.  On a 3 lane road in traffic, you can hear someone laying on their horn from behind you, and then all the sudden, motorcycles and mopeds come whizzing by your stopped car at 35 mph, with a foot or two on each side to spare.  

We weren't quite passing stopped traffic, but we were definitely weaving in and out of traffic on the way there.  Gustavo was driving close enough to cars that I could have reached out and touched their side mirrors as we passed.  Passing on a double yellow line in the middle of town seemed to be acceptable for anyone driving a motorcycle.  After about 10 minutes into the ride, we realized the bike was riding different than it was at the beginning, leading to the realization that we had a flat back tire.  We pulled into a tire repair shop, while Gustavo somehow managed to convince the people there to patch up the tire, even though we had no money on us.  I waited awkwardly in the background for 15 minutes, able to understand nothing, and before I know it, Gustavo had talked us into a new tire and we were off to meet up with Fabio, Rachel and Denise and head up to Pedra Grande.  

Pedra Grande gave us a view of the city of Atibaia and the surrounding towns and hillsides.  You had almost a 360 degree view of everything, and being the rainy season in Brazil, you could actually see where it was raining and where the sun was shining.  

   

After the Pedra Grande, we drove around Atibaia and went to their favorite Pastel place in the city.  Pastel is a dish that is very common for lunch or a smaller meal and is dough filled with your choice of meat, vegetables, or fillings and is then put into a deep-fryer.  Ketchup, hot sauce, and sweet chili sauce were the go-to condiments to dip the pastel to add taste.  We ordered 6 or 7 pastels and shared them all- chicken and bacon, steak, pork, cheese, and even a desert pastel with banana, caramel, and chocolate.  Hey, when in doubt, put it in the deep-fryer. 

Atibaia

That night was our first experience with a Brazilian night club. If you have ever been to a nightclub outside of America, you know everywhere else just stays open pretty much all night, hell, some are still going as the sun comes up.  This couldn't possibly fly in the United States, considering we have to be the most reckless country.  In America, not much good can occur after 2 am, so it's probably a good idea to call it a night by this point anyway.  

Before the nightclub with Bruna and her husband Fabiano

I was told we were going to a country nightclub for the night.  I know how a normal nightclub works- loud rap music blaring.  I also know how a techno club works- insane electronic beats..... also blaring.  A country nightclub- loud, country music?  Ok, so, our definitions of country music might be a little different, but if America had fast-paced country music that you could dance to, and the people dancing were actually respectable, then yes, this would be Brazilian country music!  A live band comes on stage about 1 o'clock, but before then, they play a DVD of a recorded life concert on the big screen before the band comes on.    

Gustavo knew someone who worked at the club and somehow got about 15 of us into the VIP section.  (Let it be known that this was just the first of multiple times that this happened.)  We started off with 40 Stella Artois beers and burgers and fries for the group.  A few people tried to teach me some Brazilian dances but they were a little hard for a white American to pick up.  The band came on about 1 am, and played for 2 hours before stopping to dance with the crowd for another hour before everyone started to leave.  By the time the concert was done, no dance moves were off limits..... jumping, arms flailing, angry lawnmower, ghost fighter, you name it, it was probably tried at about 3:30 in the morning.  

By the time we got home, it was 5 am and everyone was completely wrecked.  Fabio told us that this wasn't even too late of the night by their standards.  (Geez)  After going to a Brazilian nightclub, I came to the conclusion that Brazil is the first country I have visited that can compete with the United States in terms of good-looking women.    

This knocks out the first leg of the journey in Atibaia.  Stay tuned for our adventures at the beach and on to Sao Paulo.

RIP JHW 3