Christmas in Rio Grande do Sul

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After our three week beach nirvana in Morro , we returned to Salvador for one night, to our not quite finished hostel, which was, not surprisingly, still being worked on. We were evicted from our room for a few hours while they installed a ceiling fan. I am convinced the entire country of Brazil is in some state of construction or rehab. They finally installed a mirror over the bathroom sink! We returned to Eric’s favorite luncheonette where they had a buffet of food sold by the kilo. We learned during our last visit that it was cheaper to order the plato freito - food from the buffet, but they chose what we ate, for only $4. It came with fried chicken, rice and beans, a salad, and spaghetti, all on one plate. I received my plate with red beans, and Eric noticed the second plate was getting black beans. He asked me if I wanted to switch and I was indifferent. Until his plate arrived with a salad of pickled beets. I actually like beets and understood immediately that we would be switching. After an evening of listening to the loud music outside, and finally using some unreliable wifi while we waited for our room to be complete, we left early in the morning on an Azul air flight to Sao Paolo, connecting to Porto Alegre.

While I applied for my Brazil visa in Buenos Aires, the woman at the consulate was questioning why I wanted a visa to go to Porto Alegre, and what on earth would I do there for sixty days. The only reason we went to PA was to visit a friend from work, Thales. Thales worked for awhile in Chicago, and was insistent that we visit him in Brazil during our journey. I am certainly glad that we did, not only because of how expensive Brazil was and it was nice to be with some locals, but also because of the generous hospitality we received.

First, Thales greeted us at the airport. He drove us for a mini tour of the city on the way home. We passed a large football stadium and Eric asked which team played there. We were informed it was the “bad guys” and not to worry about. Porto Alegre has two football teams - International and Gremio. Thales is a Gremio fan, the good guys. His father and brothers are also Gremio fans, but all three of the Stucky brothers, Thales, Jules, and Marcelo have International fans as girlfriends. It was a running joke during our stay.

Second, Thales allowed us to stay with him in PA. He and his brother, Jules, share a 2+ bedroom apartment in a quiet neighborhood. We were warned from the start that it is a guys’ apartment - the fridge contained all liquids and no food. We perpetuated the stereotype by hitting the supermarket to buy wine, beer, milk, soda, and yogurt drink - not a single grain of food was placed in our cart. Most important after our virtual internet black out in Morro , we had wifi again, and took advantage. During our first night, Thales introduced us to his girlfriend, Juliana, and his parents over dinner. We walked through a great little neighborhood filled with bars, cafes, and restaurants. Over the next few days we became accustomed once again to late night dinners, we slept late, and caught up on bills, finances, etc. It was a practical stay.

Christmas in a German Village

During our last night in PA, the eve of Christmas Eve, Thales and Juliana wanted to take us to Gramado, about 100 kilometers away from PA. It is a decidedly German village, known for tourism in the winter and a big Christmas celebration in the summer. After getting stuck in gridlock style traffic leaving the city, we finally made it to the village. We were greeted on the main road in with miles of brilliant blue hydrangeas blooming on either side of the road. They are my favorite flower and it was amazing to see so many - as far as the eye could see. We had dinner at a galeteria, a chicken restaurant. They served fantastic roasted chicken, pasta, polenta, salad, fried cheese puffs, etc. All served family style and all you can eat. It was tasty. After, we caught the tail end of the annual Christmas parade, which was fairly impressive, more like a well lit Disney parade than a small village in Brazil. We wandered the highly lit and decorated town before heading back to Porto Alegre. I have not been a big fan of Christmas for many years now. It is why we generally try to escape to Buddhist countries or Pakistani food with a friend instead of the traditional trimmed tree and wrapped gifts. Seeing the parade, though, started to get me a little more into the Christmas spirit. Part of it could have been because there is something about celebrating Christmas in an area with palm trees and fake snow. The holiday spirit continued the next day as we headed to the beach for Christmas with the family.

Christmas at the Beach With New Our Adoptive Family

Before heading out of PA, we told Thales we needed to stop at an ATM. I have to say that in Brazil we had more problems getting money than any other country we have been to, including Lao. We had problems in Morro because often the machines were either out of money or would just not work. In PA, we tried the ATM at the local gas station but they wanted to charge us a $R10 service fee, which is over $USD7. That was highway robbery. Thales took us to Citibank, where we have an account, and it did not work. He tried taking us to at least three more ATMs, none of which worked. We told him we would figure it out later and he assured us we did not need much money at the beach anyway. Still, it was annoying. Before heading out of the city officially, though, we stopped at Juliana’s house for sandwiches, meeting her family as well. They seemed upset that we did not spend more time with them and we promised that during our next visit we will stay with them. About two hours late we finally headed out to Atlantida.

Atlantida is a small beach town just south of Xangrila, on the east coast of Brazil. We finally arrived at Thales’ family’s house. We said hello to his parents, Joao and Rosane, his grandfather, and his aunt, Tia Ria. His aunt spoke almost perfect English, his mother spoke good English, and his father spoke a little English. Joao liked to say that when he “speaks English Shakespeare shakes in his grave.” Regardless of the levels of English, we were welcomed with open arms. The parents were unbelievably friendly and Ria was a spunky 82 year old woman. She spent her career working for various airlines including Varig and Air France. She has traveled a lot, was never married, never had kids, and looked about twenty years younger than she was. We loved her!

And, the family had a surprise for us. Joao owns an apartment a few blocks from the beach that was not rented for the season until a few days before new years. So, Eric and I were provided with a two bedroom, two bath apartment, with a refrigerator stocked with water, soda, beer, yogurt, milk, and fruit. After Thales picked us up from the airport, allowed us to stay with him for three nights, and invited us to Christmas, I told him he was spoiling us. What I did not realize was that the spoiling had only just begun. Before Christmas Eve dinner, the family provided us some gifts made in the area. We were totally stunned. After, we had a traditional turkey dinner, but instead of turkey, we had chester, a bird that was a hybrid cross breed of chicken and turkey. It was phenomenally tasty - tender and almost sweet, served with sliced pineapple and peaches. I also fell in love with the jello mold for desert. Jello seems so simple, but I loved it. After dinner we sat around sipping a fruit liquor, with Thales finally resting in a hammock, and the family chit chatting the night away. Christmas day was spent rotating between eating and hanging on the beach.

After being spoiled with warm shallow water in Morro, Atlantida was a big change. The beach was wide with soft sand and it was incredibly clean, but the water was cold with some mean waves. And, the first few days the water was dark chocolate brown with all of the sand kicked up into the waves. Each day it became increasingly more clean. Thales’ family rents a beach tent on the beach for the month, which was helpful because we were told to be careful of the sun there. Atlantida and the surrounding areas are apparently under a hole in the ozone. The sun is stronger there than in Bahia, which was closer to the equator. Eric and I had some good base tans from the prior four weeks, but we were a little pink by the end of our first day. The funniest, though, was Thales. He had been working a lot over the prior weeks and this was his first time in the sun. He got a pretty wicked sunburn and we joked with the family that Thales was the gringo and that Eric and I had become beautiful, tan Brazilians.

Christmas Holiday Churrasco

Thales’ father loves to entertain. He enjoys eating, drinking beer and wine, and he loves sharing it all. The day after Christmas we were promised a traditional Rio Grande do Sul bbq, or churrasco, which was a little different than what we were used to with the asado Argentina. The grill was set up in a room attached to the garage, the churrascaria. The boys went to the butcher to pick up the meat while I went with the ladies to the store to get the fruit and vegetables. In Mendoza, we became accustomed to wood fire asado, where the wood is burned to make charcoal. Joao used charcoal, which certainly was a quicker start. In Argentina, the meat is placed directly on the grill, whereas in Brazil the meat is placed on skewers and then placed over the heat. Thales also suggested that, when cooking a bbq at home, Eric cut off a piece of fat from the meat and place it directly on the coals to create the aroma of the churrasco, thereby making the neighbors jealous. Regardless of the differences the churrasco was a big success, starting with an appetizer of chorizo sausage and grilled garlic bread, followed by several cuts of beef and ribs. It was fantastic, but I think the most important part was the entire family coming together to grill the food and eat the afternoon meal.

Shortly after our meal, Thales left the beach to head back to Porto Alegre and then to Uruguay with his girlfriend. Eric and I planned to head back to PA with him to catch a bus to Montevideo, but we were not able to book a bus. Apparently, everyone in southern Brazil heads to Uruguay for the week between Christmas and New Years. Stuck for a few days Thales suggested we stay with his family for two more nights before hopping our bus south. At first I felt uncomfortable about it, feeling as though we were imposing on strangers, but I realized his family enjoyed having us with them. In fact, Joao informed us that we were good guests because we like to drink and we like to eat. Thales’ brother and girlfriend arrived and after Thales left we met every other member of his family - it seemed like every aunt, uncle, and cousin met at the beach after Christmas and everyone was friendly and welcoming. Joao and Rosane took us to town one night and we stopped for a beer on one of the main entertainment areas. We ate beans and rice and other amazing home cooked food. It was nice to eat so many meals in a row outside of restaurants.

During our last day on the beach I had to have my final caipirinha before leaving Brazil. I ordered one from the beach bar that was tending to the Stucky's tent and Eric ordered a caipiroska. Joao's hospitality and pride in his country went straight through to the drinks we ordered. Joao, along with other members of the family had a lenghty discussion in Portuguese with the server about making a good drink for us, including the type of cachaca liquor. Joao was not thrilled with their selections. Regardless, the drinks came and we tasted them - so did Joao and several other members of the family before he finally returned them to the server and asked her to fix them. It was not clear to me exactly what was wrong with them in the first place. In a few minutes she returned, Joao tasted, and they finally met his approval, with a warning that they were better down the beach. We shared the two drinks passing them around, which was a good thing. Those drinks were straight liquor, making me straight drunk off of about one half a glass. It certainly ensured that our last day in Brazil was a good one.

Saying Tchau to Brazil

By the end of our few days with the Stucky family, we were adopted. Roseane informed me that she always wanted a daughter! We may even have promised that we would be back next Christmas. Although we were warned that we needed to learn Portuguese, or minimally Spanish before our next visit, Eric too. Tia Ria warned she would not translate for us next time. We just enjoyed our time with them so much we hated to leave. And, it seems they did not want us to leave either. We had an 8pm bus from the beach to Porto Allegre to catch our overnight bus to Montevideo. We arrived at the Stucky house with plenty of time and sat out back having a snack until it was time to go. Now, Eric is a little bit of a freak when it comes to travel, always wanting to get to the airport, train station, or bus station with more than enough time. He, surprisingly, did not have his watch on, and all of a sudden it was 7:25 pm. We grabbed our bags and brought them to the car while we started to say our goodbyes to mom, dad, granddad, aunt, grandmother, step-grandfather, brother, girlfriend, etc. As we said our goodbyes, we needed up taking pictures in front of the house. Roseane was missing from the photos because she was putting on her makeup. When she arrived, we finished our pictures and our goodbyes. At this point, it was about 7:45 and Eric was starting to sweat. Everyone assured us it was only about five minutes to the bus station, but Eric is not used to cutting it that close. We finally climbed into the car with Joao and Roseane and pulled away from the house, waving to everyone as we went. Then, we saw a friend of theirs on the road in front of the house. We chatted for a minute and then he climbed into the car with us. We drove him to the beach, chatted some more, and said our goodbyes to him before finally heading to the bus station. We arrived 5 minutes before the bus left, walked over to the bus, checked our bags, and said our final goodbyes and thanks to Joao and Roseane before settling into our seats about 2 minutes before take off time. Eric finally relaxed because we were on the bus at last. Frankly, I did not want to leave and would have been happy to stay around longer, but it was time for us to head out to Uruguay. I do think if we had not booked the bus to Montevideo ahead of time, we probably would have stayed through New Years. We had a wonderful time with a welcoming family - our new extended Brazilian family. We did not say goodbye to Brazil, instead, we know we will be back. We will see our new family again…

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Photos

In Home BBQ
Thales has an indoor bbq pit in his apartment called a churrascuria. This is pretty common in Rio Grande do Sul.

Christmas Chester
A hybrid bird - a cross breed of chicken and turkey

Thales and Me
Thales is a Gremio football fan and it carries through the holidays with his blue Santa hat.

Joao and His Meat
Thales' dad loves his meat.

Joao and Thales
A father and son bbq at the beach.

A Watched Asado Doesn't Grill
But, the drink in hand helps.

Family Churrasco
Our new adopted family enjoying an churrasco.

My Addiction to Mate Continues
And, I loved the size of the mate in Brazil, but here they call it chimmarao.

Comments

[cheryll]

Your journal was great. Brought back so many memories of my trips to Brazil and the wonderful people and good food. The Brazilians love to party!!!! Looking forward to the journal about Montevideo as I have always wanted to go there. Saw your flight was ontime yesterday and you were in your assigned seats. Cheryll