Everyday life in Brazil

If you've read my previous posts, you are probably beginning to realize that we had an amazing time in Brazil. We are already longing to go back!

The countryside is beautiful. The fruit is delicious. And life there is just fun!

For instance, where else do you see a man carrying a pig down the road?

Where else can you see a Mercedes Dump Truck?

Where else are suckers called "Shut ups"?  Guess you can tell what the mom's use this candy for.

 

Where else can you watch them cut up a cow at the grocery store? They would cut up whatever portion you wished to buy and place it in a grocery sack. It was all priced the same - if you arrived early enough you could get fillet.

I loved hunting through the grocery store for the items on the list.

This particular store was stocked well - the owner has a barge. He brings supplies for larger cities down the river. They even had kitchen cabinets. I began to envision and orange and teal kitchen.

Since any purchases will need to be taken back home by way of bicycle, the store offered a delivery service. Sarah would order chicken and flour and 2 liters and such. They would be delivered to the house later that afternoon.

Fruit and vegetables are bought at little stands set up along the road. Sarah and I would ride by them, surveying which stand had more to offer.

Dave and Sarah live in an amazing house that is provided by their mission board, ABWE.

Their open floor plan provides the perfect place for small group discussion and discipleship.

The roof is the coolest part of their home

It is raised, making it resemble a huge pavilion.

It is great for large parties, games, or just overlooking the Amazon River.

They have a great grill on the porch as well - we grilled some chicken and sausage one day for lunch. Brazilians eat their biggest meal for lunch.

There are fences and walls around all of the missionaries houses - they help to keep dogs and other unwanted animals out.  I love the custom they've adopted - since there are no doorbells to ring, when a visitor arrives, they clap at the gate.

Trash is kept high off the grounds - also because of the dogs.

Evelyn seems to love life in the Amazon.

She loves her swimming pool. I love how she had arm floats on even in this little tub.

Brazilians love their hammocks - and Evelyn does too.

We brought 2 hammocks back with us -they are really quite comfortable. As you can see in the picture below, Evelyn also loves her "pu-pu juice."  (It's how she says Cupacu juice.) It's all over her face.

See her drinking it here...

and here. On her tricycle, of course. She would wake up in the morning saying, "Where's my bike?"

She also loves to swing in the backyard.

This little girl is growing up in paradise.

In the picture above, you can see their awesome yard. Sarah grows her own herbs, spinach, peppers, etc. We fell in love with the little bananas they have there. They are half the length of bananas in the States and are much sweeter.

We loved riding our bikes everywhere.

My big adventures included cutting up chickens and cracking open Cupacu. While Jeremiah's adventures included fishing in the Amazon River...

and hiking into the jungle.

There are also lots of critters...The black fuzzy ball is a tarantula on the side of their house.

The homes show the poverty level.

However, the people don't go hungry. The river contains tons of fish and the trees are full of fruit.

Most of the ladies in the village do their laundry by hand, hanging it to dry.  Sarah has a washing machine and plenty of line to hang out the clothes to dry. It's made me start hanging more close to dry here at home.

Due to the high levels of humidity, we had to bake the salt before we could use it. Straight from the package, it had close to the consistency of powdered sugar.

After sifting out the big clumps, we were ready to cook!

The boys worked to build a fence along the back portion of their property.  It was so different to hear Dave say, "Sarah, where's our machete?"

The day before we left, Sarah and I had the privilege of getting manicures and pedicures. A lady down the road came to Sarah's house with more intricate designs that we could imagine.

For $6 American, I received an awesome mani and pedi.

I had Sarah apologize to the lady for the state of my feet. Due to boots and cold weather, it was not a pretty site. But she had my toes looking beautiful in no time.

My fingernails have since chipped, but my toes still look the same. She took such care to hand paint those little intricate flowers.

We could tell stories all day long about the things we experience while visiting Brazil. It was such an amazing trip that we were able to take.  We love Dave and Sarah and Evelyn and are so glad that we had the chance to hang out with them. They were truly an encouragement to us.

If you've missed our other posts from Brazil, check those out here, here, here and here.  More to come!