If only we could live at Rio Araguari...

My, my, my, I must admit ... this past weekend was a busy and amazing one! Needless to say, I haven't made my big grocery store run yet. I have so much to blog about, but I am going to have to split the activities into multiple blogs! I am going to start with our Saturday activities.

Fernando, one of the chemical distributors that Dow Brazil works with, invited me and Jonathan to visit his lake house with his family and friends. So, Saturday morning, Jaedino and his wife scooped us up from our apartment, and we headed to Rio Araguari (about 45 minutes away).

It is very difficult to grasp through a camera how beautiful the views are in Brazil, but I tried to show what we were seeing as we drove down the road and approached the lake/river dam:

The location of this water spot is literally in the middle of nowhere, and it's totally worth it! Once we arrived at the lake house, this is what we saw when we got out of the vehicle:

The house to the left is Fernando's. His wife, Rosani, walked us through to look around before we headed down to the water. I absolutely LOVED the cobblestone-looking pathways. The walk from the house to the pavilion was probably one of the prettiest areas I've ever been in:

 



Once we reached the bottom of the hill, we were greeted with this view of the pavilion and water:

Jonathan and I just looked at each other, knowing this was going to be a great day with great people. The pavilion had everything: an area for cooking, multiple drink refrigerators, plenty of tables, radios, etc. Fernando and his family share this pavilion with eight other couples who own the lake houses near theirs. They have people on the property that cooked all of the food for us when it was time to eat. We walked onto the dock, and I was able to steal a picture of Jonathan on the lake :):

We relaxed at the pavilion for awhile and had a few drinks and snacks, and then it was time to get on the boat! Fernando took us around the water to show us the different areas of scenery, houses, and of course....the waterfall!

Fernando and his daughter, Beatrice





Approaching the water fall was like a dream. Fernando brought us so far into it that Jonathan and I got soaking wet! It was FREEZING!

Fernando, Rosani (she is a trip!), me and Jonathan

The guys were having so much fun, we had to get a picture of all that manliness:

And you know I can't leave out the ladies:

After the waterfall, the guys decided to jump into the water and take a swim before we headed back to the lakehouse to eat barbeque. Just as an FYI, keep in mind that the only English-speaking people at the camp were me, Jonathan, Jaedino, Enio and Julia (one of Fernando's daughters). All of our other communication with Rosani or her children or anyone else was through broken Portuguese and sign language. The interesting part about that - you can still figure out what people are saying AND even understand their jokes (don't ask me how)!

Once we returned to the pavilion, some of the other owners (and friends of Fernando and Rosani) started arriving. This little guy was one of my favorites. He schooled me at Angry Birds on his Ipad, and he helped Jonathan with his fishing by bringing him the bait buckets:

Jonathan ended up catching a few fish (which he of course threw back), but not without paying a price. In Brazil, there is a type of fish, the Trahira, that has teeth that actually hurt. Badly. Just as Jonathan caught one, Fernando couldn't get the words out of his mouth fast enough to warn him as he took the hook out of the fish's mouth - his gift from Mr. Trahira Fish was two teeth being inserted into his thumb, leaving holes that bled for quite some time. I guess the fish won in the end ;).



Jonathan's first fish in Brazil (not the one that bit him)!

As the day wore on, Rosani was making me laugh more and more. We talked about Brazilian bikinis and how they are pretty much made of dental floss (which I will never be caught dead in, by the way). I explained to her that American women don't have bubble butts like Brazilian women (at least not white American women ;)). Our hips are too wide (generally speaking)! If I had a bubble butt, was born in Brazil, and spoke Portuguese, I would wear dental floss, too.

As we ate, we all told stories of what it is like to be a foreigner in any country, and how ridiculous the language barriers can make you look. It was at this point that I wish I had videoed Rosani's story of being in Italy, where she tried to tell a handsome man that the curtain in her room had fallen. I am not even going to attempt to explain it, for this is a story you must see in person! Here are a few shots of the food of the day:


Open-fire BBQ

Fried Pacu (a Brazilian fish)

Jonathan just informed me that the fish in the above picture, Pacu, is the type of fish that constantly annoys Jeremy Wade on River Monsters when he is fishing in Brazil. Pacu have teeth like humans! Seriously. I dare you to Google it.

Continuing on, you know that the event wouldn't have been complete without the drink of Brazil, a caipirinha! You can use many different flavors in caipirinhas, and my favorite so far is caju (cashew). Speaking of that, did you know that cashews are fruits? The cashew nut that we eat is a piece of the bottom of this fruit. My favorite Brazilian juice so far is 'suco de caju' (cashew juice - it doesn't taste the way you are thinking it does) ... and of course, caipirinhas de caju :) :


My 'caipirinha de caju'

Due to my high intake of caipirinhas, I had to visit the restroom at the pavilion a few times. Well, of course, I decided to go into the bathroom at the same time as Mrs. Huge Ass Brazilian Lizard. However, Mrs. Lizard decided to hide from me at first, and then JUMP OUT from behind the mirror as I am washing my hands. So what do I do? What any other American woman would do in Brazil! I went flying out of the bathroom (very calmy, only a few quivers and bolts into the air). At this point, it was dark outside, so I figured nobody could see my private freak-out in my little corner of the grass. 

Then, I turned around - to find 19 heads staring at me. The embarrassment hit me, and I didn't know what else to do, so I gave them a little, nonchalant wave with my hand. Seriously. I waved to the people I had spent all day with like I was just arriving to the party - which of course sent them into fits of laughter.

I know a few posts ago that I said everything was smaller in Brazil. Not everything. For EXAMPLE:

I had never seen a moth the size of an eagle, until Saturday.

The moth is huge, but THIS one tops the charts. You want to see a woman flip out? Pick this thing up and let it hiss at her:


A supposedly HARMLESS Brazilian beetle

That's my flip flop, and I have big feet, so it is actually probably bigger than what you are imagining. Maybe even the size of a small cow. So, with justifiable reason, after the over-sized lizard, moth and beetle, I was swatting at anything and everything that I thought was trying to attack me. The sunglasses on my head really took a beating (as did my head) because anytime they moved, I slapped. 


Rosani and me

We decided to head back to Uberlandia around 10 p.m., and Jonathan and I couldn't agree more on how awesome of a day we had. Brazilians are amazing! We Americans really can learn a lot from them. There is no judgment. Ever. Just pure acceptance and enjoyment of your company.

Rosani has invited me to start running with her group of girlfriends every week - this Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. will be my first day! They run three miles. Did I mention that I haven't run in a year?