Cachoeira III:

15 Nov 2009

The next morning we woke up to this:

At 4 AM! The party began. There was a lot of cross-dressing, I suppose that's an easy costume. The thing is that this party, like Carnaval, is supposed to be toppsy-turvie: social order is turned upside down.

Another common one was dressing up like the stereotypical bahian Black doll. They are usually very black and have a colofrul dress of a particular fabric very bright and eye catching, and hair that is tied in bright orange or yellow scrunchies. The person on the left embodies the doll almost perfectly.
then these dudes with the big heads are supposed to be symbols of the Portuguese. Until then I had never heard of any stereotype of big-headed Portuguese.

Then I decided to take some more pictures of the ex-nun convent. It was a really peaceful place to be.

Then there was this tiny little tiny stairway that led up to the rooms. But I was so scared every time I went up them because it creaked and the steps were so short my whole foot couldn't even fit on them! So on one occasion I decided to prepare myself before going down them by firmly grabbing onto the rail, and all of a sudden the rail shook and I let out a tremendous scream like the whole world was falling apart, because that's how I felt. The one thing that I thought would be stable and it was wobbly and I thought the whole thing sould just break--but alas! it did not! and I'm still alive and well. Isn't that wonderful for us all?!


Down this hall, my friends and I recited some Afro-Brazilian dance steps we learned.
Then I took some time to walk around. Oh actually there was still dancing going on, and my friends and I started dancing at what seemed to be like a little lanchonete or restaurant but they made room for dancing.
And I had to go back to my favortie places like Pouso da Palavra literary cafe.

They had all sorts of stuff there: artisan work
vintage record players, records, cameras
"ancient" irons, oil lamps

Books!

Then we headed out to an historical Fazenda (farm) for lunch. But we had this interesting adventure on this bridge. It is historical in my memory because of our encounter with some people who wanted the big 99 Rainbow bus to back up so he could get through first. yeah, i won't go into the details but everyone got through it safely.
And we reached SANTA CRUZ! the farm. I'm guessing this was an ex-plantation, again that's one thing that I didn't like so much that we weren't given a historical background to many of the places we visited, just like look at this nice place and have a wonderful feast of a lunch, but I had no idea where we were.

WE were all really hungry especially after the bridge delay, and I was thirsty and her were these ladies at the entrance offering a beverage, and I take a little cup and gulp it down just to find that it is liquor and wow it burned. It was not what I was expecting and I should have asked but it was dericious none-the-less. It was really great. It was maracujá liquor for which this Fazenda is known.

Man, these plantation/slave owners had it good.
Great view and everything.
We got some appetizers, my poor friend Algebra. So she asked my friend Debbie to test these balls for any meat flavor and she's like "no these are just fried bread" and yes, it resulted that debbie is not very good at detecting meat. :(

I wish I had a video of the phenomenon that followed. Oh my gosh! or rather Meu Deus! And it was my fault. So, remember how I am always at the end of the food line on every buffet occasion and just get to have whatever was left over, usually no vegetables or meat, just the potato or rice sides, and by the time the cooks come out with some more fresh food, my inspiration has left because I have already started eating beans and i'm not approaching the main course in full gear anymore? This usually happens because I'm not the pushy type or because I'm a slow walker and get stuck at the end or both.
But this time, I noticed that the waiters were bringing out to the plates to the buffet table, and I told a few friends "dude, I'm gonna stand over by that window next to the table and pretend to take pictures, because I don't want to be last today"
So I get up and walk over to the window, and my friend Lana fallowed, then another person came up too, I hadn't realized that most of the 55 other people sat up and looked over at what was going on, and they just all start looking at eachother and getting ready to spring forward and suddenly 40 people got up and RUSHED over to the table, that had nothing but some plates on it.
It was ridiculous and to think that i caused this? So I just quickly made a step forward to make sure I was first in line. But it was really really ridiculous because we were just standing there for a good 5 minutes waiting for food, and it was really a Lord of the Flies, survivalist--almost cannibalist moment!
Even Fred got up to stand between us I could see he had a worried look on his face, ready to referree becaus seriously people were like, defending there place in the line and my friend and I said well we have to organize in a way so that there is only flow in one way on each side of the table otherwise we'll just crash but people on all sides wanted to go at the same time! And we're like wow we can't even compromise.
And comments to our couples who were trying to stand together in line and people were saying "hey, that girlfriend boyfriend thing doesn't count here" half jokingly but not really.
Oh the chaos I can cause. I was really not expecting people to actually do this.
But the food was totallyworth it! Look at this goregeous salad!
This was my final plate, yes finally i get the good stuff! mmmmm.... It was soo good, nice tender meat and fresh veggies and onions, and beans, and fried aimpim (manioc)!

This was a great trip. The fazenda was beautiful and I really liked hanging out with my peer friends like this. Just chilling talking eating. loving! It was a great day. Like the mexican saying goes "el que madruga Dios lo ayuda" God helps those who wake up early. haha, but yeah I always find the days that I wake up as early as 4Am turn out to be odd marvelous adventures.
Interview with Algebra:

It

I thought it was odd that a gas station was right in front of a church....odd is a pretty good word for most of this day. but in a pleasant way.

Dia das Crianças

12 Oct. 2009
=Children's Day
There are several Children's days, I don't know if it's really observed in the U.S. by European-Americans but it is celebrated in many different countries. The day it's celebrated on varies as well, but in Brazil it is October 12, along with the celebration of Brasil's patron saint, Nossa Senhora da Aparecida (Our Lady of Aparecida). Children's Day is simply a day to honor children and minors.

So my family was like "Hey Sonia, come with us to see the church. It's the oldest church in Bahia and it's really pretty" So I went. I find it really hard to say "no" or rather "nao" to experiences here. Especially after watching Yes Man with my family. But really I was told by one of my friends once that we regret what we don't do more than what we do, so I find myself doing things other than homework whenever they arise--but I still do homework. Anyway, on with the story:

And it turned out, it was pretty old indeed.
It was the Nossa Senhora da Aparecida church too I think.
Very peaceful. We didn't go during mass time but just explored.

So as usual, although they were just like "sonia let's go to the church" but we ended up going to a party! We went over to my Tia's house who has two children and is a professional baker. She makes cakes for a living and here is one of her custom-made masterpeices.
The two year old daughter had requested that her mom make her a doll with a purple dress, purple shoes, a purple purse, and two pink scrunchies. So she did and voila, you have the center doll.

I always feel really happy when family is just arriving at someone elses house because they look soo happy to see each other and it gets so joyfully loud. To make the effects more extreme my sister stomps in playing a pot like a drum and singing some axe (carnaval music). The hosts always seem extremely enthusiastic to see the guests and everyone is trying to greet and talk at the same time so it just gets louder and louder.

What is a culture shock to me sometimes though is how they divide the people among spaces in the house. At almost every party I've been present, the adults are in the living room, the children in their rooms, and I'm usually escourted over to the room where my younger sister and her friends are. I have to admit that I feel segregated and slightly offended at first to be physically moved into and restricted to a certain space, at fist thought/impression. But I guess it's just the way of dealing with the limited space there is for so many people and it's just more convenient to separate by age.

Then everyone was reunited into the huge mass to sing the congratulatory song, "Parabens pra voce" It's such a great song! It is used for birthdays too but since it's one of the only Happy Birthday songs that doesn't say "happy birthday" it can be used for other things as well.
It goes:

"Parabens pra você
nesta data querida
muitas felicidades
muito anos de vida"

which translates more or less to:

Congratulations to you
on this beloved date
good wishes to you
many years of life

This is my little cousin enjoying her slice of cake and the doll. She explicitly expressed that she wanted to eat the doll all by herself and started with the head. all that's left to the left of the cake is the torso in this picture.
Some of the murals made by these children.

The Carurú!

27. 09. 09

My mom had been waiting for this day all year! And she had started preparing for it for months. And I've seen them actually working on things for a week, food, decorations etc. From what she tells me, she is following in the tradition of her mom to make the traditional Carurú, the kind of paste made of okra, onions, dried shrimp, toasted peanuts, oléo de dendê (palm tree oil) , ginger, bell pepper, and a little rapadura (condensed sugar cane candy, i think). But it's not just the caruru they make like 12 other dishes, but you call this party a carurú because that is the main offering in this case to Saints Cosme e Damião. these are catholic saints that are linked the the Candomblé orixás "gemeos ibeji" who represent youth and vitality. So these things are offered to them. Several people were helping with the cooking.

they had bought a rooster and a few chickens a few days before to cook for the carurú.

the sugar cane

My aunt roasting peanuts for the carurú and vatapá

From the day before my sister and her school mates were cutting the okra for the caruru
the ingredients for the vatapa and other dishes. the top one is the ground dried shrimp, and under them the beans

this is the pre-vatapa- the paste before cooking (white beans)

Ed's carurú! the yellow stain on the wooden spoon is from the oléo de dendê. He was cooking over this hard core industrial burner, and one definitely needs lots of muscle for this job. but it really is the BEST carurú I've had! it's amazingly delicious.

The black beans with linguiça


the cut sugar cane (cana)
this is the altar for Cosme e Damião

MMM plantain (banana da terra) fried in oléo de dendê
The tables so neatly organized and presented. there's some abobora (pumpkin) the fried plantains that yellow flour is the farofa

some more beans and rice

this one was one of my favorites, it was the BEST farofa I'd ever had. Farofa is a kind of (I love wikipedia) toasted flour (usually manioc flour but can be corn flour etc) that people usually sprinkle on top of beans. That's what my family does anyway, but this farofa was toasted with honey, sooooooooo goooooood!

These plates were the ones offered to the saints/orixas and were to stay at the altar for 3 days I think.
traditionally 7 children are the ones who eat first, (but there weren't enough children at the party so they just used the young kids from my group and) they can only eat with their hands and once they're done they have to wash their hands in a specially prepared bowl full of water and rose petals.
And then everyone else can eat.

Later on they did a raffle to 7 "children" and the winners got some presents. It was a pretty big thing.


then my friends all went home but the party continued, and I hung out with my sister's friends. One of my sister's college friends especially I found really cool and we talk whenever we see each other, he's really cool and he speaks english well but I want to practice my portguese so we compromise. He apparently went to live in the states for 2 years to really learn english but he was in Florida so really he ended up learning Spanish.
Then i went with my other sister's friends who were all in my room. And they were playing the guitar and I got excited and asked if he knew how to play garota de ipanema, and he's like well if you look up the notes i bet i can. so he did play it and he asked me to sing, so i did and we had a little concert in my room with like 10 people. He also played Ambar from Plastiko, for me while i sang as well, that was the first time anyone had ever played that for me, it almost made me want to cry because I love that song so much.

it was really nice. all of my sister's friends are really nice to me and I see that most of them try to speak slowly to me to make it easier. And I'm glad I was corrected on something, I was talkign about cooking with one of the friends and I was trying to say chayote which is chu-chu, but instead I said "chichi", which I hadn't learn yet. I totally told her I like to put urine in that dish! ooops. she's like no, no it mustn't be chichi!
so good to know words for pee and poop people.
it was really fun, and I really like it when i have opportunities to just be friends with Bahians and be treated like a friend. Although of course it's always known that I am not from there and my mexican/united statian accent is always there, but it feels like they can look over that and just focus more on what we're talking about and be able to talk about normal things, once the whole "what's different from here and the States," and all those curiosities, that I'm sure I ask people who are new to the States and from somewhere else, so it doesn't bother me.