rooted journeys

Wow, I haven’t quite settled back into the routine of going to the office everyday AND trying to get things done outside of work. So, just to let you know, we’re still alive and kicking here in São Paulo.

A few weeks ago, our friend Alexandre took us to a hotel that lies in the midst of a number of parks (PETAR, Xitue Ecological Station, Carlos Botelho State Park and Intervales State Park), about 270 km south west of the city. Though it was misting or raining the entire time, it was so lovely to be in the middle of the forest for a few days. The hotel – Paraíso Eco Lodge – provided a variety of hikes through the forests, the highlight being a trip into a cavern. The hotel is still in the process of defining itself, but has an incredible setting to offer and an interesting museum focused on native Indian artifacts.

I am always amazed at what you find in the Brazilian rainforest . . .

Caverns

Green for as far as you can see

Vines that are the size of tree trunks

The original coffee tree from Brazil

Spectacular waterfalls

Alexandre and Jeff

During another weekend, one spent in São Paulo, I visited the contemporary art show “In the name of the Artists” at the Pavilhao do Bienal. The exhibit showed work from 51 of the biggest names in international contemporary art – a collection from Oslo’s Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art. The art museum in Ibirapuera park, designed by Oscar Neimeyer, has a wonderful interior space with white curving ramps. The outside of the building is a bit dated and not as nice, in my opinion, but that is just part of the concrete jungle we call São Paulo. The work of Damien Hirst was showcased at the front of the exhibit, specifically his work of two cows split in half Mother and Child Divided. The exhibit, which was quite extensive, was inspiring, thought provoking and quite odd at times (as I find much contemporary art).

Comtemporary Art Exhibit

I just read this in an article in the NY Times that says “Agência Click calculates that 2.6 million Brazilians update their blogs daily, which ranks the country as among the world’s most active in terms of blog activity.”
I think I need to absorb some of this Brazilian blog spirit – it’s a little lame that I’m barely posting monthly these days. In our defense, we have not had internet at home so it is difficult to stay on top of all internet-related personal things these days. Fingers crossed though, we’re hoping to be moved into a new (2 bedroom) apartment at the end of the month, so we should be able to get ourselves settled in with internet, among other things, soon.

The best thing to report from our recent journeys was our lovely weekend at Fazenda Alfheim with Rance and Lone. Our Saturday there was exactly how a Saturday should be . . . we woke up to coffee and homemade bread (thanks Lone!); took a hike into the rainforest to admire their waterfall and relaxed in the sunlight along the river; put a (local) leg of lamb in the oven with a truly delicious marinade that Rance assembled of fresh organic herbs and vegetables; and enjoyed dinner, tea, chocolate and always inspiring conversation with wonderful friends. Delicioso.

Sunday, Jeff suited up to help Rance and a few workers harvest honey. Unfortunately, we only were there for half of the process since we had to get back to work on monday morning, but it was still wonderful to be part of it. Jeff helped them to remove the honey from the hives and carry the wax filled frames from the hillside into a room near the house. After all the frames were transferred, the boxes were left covered until the evening for the honey extraction process. You leave the boxes covered for the day so the bees don’t eat it all and at night they subside and head back to their hives. We hear from Rance and Lone that this “spring” honey is quite delicious, so i think Jeff’s efforts will have paid off!

All is well for us in São Paulo – I’ll report back in more detail soon. In the meantime, enjoy our pictures from our weekend at the farm and check back again soon.

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This week marks one month of officially (and legally) living in São Paulo. It has been a good month. Our expat group is constantly expanding and we are both thoroughly enjoying work. In general, we’re happy to be working again, but we’re also enjoying what we’re doing – learning and contributing at the same time. Our portuguese is progressing slowly, but more and more we’ll be called upon to communicate in portuguese speaking meetings, so this will force the issue.

Last weekend was a gloomy one full of rainy days. Here’s a little peak at what life might be like in the heart of the rainy season, which is quickly approaching. This picture below was taken from the window of our cab as we were trying to get to the next neighborhood over. Also check out this video we took from inside the cab – yes, that is what I would call a sidewalk and road washing away.

So as you can imagine, we opted to spend a lot of time cooped up indoors, which made for some tasty meals, juice and relaxing.

This weekend we plan to explore a little bit more, so I hope to have some fun stories to share. And next week will be a busy one full of  design workshops as the architects for our big project will be in town from London. This will really drive home the fact that we’re on the other side of the table (as in the developer side), so we’ll certainly let you know how that feels!