Last weekend we were at the Fazenda “working”. We made further progress on the organization of the construction of the three hotel buildings by dissembling the team and starting with a new builder and construction manager. With Manu on site it was determined that this was the most economical and efficient way to do things. We totally agree as the communication lines were horrible previously, and trust was lacking. Jeff is now taking over the construction schedule, and for those of you who know him, you might imagine that he’s very good at organizing this. I’ll continue to help on the site plan for the hotel areas including a much-needed drainage and erosion control plan and a landscaping plan for around the new buildings as well as improvements to the existing areas, patio and relocated pool.
We spent a good amount of time in São Luiz do Paraitinga this weekend where they were holding their big annual festival, Festa do Divino. Espírito Santo. The town itself is lovely despite the destruction that major floods brought in January. Many buildings around the main plaza, included the most famous old church, were destroyed in these floods. They city and country have jumped in to bring it back to its feet quite quickly though, and the restoration efforts are in the works. The festival was incredibly interesting. Saturday they held the Cavalhado, which is essentially a reenactment on horseback of a religious battle that the Fazenda’s very own Bentão participates in. Both days they feed the entire crowd (of around 5,000 perhaps) with the Afogado. We didn’t taste this, as the line was 2 ½ hours long! Everyone in line came prepared with their Tupperware containers (no limit to size apparently). On Sunday many mini performances happened around the plaza. I think the pictures and video will provide the best description, so enjoy!
