Saturday, April 25, 2009

back to the beach house for hamburgers






We were invited out to Brother and Sister Gunn's beach home again for a picnic. This time we made sure that we did not have to hurry back and stayed most of the day with them.
The view is just spectacular
Their city is about a three hour drive from Sao Paulo.
Brother Gunn loves to fix hamburgers for Americans.
These hand-made lace food covers were so charming. I hope to find some in the market place while we are here
i Sister Gunn is not Jewish but was anxious for us to prove that we really enjoyed the food by having seconds.
This was my first hamburger in Brazil
This was a perfect day.

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Holambra


Friday, April 10th was a national holiday for Easter here in Brazil. Everybody, except teachers, had the day off. So Jerry, I and Doctor and Sister Halls went on a little day trip. President and Sister Woodward decided to stay at the MTC in case something unexpected happened.
The picture above is one of two entrances to the town of Holambra. Founded in 1948 by Dutch immigrants escaping the devastation of WWII in Europe, it could be called the flower capital of South America. It is also home to other kinds of agricultural co-ops.
After a lunch of Dutch pancakes, we drove around the town and found these capivaras (world`s largest rodent) in a large park in the middle of the town.
These two were discussing the events of the day.
The largest of these animals can weigh 200 pounds.
At the other end of town stands a full size working windmill. It stands seven stories high.
The ground floor is a reception area.
Steep, narrow stairs lead from one floor to the next.
Jerry and I went all the way to the top.
Here I am with Dr. Halls (in the white shirt) on the varada or porch of the fourth floor.
One of the huge blades up close.
Looking up from the varanda that goes all the way around the windmill.
Signs were written in Portuguese, Dutch and English.
There were several signs that said. "Don`t Touch Anything!"
The EPA or some other US Government agency would never have allowed anyone above the 1st floor.
Going down we were asked to go backwards.This is a corn field across the road from the windmill.
A view of the land scape from the windmill.

bus ride to the museum cafe

Vernon and the President had gone to lunch at the Sao Paulo Modern Art Museum. They thought it was so good they wanted all of us to experience it. We decide to take the bus, which is an experience in and of itself.
there was plenty of room to start with
but the buss filled up fast
The Cafe food was wonderful! Food presentation is a real art in Brazil. This is the salad bar.
This is a sea food dish. If you look closely you can see the eyes on the shrimp. The food was so colorful and delicious.
One of the chiefs stepped out of the kitchen to stir the file mignon
Everything imaginable was available on the desert bar. I had flan, fresh papaya and mango with dark chocolate shapped like a rabbit.
they had all kinds of specialty drinks available and rabbits were everywhere in celebration of Easter.The cafe is open every day but only for lunch. We were glad that we arrived early because the cafe was filled by the time we were ready to leave. We caught the bus for home just outside the museum. Taking pictures out the bus window is safer than taking pictures on the street. If you look really closely ( just above the round shapes on the left) you can see two men washing the tiles that cover this whole skyscraper. The men were hanging from cables and had power water hoses squirting the dirt off the building . The MTC has been washed down once since we have been here.
On almost ever main road you will see vendors that set up portable shops. They sell fresh food, flowers, umbrellas, cell phone chargers, jewelry, stuffed toys, bottled water, and every other thing you can imagine.
In addition to the street vendors you have little shops mixed in with homes and apartment buildings. Lots of people trying to make a living and a lot of people living in this big city.
In contrast to these little street markets are the large apartment buildings, office buildings, shopping centers, factories. and freeway over passes.
There is always construction going on throughout the city. Concrete and red clay bocks are what they use. I am sure they are structurally sound but they look like they would easily crumble if they ever had an earth quake here. The only natural disasters we have heard of since being here was too much rain and flooding in Florianopolis.
Here we are in Casa Verde the neighborhood where the MTC is located
the land here is rolling hills so the houses and business look like they are stacked up on top of each other.
We are coming to the end of summer here but there still are a lot of trees in full bloom--pink, magenta, coral, yellow, purple, and white. Sometimes the trees, and bushes and flowers look artificial they are so beautiful. On our P-days we really enjoy riding through the city on the bus.