Festas, Festas

Here it is August and I haven’t even taken the time to post about this year’s Festa Junina. Well, it was actually another Festa Julina this year because it was postponed until July. We actually had two separate celebrations.

The first was at the English school where we celebrated the 4th of July last year. This year the teacher wanted to do something a little different so it was a bingo party. Yes, they have bingo around here, but something a little more festive was requested and I found a fun game set when I was last in the U.S. so I brought it back for the event.

My husband was on call duty and I was responsible for selecting the numbers. A job for which I was reprimanded, I might add, because I didn’t shuffle them enough between number calling. I quickly stepped up my game, though. Wouldn’t want to disappoint an eager crowd as there were some pretty good sweets at stake, I must admit.

We were also the audience for quite the concert as three children at the school sung Bah, Bah, Black Sheep in English. It was great!

The second celebration was a party where my husband works. It is typically only for employees, but as seems to be the custom with the gringa, I was the exception so I was able to attend and experience it. It was actually quite a celebration, much different than the party we attended last year, but still with the same great food. I did my best with the costume, but I wasn’t about to rent a dress so I was bit of a tomboy caipira for the occasion.

For the food there was a pastel stand, pinhão (from the araucaria tree), pipoca (popcorn) and the sweets that are common at these types of events, namely paçoca (peanut candy), one of my favorites! (And just as I’ve written that I realized that all those foods start with “p”. Just a random thought thrown in there. Sorry.) The pastel (deep fried pastry, this time filled with ham and cheese) was nicknamed an A4 because that is the name for a standard size of sheet paper. They were huge!

The group danced the quadrilha and I say "the group" because I was conveniently on camera duty. Not that I don’t like to dance, but I’d rather snap photos at these kinds of occasions. This dance is comparable to square dancing in the U.S.

It was at this point that I couldn’t help but start humming – rocky top you’ll always be home sweet home to me… It seems many cultures have their version of this. I wonder where it originally started.

So our last Festa Junina/Julina was a lot of fun. Not being the type to enjoy dressing up I won’t miss that when June rolls around next year, but the pinhão, paçoca and pastel are a different story.

The Last of the Food Fests

A week or so before I left to head back to the US for my visit in May the city held another World Food Feira. I’ve been so fortunate to have experienced these events multiple times, but I fear this may have been my last one. I think there might be another one coming up soon, but I’m not sure I’ll be here to enjoy it.

This one was exciting because…ta-da! My favorite sweets lady got a sign for her booth!

She also had some new treats to share which were 50 centavos more expensive per item, by the way. I have a feeling it might have been to cover the cost of the new sign. Luckily, her sweets are worth every penny. In fact, I feel kind of sorry for all the other doces booths there. They don’t get much business when she is around.

First, was the usually cocada in the cup. I like this so much more than the variety that is laid out to dry and get crunchy. This type you eat with a spoon and my absolute favorite is the one with maracujá (passion fruit). Oh, and I’ve discovered the secret to getting it just the way I like it. Buy it the very first day.

I love it when it is really tart along with the sugary sweet syrup it is mixed in. However, as it sits for the two weeks that the feira takes place, the sugar seems to take over and it loses all of the tartness associated with the fruit. My husband suggested I go ahead and get it the first night there and I was pleased for sure.

Her new item this time was doce de abóbora – pumpkin candy. This certainly isn’t a new thing, but I have never seen her offer it before. Now this is some interesting stuff. My husband loves it. I love pumpkin everything, but I just can’t seem to develop a fond taste for this sweet. It is sugary like the others, but carries this raw squash flavor with it that is difficult to explain. I can enjoy it in small bites, but I only want a little. I guess roasted pumpkin is more my thing.

Now, shifting gears to the Portuguese tent. The last time I went to this particular fest a good friend of mine taught me all about the Portuguese desserts. A lady, who has some mad skill at pushing marketing her product sells traditional Portuguese desserts. The pastries travel in from Sao Paulo state and you can only get them at this fest each year. They are first come, first serve and once she runs out, that’s it.

Knowing this bit of important info we headed to the booth on one of our first nights at the fest. Having never been to Portugal and using only these desserts as my judge (not a good move, I know), I would say the popular desserts there are based in egg-heavy custards and nuts. Very different from my neck of the woods, yet good at the same time.

Unfortunately I have no idea what the names of these items are. When I said the woman selling them was good at marketing I really meant she talked incredibly fast. Even my husband had a hard time catching every word. So basically we chose by looks and a few random words such as nozes (nuts) and specific fruits.

The first one consisted of a dry paper-like pastry holding a sweetened, egg custard. It was thick and rich. The pastry probably doesn’t sound too appetizing with my description, but it went well with the custard.

Next, this one was chosen based on that huge walnut on top. We have walnuts here, but they are very expensive so I jump at the chance to get them when they are included in other things I’m buying. It was similar to a nut pie or tart. A pie-like crust filled with a sweetened nut paste.

Oh yeah, we did have some actual food and not simply sweets while we were there, but nothing out of the ordinary that I haven’t posted about before.

So maybe I’ll be surprised if another feira pops up before I leave. But otherwise I send a sweet farewell to one of the best things about the city of Maringá.

Cathedral on Corpus Christi

Thursday was an exciting day around Maringá. In fact, I even planned my last trip to the US so that I could be back for it. It was the feast of Corpus Christi. This isn’t something we are used to celebrating much in the US even though we are Catholic. After a little research I learned this is because in English speaking countries the holiday is often celebrated on the following Sunday and not on the actual day.

Well, it is huge deal around here; bigger than Easter if you judge by the crowds around the Cathedral. What makes it even more an intriguing event here is the carpets that line the walkway in front of the church.

Before moving to Brazil we had seen a documentary based in Ouro Preto where this same practice took place on Easter weekend. We were disappointed to learn that this wasn’t common on Easter here, but then learned about Corpus Christi.

My husband and I were discussing on Thursday that we don’t know what the actual word for the creation is in Portuguese. In that documentary they translated it to carpets so that is what we have used to refer to them.

People were up early on Thursday morning. We heard that they start the night before, but this wasn’t the case this year. I’m not sure if we got false info or if it was because it had rained the previous night.

We went out early because we were curious about how these beautiful carpets were constructed from the beginning. We learned that they start on a piece of paper where often the group in charge has already drawn out the design.

Then for most of them, words and designs are lined with colored yarn, often black. After that, things like salt, sand and wood chips that have been blended with colors are used to create the picture. It looks to be a tedious job that takes a lot of time even with 4 or 5 people working on each one.

The carpets are left there for the day and mass takes place about 3:00pm. After mass, there is a procession along the carpets with the Eucharist. The whole day we wondered what happened to the carpets after the mass and realized as we drove back from dinner that night that they are simply left there to dissolve into the road and nearby ground. Papers and sand were all over the road where the beautiful carpets lay early in the day.

It is kind of sad to see all that hard work go to waste, but I’m not quite sure what you would do with them anyway. All I know is that they were certainly an amazing site to see as they were being created and completed throughout the day.

This was my husband's favorite.

This was my favorite.

I don't think this guy really had a favorite. He was sleeping through all the action.

Volta á Ilha!

So where have I been for the past week?

Well, since I whine so much I know how everyone feels sorry for me seeing as I don’t have a beach close by. So you will be happy to know that I have been busy getting in my much overdue beach time. I mean, Brazil has a lot of things to offer besides the beach, but one gets a bit lonely here in the middle of the country while reading about the beach adventures of other ex-pats. Now I don’t feel so left out.

Well, the real reason we went to the beach was so that my husband could participate in the Volta á Ilha on Florianopolis. This even is a 150km relay around the island. The course is split into 23 legs of varying length and terrain around the exterior of the island.

It is quite an impressive event both to plan and to complete. My husband participated last year, but I was unable to go. This year he has been training his heart out for the past several months and we decided to make the drive so he could compete and we could have a mini-vacation afterward.

The company he works for had two teams – one team of seven (which he was on) and one team of eight. The event takes quite a bit of planning as each the team required two busses for transport. Check points are set up at the beginning and end of each leg so that runners can pass through and hand off their band to the next participant.

The event begins and ends along the walking and bike bath in centro which winds around the coast line. Teams start as early as 4:00 am with groups taking off every 15 minutes. My husband’s team started at 6:45 am.

The race involves all of the different terrains that can be found on the island – road, sand dunes, beaches, wooded trails and even a trek over the mountain. The individual legs of race range anywhere from about 3K to 14K. It is quite the adventure and turned out to be even more so this year.

Pouring rain near Sambaqui

Check point at Santinho

The team was doing excellent the first half of the day even though the first few races were in the pouring rain. My husband had some amazing times on all his runs. So proud of him!

In early afternoon things began to shift. As runners came through the check points stories could be overheard about wading through water. As the afternoon wore on, we learned that entire check points were being washed out by the tide. My husband had about a 9K run which included road, trail and dunes. The dunes had collected water and he, along with other runners, had to wade through waist deep water to finish.

Check point at Joaquina

I spent the day driving around from point to point with a couple others there to watch the event. Expecting the group to finish around 6:30 or 7:00 pm, we decided to head back to the finish line around 5:00 pm to get a good parking spot since we were also on champagne duty.

As the evening progressed we kept getting text after text that the conditions were slowing the team down. In fact, the second company team was forced to drop out because they got too far behind. The remaining team had to finish the race by 8:00 pm for it to be considered completed. It was going to be really tight and the last three runners including my husband were going to have to be moving, and this after already running 13 to 15 K that day.

Those of us at the finish line eased our nerves with a few Bohemias. That is kind of an added perk of just being part of the cheering section and not actually running the race.

We made our way to the finish lane at about 7:40 pm and were relieved when some team members showed up a little while later. This meant that the bus had arrived with other runners and that the final runner was on the course. For the end the other team members typically meet the final runner at the finish line and everyone crosses it together.

We watched and watched down the lane and it was getting so close. Five minutes left, three minutes left…then they came into view. There were three of us cheering wildly which it appears is not the norm at these kind of events. Apparently cheering is only widely performed at futebol games and Carnival. You’d be hard pressed to get so much as a quiet clap out of the other spectators, but we made up for it.

We watched the clock as they neared the finish line. They made it across with 7 seconds to spare! Amazing!

It was such a great night. Unfortunately the dark combined with action shots led to no good pictures of the finish line, but I assure you it was a grand time. Champagne was popped and many teams crossed the finish line with a beer in hand!

It was one of those experiences that I know my husband feels incredibly privileged to have been a part of and it will go in the Brazil memory books for sure. I felt honored just to have been able to witness it and I’m so proud of him and the whole team!

Picture Post: Amazing Easter Moon

We decided to watch (and listen to) the Passion play from our apartment last night instead of walking down to the Cathedral. About a half hour before the show the moon started to come up and it was absolutely amazing.

My camera is notorious for taking really blurry, bad pictures at night. However, these pictures turned out okay. You can see the moon, but it definitely doesn't do the scene justice. I have never seen the moon look so large and with the Cathedral in the view it was breathtaking.

On a related note, I'm getting a new camera soon. Our DSLR arrived at our parent's house last week so I'll get it in May! I'll be so glad to have it for taking better pictures around the city.

I've already had lots of fun Easter adventures this weekend, but will save them for posts next week. God Bless and Happy Easter!

This Week’s Big Event and Late Nights

Through my travels and ex-pat experience I’m beginning to realize that as a whole USAmericans are the least of the night owls in this world. I mean, we have our cities that never sleep and people who work all hours of the day, but in general we do our evening activities a bit earlier than other countries, especially Brazil. Dinner typically falls somewhere between 5:00 and 7:00 pm. Most of the people I know who have a standard, away-from-home day job strive to go to sleep around 10:00 or 11:00 pm.

Around here, restaurants don’t fill up until about 9:30 pm which we’ve adapted to very well. However, the one thing I can’t seem to get over is the incredibly late hour that things/events/classes seem to last during the week. I’ve tried to remember and in grad school I’m pretty sure I didn’t have any night classes that went past 8:45 pm. That didn’t mean I stopped working then, but the structured class was over. Here, I have friends teaching and taking university courses that last until 11:00 pm every night.

This was all brought to mind last night as we listened to the rehearsal performance taking place at the Cathedral. This week marks the performance of the Passion play held outside the Cathedral for Holy Week. It is a really great performance. We went last year.

We learned last night, though, that we really don’t need to actually walk the four blocks to the Cathedral to hear it. Practice began at about 7:00 pm with a gentleman say “Oi” into the microphone about 150 times to test the volume. And oh, was the volume good. It literally hurt my ears as we sat in our apartment.

It is only one time a year, though, so no big deal and the music was actually pretty good. It wasn’t so much the sound as it was how long the practice lasted. At 11:00 pm we thought for sure it was over only to hear them break into song at the crucifixion scene. It was almost 11:30 pm before things quieted down.

Now this isn’t a play rehearsal in a school auditorium, mind you. I have no doubts this thing could be heard from miles away. We are talking LOUD.

I wasn’t quite sure if we would go this year, but assume we’ll probably make our way down there on Friday night. It was a great performance last year, but also standing room only and difficult to see even with the elevated stage.

It was a bit….hmmm, what is the word…busy. People are chitchatting and moving around. There is a guy selling playground balls on a string, and food vendors. This is, of course, is strange to us since we fast and abstain on Good Friday, but it just goes back to that Lent discussion we had about 40 days ago. Anyway, it just made it a bit hard to concentrate on the true meaning of the event.

My camera isn’t the greatest at taking night photos so I walked down to the cathedral today to snap some shots of the stage. They were busy at work getting things together for the big event.