Brazil is a huge country. The trip from Chicago to Sao Paulo was 5,233 miles. The trip from Sao Paulo to Maceio was 1,192 miles. We spent the evening of Dec 30th on the plane to Maceio. Our 4 hour plane ride from Sao Paulo to Maceio had one stop in Salvador. Sao Paulo is an hour ahead of Maceio. Maceio is 2 hours ahead of US Eastern Time. Maceio is in the Northeastern part of Brazil in the state of Alagoas and Sao Paulo is near Rio de Janeiro. Both Sao Paulo and Rio are in the Southern part of Brazil. Since Rio and Sao Paulo are very far from the equator, their weather is not as tropical as Maceio, which is closer to the equator and on the ocean. They can actually get a little chilly, whereas winter for Maceio means rain. Alagoas is a state with many lakes. To its south is Mundau lake which empties into the Atlantic Ocean. We had lunch on this lake and drove over it to see where it empties into the Ocean, so stay tuned for that story.
We arrived in Maceio at 10 P.M. Maceio time. We arrived on time.We collected our luggage and then scanned the crowd of people waiting for passengers to find our family waiting for us. Rebecca said, “There they are,” with a smile and wave. Ernani waved back and we headed for the crew who greeted us: Ernani’s Dad, Eduardo, Ernani’s half-brother, Falvio, Ernani’s half-sister, Thais and her boyfriend Paulo. Brasilians do the two check kiss, as I call it, when they greet you. It is perfect. It matches the friendliness we encountered while we were there.
This was my first time meeting Eduardo, Thais, and Paulo. Flavio had spent a year studying at Augustana, where Ernani’s brother Mariano teaches Political Science, so I knew him pretty well. It was wonderful to get to see him again and on his turf. He had told me about Maceio, his Dad and sister and mother, but I only knew what I had heard from him. I was now here, seeing the city and meeting the relatives I had only heard of before. It was exciting to meet half of Ernani’s family for the first time and to be in Brazil when I had never before traveled beyond North America.
Maceio’s airport is very nice, and Eduardo said it was very new as well. The Northeast had recently recieved Federal funds to renovate it. Glass and green floors. Since it was dark when we arrived, that was my first impression of it. We walked out into the warm air. Eduardo asked me how the trip was and I said, “Okay.” I meant it had all gone well. He looked at me and said, “It is a long trip.” He emphasized it and elongated the long. It is, but worth it.
I wanted to look at the stars. I was excited about seeing different stars, but I was too tired to do anything more than follow everyone and the lights at the airport were very strong. We got to the cars and divided our luggage and our people into them. Thais and Paulo had their own car and most of our luggage, so the rest of us piled into Eduardo’s extended cab truck. Ernani sat up front with his Dad, and I was in the middle of the back seat, so my first views of Maceio were not the most complete. That was probably a good thing. It was dark and I was tired. Soaking in what I could a little at a time was best.
The airport is near the University (where Eduardo taught Political Science, he now advises the Governor) and farthest from the ocean. It is a little way out of town. I had caught glimpses of palm trees and cactus from the runway and more palm trees as we walked out the airport to the parking lot. And I definitely noticed the speed bumps. They are serious about them in Brasil. They were like little mountains of yellow cement. Eduardo almost stopped to go over them and they still raised you from the seat of the car as we passed over them.
As we drove away from the airport to the ocean, Flavio told me about the college, about his program in Architecture (University students in Brasil all commute, at least in Maceio), and about the places we passed. He also told me about the 4 sets of tests they take to gain a spot at the University. They are very hard because they only pass a small percentage of the many people who take the tests. They read the names of those who passed to a crowd of waiting students, and if you pass, they shave your head if you are boy and half an eyebrow or an eyebrow (this was not so clear) if you are a girl. And, there is a big party afterwards.
He also hinted there were surprises at the apartment. The streets were pretty empty, but I knew already it was a good thing we were not renting a car. It felt like we were zooming and that lights were optional.
We arrived at the apartment building named Neo (we found out later there was a Neo 2, so we called this one Neo 1.0). We entered the main gate, into the lobby, up the very small and tight elevator, up to the 4th floor and room 414. It was perfect for our purposes. It had one bedroom, a couch or really a futon which Rebecca slept on, a kitchen and a bathroom and a balcony. Our family had bought us food: mangoes, papayas, kiwis, apples. They had bought us eggs, fruit juices, and two 2 liter bottles of Guarana Antarctica, a local soda loved by the U.S. Magalheas family. They also had bought us a gallon of bottled water. We were set.
I was thinking about sleeping when Eduardo said, “Hey, we are taking you out to eat.” And he did. We changed out of our jeans and semi-wintery clothes and then walked across the street to a restaurant on the beach. Our apartment was feet away from the main drag which ran along the beach, and ideally we were just off a side street rather than on that busy street. A grocery store and a pharmacy were just down the street from us going away from the ocean. The ocean was to the east and the grocery to the west. I was back in a place where I knew my directions. Eduardo said people from Illinois really knew their directions. It is flat there too.
Crossing traffic in Brasil is dangerous. Eduardo warned us to be careful for pedestrians had no rights, and if we got hit, no charges against the driver would be made. So, we carefully crossed the street. The restaurant was wonderful. We sat down outside where we could hear the ocean and feel the breeze coming off of it. We had seafood and cachaça, a local liquer made from sugar cane and a lot like rum. We had some with limes (they called them lemons). It was wonderful. I had shrimp soup and a ½ a local stuffed clam. It was fresh and fabulous.
After eating, we went back to Neo, the apartment, and said our goodbyes in the lobby. We went to bed and woke up the next day to the blue skies of Maceio.
No comments:
Post a Comment