Friday, July 15, 2011

One very good year

...is what I'm looking forward to.  It has certainly started out that way.
I had a fantastic birthday weekend with my friends at Diego's family farm.  When we arrived, there was a fresh lamb skin hanging over the driveway.  "Lunch," he said, smiling. We had barbecued lamb for the next five meals.

It was also lambing season and babies were dropping like apples out in the field.  So beautiful! We stayed in a tiny farm cabin, with a wood stove and large, welcoming front porch. It faced the small serra to the north, and had an outdoor bathtub. It was the first place in Brazil I thought I might be comfortable calling home.

Maybe the best weekend so far.

(Except the part where a horse rolled over on top of  Dana, down a mountainside, and her face landed in a cactus.  But don't worry Aunt Cindy, she came home laughing and unharmed. And it makes one awesome story.)


But, yeah, even still, amazing birthday.

In one hour, we are getting on a bus and heading north.   Classes are over(I passed everything!  in Portuguese!) and Dana and I are heading to Foz do Iguacu.  Then to Mato Grosso to see some parrots. And finally to an organic coffee plantation and nature reserve in Sao Paulo state.

Time is going too fast right now, but other than that, everything is swell.
Love you all. Tchau.