Last weekend we went to an event in Rio that was like a County Show, but without animals. It consisted of a number of large tents filled with food and handicraft stands from different parts of Brazil. It was refreshing to see after all the plastic tat in the shops and the uniform nature of everything in the supermarkets but the afternoon was spoilt by a structure collapsing due to high winds which resulted in a death. It was in the area of the beer tent which luckily we'd been waylaid from reaching as quickly as we might have done.
The next day we headed out of Rio to join a tree-planting party at Ricardo's Vila site. We were given a lift by someone about our age, who is a Brazilian Brit, in that she was born to British parents out here and brought up and educated in Brazil before going back to boarding school in the UK. She's now living and doing translation work over here and it was fascinating listening to her stories of how Rio has changed in her lifetime and to discover that there's quite a little clique of people like her, from long-standing ex-pat families, who grew up here, moved away and have made a conscious decision to return and settle in Brazil.
The tree-planting went well as it was an incredibly wet day which gave the saplings a good start but meant that we got very wet and muddy. The soil out there is red and gets very sticky when wet. The clothes we were wearing, which included Patrick's one decent pair of shorts unfortunately, will never quite look the same again! This was partly because Patrick had to spend a large part of his time out there helping pull cars out of the mud and back down the steep track to the safety of the tarmacked road.
We also got to the cinema this week - regrettably a rare event for us now we're in Rio - to see the new James Bond film which is playing to packed audiences out here. We thoroughly enjoyed it. It was wonderful to see something so classy and British!
Patrick spent the week up in North-east Brasil Nr Macaio in Alagoas state. Five of us were doing field work in a limestone quarry - like Swanworth - but 30+deg! The area was dominated by sugar plantations and large lorries hauling beet to ethanol plants! We stayed at a rather run down, but with some family charm, pousada - with nice breakfasts! It was in a place called Praia de Frances which has good beaches. We did find quite nice pasta and pizza places - and a dish called 'prawn bubble gum' - Chiclete Camarão (prawns and gloopy cheese!!). He travelled back to Rio through the night on Friday so the trip ate into the weekend!!