0235 Ubatuba Brasil

25 March 2015  
Giles gets a Brazilian, and other fun things !

The first morning in Ubatuba was spent getting a few of my chores done.  A haircut first, with Nil the barber.  Not being able to communicate with him other than by sign language meant I wasn’t sure what I was going to get style-wise (my first Brazilian Ha ha !), but it all went well (the bits I can see from the front, anyway !), and should see me through until I get to Europe !

Then it was off to the computer shop because my plug for charging my lap top doesn’t seem to work anymore.  Once again, meaningful communication was almost impossible, but within 5 minutes they had found a plug which worked, despite it being TOTALLY different than the one I had before – I wasn’t about to question how this could be the case – it works, which is all I need !

While Giovanna went shopping, Mauro, Leticia and I went for a walk around the town, and ended up at a little coffee house type place called Tachao, and which only exists in Ubatuba. It serves lots of titbits and jams and other tropical delights, but we specifically went there to have a Cochina – A kind of Brazilian empanada which has a potato base, and which, knowing of my love for empenadas, Mauro and Leticia were sure I would enjoy.  And I did – It was delicious – And great to be out and finding some of the unique differences between Brazil and the rest of South America.

We then went down to Mauro’s ice cream shop on the beach front, which is closed today, but we tried some secret Brazilian flavour called Acai, which I have never heard of before, and is apparently unique to Northern Brazil and the Amazon area.  Interesting …….

When we got home, they have a little feeding table out in the courtyard and these tiny little sparrow sized birds come in at sunset and feed on fruit that the family put out for them.  They are almost humming bird size, and dart here and there, and are called Saira 7 Cores – Which apparently means bird of 7 colours.  Certainly a delight to see them flying around in the garden.

Today is Leticia’s 19th birthday, and after a relaxing siesta kind of afternoon, in the evening we had a barbecue and a couple of other families came round to celebrate the day.  Mauru cooked steak and sausages and chicken parts (hearts, I think ?) on his big bbq, and then we all sat around the table and had a very sociable evening.  I have to admit my (very) limited Portuguese meant that I very rarely knew what was being said, but enough was translated for me to be able to enjoy the evening.  Later, a big birthday cake that was brought over by one of the other families was devoured, mostly by all the kids !!  We eventually got off to bed sometime around 11 pm !

Pics here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0235Ubatuba?authkey=Gv1sRgCKLrqO_E27zhkwE#