my little bit of heaven in minas gerais... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mineiros waiting for godot 

im my imagination, if one day i were to return to brasil, i would want to live in a little town like this, rich in simplicity and poor in pretensions. one dirt road, a half a dozen bars, one public telephone, no banks or police stations. :) i got here on a recommendation from my sister, who had an old univeristy colleague - a german chap - who had given up complex life and moved here in the 80s. i met him and his family, and he was like a shaman, though by his demeanor and peaceful character, he could have been a little buddha :). what a life. what amazes me most of people like him is the courage to create a life so unique, so against whatever grain he came from, and so rich in content. 

i spent a few afternoons in this bar, drinking my nice cold beers and sheltering from the certain and predictable summer storms that arrived nearly every afternoon. i got to know the owner, the gentleman in this photo, and became friends with the locals who would stop by on their way in from the fields, alighting from their tired and scarred horses and mules to pick up a well earned cachaca and stock up on whatever gossip existed in a one-road town in the middle of minas gerais. the first time i saw these girls i was struck by their european features - the blue-green eyes, shinny blonde hair and nuanced features. it became obvious to me that they were related to him, grandkids i thought. one day we got into conversation and i asked about the background of his granddaughters, to which he laughed and said, these are my daughters. ?? daughters. oh, wau. cool. recognizing my confusion he asked me, in that delicious brazilian combination of humour, pride and machismo: Do you know how old i am? ahh, (even here flattery has its place ;) ) well, i said, looking at his kids and imagining they were at most 9, 10... well, 55? ha! 71! i have 11 kids, including a 2 year old. :). the pride in his voice was fantastic. this was not a man who was ever going to retire from the business..... i didnt ask him about his wife, or wives. he offered me a few drinks on the house :) and i sat there trying to imagine the secret to his success... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

this scene made me laugh :), the audacity of the little chihuahua is very typical of the breed isnt it?:), the poor horse seems indignant about the aftont! :)