The Beach and New Years

Today we just got back from our two week long vacation to Capão da Canoa. We left on January 29th. The trip took about 4 hours by car. Me, Bernardo, and Lala all took anti-nausea pills which made us all really drowsy so when I got there I pretty much just wanted to sleep. We were staying at my cousin Guto's beach house which is two stories and is about 10 blocks from the beach. We were there with Guto, his sister Alice, and his mom and dad, Leonides and Ilírio. The weather at the begging was a little bit cloudy and overcast but we still went to the beach.

The beach was pretty dirty though. The water was dark dark brown with something but it wasn't just sand, I don't know what it was. I've never seen a beach like that before. There was also a lot of garbage on the beach. Guto was very angry at the condition of the beach. Apparently there was a new city mayor who didn't care for the condition of the beach or city very well. On the days when the weather was bad we stayed home and played cards or guitar. They played one card game "Canastra" almost non-stop. Guto's house also had a hammock, a soccer ball, a football, and a paddle game called "Fresco ball". When new years came around we celebrated at Guto's house for a bit until the power went out, and then we all went to our aunts house (tia idília) where the whole family was gathered to celebrate.

We had some traditional brazilian New Years food that is supposed to bring good luck, and then we all went to the beach to see a fireworks show. The show was really short but literally everyone was shooting off huge fireworks all around us all night long so there wasn't a shortage. There were so many people on the beach it was crazy. Brazilians LOVE New Years, everyone was so happy and enthusiastic. The entire city was outside partying by the beach. Then we walked around down town a bit more and later went back to Guto's house to sleep. On this trip I have discovered that I snore quite loudly, to the frustration of everyone that was sleeping in the same room as me. Guto and Lala even took a few videos of me. Each day was pretty similar, we would wake up late, eat lunch, go to the beach, then walk around down town, eat, and go home and play cards. Once while me, Bernardo, and Rafinha were downtown we went to the mall and there was a gigantic crowd around the escalator. All the glass from the handrails was broken and there were police and paramedics crowded together in the middle of the escalator. We went up to the second level using the stairs and what happened was a little kid, about 5, got his fingers stuck between the moving part and the side of the escalator. They had to stop the machine, break all the glass, and use a crow bar to pry the kid's hand out. The poor kid looked pretty bad but he was taken to a hospital and I'm sure he's fine. I never saw his hand though, it was wrapped in bandages but there was blood. There were tv crews there too and while some guy was being interviewed I walked behind the camera, trying to get on tv, but they never aired the interview. I was disappointed but it was a very exciting event.

Alice, Guto's sister left to go back to Porto Alegre to work, and my family and I moved out of Guto's house to live with our cousin Sílvia at her beach house. It is a really nice apartment that is only about 3 blocks from the beach. We got a great view from there.

We stayed there until the end of our trip. Each day we would get up early (9:00) and go to the beach. Then later we would go down town again. There are hundreds of food stands that sell a type of food called Kreps, which is like a hot pocket on a stick, with many different types of filling inside of a pancake-like shell, all on a stick. They were really good. Another thing they sell there, which I thought was really weird was corn. They just sell ears of corn on the beach and everyone buys them. It's weird. 

Pretty much the experience sitting on the beach is, your in the hot sun, sitting on a beach chair, surrounded by people, in front of you is the sea and all the people who are walking up and down the shore, and every 10 seconds a vendor walks by with his cart of ice cream, or cashews, or cheese, or popsicles, and he keeps honking his horn and yelling. The guys who sell cheese always yell "Olha o queijo!". I even saw vendors as young as 10.

We visited our cousin Marina's house in a small city not too far away called Machiné. She lives there with her husband Luís, they are both doctors. We also visited the houses of this really incredibly rich guy who lives in Capão. He has like houses all in the same place and they are amazing. He also has porches, a lamborghini, a ferrari, and many other cars on display. He even has his own turf soccer stadium on his property and a fleet of security guards. Then the next day we went to a go kart place and raced around the little track for a while. It was really cool and really fun. Everyone wanted to do it more and more but it was pretty expensive. The guys that own the track said that they have another location in Bento, which is a town pretty near Veranópolis, that is cheaper, is outdoors, and has a bigger track. We will definitely do that more often.

Going to the beach was awesome. I never went in the water deeper than my knees, but I got extremely tan, I played soccer barefoot in the sand with Brazilians, and I had a great time exploring Capão da Canoa. It's really good to be back though. Bernardo leaves for his Canada trip on the 16th and he'll be gone for a month. During that time Guto says we should go visit Porto Alegre for a few days. We could stay with his sister. Also "Planeta Atlantida" is gonna happen. It's like the biggest party on earth. It's basically two nights on the beach with tons of famous bands playing, and upwards of 60,000 people. Hopefully I can go to that with Guto or someone.

Here are some more photos of the beach: