With it being the end of April and the start of May, it was time to pay rent and utilities. The owner sent us the power bill, so I promptly emailed my bank with all the necessary information they requested for the wire transfer. This process was supposed to be pretty straight forward. But it wasn’t.
We had changed our phone number at our bank and made sure the two-factor code would work before we left. Well, apparently, even though that’s the number listed on my app, and I answered all the security questions correctly, (and even answered public record questions about myself dating back 30 years!) they wanted to talk to Trevor instead. So I had the transfer switched to his name so they could verify his identity with that number. That seemed to work until it didn’t.
After saying they had all the information and identities were verified, the transfer was declined and sent to the fraud department. They asked how well we knew this man, and how long we had known him, etc. I don’t know him, but I do know that I was referred, by someone I do know and trust, to a reputable real estate agent, have a signed contract, and have been living in this man’s house for a month!
If this transfer doesn’t happen, we’re going to get fined by the owner and kicked out. It took days to convince the bank that the transfer wasn’t fraudulent. Based on the fee and currency exchange rate we were given, I don’t think the bank should be lecturing anyone on fraud. I was stressed and Trev was annoyed. But the very expensive transfer got approved and rent was paid. We have a month to come up with another solution for paying rent.
We are also still waiting on our Brazilian paperwork to get approved, so we can get a Brazilian ID. We can have more options for paying for things after we get our IDs. Most things are fine as everywhere takes a credit card. It’s paying people like our landlord and our tutor that’s an issue. We did find out that we got an appointment for this coming week to finally go register with the federal police, which is required to be completed within 90 of arrival, per our visa. Once we’re registered we can get our ID, which will take another three weeks or so. The paperwork process is so painfully slow. Patient and flexible, patient and flexible.
Enough fussing. Let’s get to the good stuff. Wednesday, May 1st, was Labor Day here in Brazil. Since school was out, we took the kids, 2nd Grade and up, to a Day Camp. Oh my gracious! The kids were so excited.
This was such a treat for them. They got to ride in a big tour bus. They felt so important. Camp was so much fun!!!
There were games.…
Swimming….
A ropes course…
An obstacle course which I wasn’t able to get pictures of, as we left our phones due to all the water and mud we had to go through (I was still finding mud I’m my ears two days later)…
Ziplineing…
A rock wall…
Canoeing…
Basketball…
Volleyball that quickly turned to soccer…
A slip and slide…
Lots of music and dancing…
Food, which consisted of two hamburgers (which Brazilians view as snacks/junk food)…
And of course, everything we do with the kids is Christ focused, so there was a wonderful devotional time using the analogy of a mirror to show how we are a reflection of God (front side of mirror shown). But when there’s sin, (the back side of the mirror), it’s still a mirror but it doesn’t reflect. When we accept Jesus (mirror gets turned around) and we are again a reflection of Christ. If I knew more Portuguese I could give you a better summary. Luckily the kids heard it and understood. They had such a great day! They were grinning from ear to ear.
Thursday, Trevor and I had date night, while the kids had game night at Carol’s house. We finally found the Mexican restaurant. Chips were good but can you tell what they did to the burritos? Yep, yucky old melted nacho cheddar cheese! I had to scrape that cheese off mine. Regular queso would have made a world of difference but at least it satisfied the Mexican craving, and Trev and I got to hang out, so I’ll still call the night a success.
Friday, Ms. Ellis wanted to take us on a little road trip to the little farm town of Joanopolis, otherwise known as Werewolf City due to having the largest werewolf sightings in the world. She wanted us to see a waterfall. Not just any waterfall but the Cachoeira dos Pretos, which is the second largest waterfall in the state of São Paulo and feeds into the Rio Piracicaba.
The hour and a half drive was filled with the beautiful Brazilian countryside made up of rolling farm land, lush green trees, and a few little typical Brazilian cities; more typical than the tourist town of Atibaia.
May is a great time if you want to have the place to yourself. There was hardly anyone there as opposed to summer when it is filled with hikers, tubers, campers, etc. We didn’t even have to pay the usual parking fee.
The walk out to the falls is short and easy and is definitely worth it. It’s amazing how large, loud, forceful, and beautiful it is. Pictures don’t even come close to the real thing.
Our group had a great time.
There are only a couple downsides to it being the off season. The first was, the restaurant Ms. Ellis wanted to take us to on property was closed so we ate at the lanchonete, not to be confused with a restuarant for lunch. A lanchonete is what a Brazilian would considered a snack food place; think fried finger food (although Brazilians don’t eat with their fingers much; they use silverware for almost everything) like fries, sandwiches, coxinhas, etc.
We had fried yucca root called manadioca in Portugues and fried tilapia bites. Mason ordered what he thought was a bauru de forna sandwich; which is a baked ham and cheese sandwich with tomato on French bread but his came without tomato and with a fried egg so it had more of a breakfast sandwich taste. The traditional recipe is just called bauru as it is not baked and is made with roast beef, melted mozzarella, tomato, and pickled cucumbers. Tuck had fried chicken legs with fries. No one is surprised, right?
The second downside was that the “werewolf” aka lobisomem, was not there during the week; only on the weekends. The boys decided that we needed to have pictures with the lobisomem, so they busted out their photoshopping skills when we got home.
The werewolf is very prevalent in Brazilian folklore. I found lots of different versions of how you become a werewolf, and to not stay a werewolf, but there were too many different versions to add here. Just know the Brazilians all have a theory and it changes by region.
After playing in the river, staring at the majesty of the waterfall, and filling our bellies, we headed back home…but not before a quick stop for açaí.
I mean, why not. You need something sweet and creamy to temper the fried food, right?
Totally random, but look at this thing I found crawling up my front door. I’ve been told it will burn you if you touch it. I tried to find the name of it for you but couldn’t. If anyone knows, let me know.
I sure do talk about food a lot. I just love it, my thoughts revolve around it. Maybe it’s an idol, humm?
What Dumb Thing Did Holly Do This Week? Buying a microwave that although, I checked to make sure I bought the right voltage and that it had three prongs instead of two, the amperage was different due to a change in building code or manufacturing standards. I’m not sure which, but from the time the house was built or from when the old microwave was bought compared to now with the new microwaves, it has changed. So it doesn’t work. The prongs on the plug are larger and won’t fit into the outlet like the old one did. In my defense, there was no way for me to have known that without being Brazilian or having had been here longer. Little things like this drive me bananas.
Until next week, tchau.
NoHurryCains 
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