Christmas Choir, Ubatuba, and Cookies

The week began with the Christmas musical at Maracana church (the one located in our community). Mrs. Sonia, our Portuguese tutor, and Joy, the intern, were both in the choir so it was a must see. It was fun to hear some of our American Christmas music in Portuguese.

This would be the last time we would see Joy before she left. She has been an intern here almost three years. She loves these kids. She will be missed. Vinde will be different next year without her. We will get two new interns when the new semester starts.

With some time off before Christmas we decided to take a trip to the beach, just the four of us. We’ve been told that Ubatuba has way prettier beaches than Santos but it’s also about an hour further. But since we didn’t have to drive through São Paulo to get there, we decided to check it out.

We drove through the Serra do Mar State Park, which you really couldn’t see much because of the trees but as we got closer to town, every now and again we could get a glimpse of the ocean down below. Something to remember is there are no facilities within the park so make sure any potty breaks are taken before entering.

The drive was fine until right before you got close to Ubatuba then it got very steep and very curvy.

When we arrived in town we were greeted by this enormously tall statue. What is Homenagem ao Caiçara, you might ask? Well, I will tell you. Caiçara is the term given to the coastal people in the south and southeastern parts of Brazil. Originally comprised of a mix of indigenous people, European settlers, and African slaves. These people value their land and the water has been a central component in their lives, livelihoods, and tradition. Their lifestyle revolves around fishing, agriculture, and small-scale craftsmanship.

We stayed at the Pousada do Marcão. It was older but clean, and the staff were super friendly. Breakfast was included and Trevor even paid the extra $1 to have a room with air conditioning.

They had a pretty mural painted along the side wall.

We were allowed to check in early so we dropped our bags off in the room and drove out to Felix Beach.

You see several beaches as you make your way down the road about 15 minutes.

As you drive down the little entrance road to the beach, there’s a road to the left boasting parking, but keep driving. There is a bigger, less sketchy looking place further down on the left. It’s R$50 for parking and they have bathrooms and showers if you need them for an additional R$5. So we parked and walked to the beach. There is no beachfront parking available but it’s just a short walk. The beach wasn’t too crowded so I flopped down with our stuff and the boys headed for the water.

Kind of reminds me of North Shore on Oahu with all the jungly mountains surrounding the water.

I do think the water and the beach is prettier than Santos but it’s hard to beat the convenience of Santos.

Not too bad a view for the day.

Being a mountain girl, I enjoy these beaches surrounded by mountains better than beaches like in Florida where it’s all flat.

True to self, Trevor played in the water with the boys and I played in the sand with them. This is Enrique the sea turtle and Olivander the swordfish sand animals we made.

Ubatuba is also nicknamed Ubachuva (chuva is the Portuguese word for rain) because it usually rains a little each day and no one really pays it any mind. Again, kind of reminded me of Oahu in that sense. After hours in the sun, lots of sunscreen, and some beach churros, we were worn out and ready for showers and dinner.

Based on a recommendation from the lady at the inn, we ate at O Rei do Peixe, which means The King of Fish. We checked the reviews and menu and someone had even posted a picture of pizza, so we knew everyone would be able to find something to eat. I would recommend this place. When I saw the menu and the prices, I was a little confused that Trevor picked this place, however, the waiter, thankfully, showed us that the dishes each serve 2 or more people. If only one person orders the dish then you get a 30% discount but if more than 2 share the meal then they add 30%. Kind of different way to price things but we rolled with it. Tucker asked about the pizza because we didn’t see it on the menu. The waiter looked at us puzzled and told us that they are the king of FISH and if we wanted pizza, we can go across the street and order it there. HA! I guess the reviewer posted the wrong picture or posted the right picture under the wrong restaurant.

Oh well, they had chicken so Tucker was fine. Trevor and I shared the fried shrimp with rice, veggies, fries, and fried cheese balls. Mason went all in with a seafood “casserole” of squid, octopus, mussels, shrimp, and some kind of fish.

The next morning we fueled up with breakfast at the inn before hitting the beach.

We walked the two blocks from our hotel to Pereque-Açu beach, which was in front of us. These little trees provided some good shade.

The boys swam and played. Then we played 4Square before we left for lunch. We drove through Centro down to Praia Grande looking for a place to eat. We were going to walk but the boys were pretty gaulded and didn’t want to walk much. So we parked in order to Google a place to eat. When we decided on one, Trevor went to crank the car but it wouldn’t start. The battery was dead.

Well, it’s all fun and games until the car won’t start, you’re in a foreign country, your Portuguese isn’t great, and you’re 3 1/2 hours away from anyone you know. Given theses factors we decided to go ahead and walk to lunch and figure what to do while we were there. We walked to a restaurant with good reviews that served pizza (for real this time). Although when we got there we were quickly reminded that pizza is only a dinner thing in Brazil. They don’t serve it for lunch. Gauld, broke car, and now no pizza; Tuck’s usually happy face was pretty sad looking. I guess the waitress noticed too because she said she would go ask the cook if they could make him a pizza. How sweet! The cook obliged and we had a nice meal. Tuck and I shared pizza, Trevor and Mason went Brazilian with chicken with cream corn and beef stroganoff, respectively.

The waiter and waitress were super friendly, so after we paid we had Mason (he speaks the best Portuguese) ask if they could help us. The waitress got the waiter and he left with us. He walked several blocks with us just chit chatting away with Mason.

We had been praying during our entire meal that the car would just start when we made it back. We popped the hood, wiggled the cables, the guy got in and it started, Yay!! And then he turned it off. Boo! He tried it again and it didn’t crank so he put it in neutral, tried again and it cranked. Yay! Mason is telling him to not turn it off but the guy was like – “it’s okay, neutral is the trick” and he turned it off again. Boo! And then on again. Yay! Mason was still telling him not to turn it off. But again, he did. Boo! I thought Trevor was going to yank that guy out of the car. The fourth time she didn’t crank; not even in neutral. Our hearts sank. Defeat snatched from the jaws of victory!! Lol!!

The guy was so nice though. He went into the supermarket we were parked in front of and found another guy with jumper cables to come jump our car. This time, I was in the driver’s seat and I did NOT turn off the car. Haha!

We planned on exploring some more but we didn’t want the car to die on us before we made it home, so we just went straight home.

We went back a different route. We stayed along the coast in case we had more car trouble. We did not want the car to break down going back up that steep, curvy mountain.

So we started seeing billboards for something called Free Flow. I just assumed it was an advertisement for another toll app until I started seeing multiple road signs that read – Passed thru Free Flow? Pay to avoid a fine. Then we thought – Ok, we will pay the toll; no worries. Until there were no toll booths. We had no idea we were on the Free Flow stretch of a road. There were no tolls to stop at. I was online trying to research what to do. Apparently, it is very new and Roberto wasn’t even sure how to pay. We will just wait for our ticket. The road was cool though. You go through several tunnels through the mountains, one of which is the longest tunnel in Brazil. In the picture above in the bottom right, you start out on that road and you end up on the top bridge by going through the tunnel. Pretty cool and a little creepy to be in a tunnel that long.

But we made it home safe. The next morning the car cranked and I was able to run to the grocery store. I was stocking up for a Christmas baking day at the house with some girlfriends: Meredith, Carol, Sarah, Emily, and baby Judah.

We had a great time even though it was kind of cramped. I made the white trash the way Nita used to make it. I wanted to call her and ask her how much pretzel she puts in it and then I remembered she’s not there to ask anymore. It was a bittersweet moment.

I didn’t get pictures of all the cookies but, along with the white trash, we made gingerbread, rosemary lemon shortbread, classic sugar cookies with icing, sugar cookies with almond no icing, snickerdoodles, chocolate crackle, maple chia, cornflake crack, Reese’s cookies, and cookie dough dip.

The following morning we picked up Anna and Roberto to go to Campinas for lunch and shopping. But first things first, we had to get a brand new battery for the car. With the car purring like a kitten or, in our case of our car, rattling like box of dry bones, we were off. Roberto suggested we go to a different mall this time. Galleria is unique, in the sense that you go inside the building but the middle of the mall is open air. It was really cool. Roberto and Anna have been such a blessing to us.

The following day, me and the boys made bread. Tuck made banana nut and Mason made zucchini. Now with all the goodies made, we are ready for Christmas in a few days.