A sojourn in Brazil

"As I stepped off the plane in November, the transition to a blazing Brazilian summer was given additional warmth by seeing Luciano, his mum and his sister. Of course, this was tempered with sadness that I would not see his dad again..." 

Maria Fumaça

It’s taken a long time to write this post.

Nearly a year, in fact and it still seems hard to write.

We left off in the Bahamas where we had been joined by friends. It was beautiful. The sand was pure white, the water was turquoise blue and we saw sharks, turtles and stingrays galore.

But Luciano’s dad’s health was rapidly deteriorating and we had to get our boat safely out of the water for hurricane season. We didn’t have time to get it quite out of the hurricane zone, but decided we would haul out in North Carolina, USA.

Unfortunately while we were racing to get there, so that Luciano could go to see his dad, our beloved Chocolate Cat collapsed with kidney failure. Luckily we had already reached inland waters. We took him to the vet, but he then had a stroke and he had to be put to sleep. That same night. Luciano’s father passed away and he didn’t get back to Brazil in time to say goodbye.

A boat can feel like an escape capsule.

But it can also feel like a millstone.

Eventually we reached the boatyard and hauled out Matusadona and Luciano flew to Brazil to spend some time with his family. I spent a four day odyssey travelling back with Suki to London by plane, trains, ferries and buses as we couldn’t fly directly back to the UK because the local high temperatures in North Carolina meant she couldn’t fly cargo and the UK only allows pets to travel as cargo, not in the cabin.

When I arrived back there was further pain as we made the difficult decision to rehome Suki with my cousin. Chocolate loved living on the boat, but it was clear that Suki prefers land and having a garden and given we were going to have the difficult West-East Atlantic passage and her advanced age and arthritis, it seemed kinder for her to stay in England. She is now living with my lovely cousin’s family with a nice garden and another cat.

Eventually I flew out to Brazil to spend time with Luciano and his family in his hometown, in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul.

As I stepped off the plane in November, the transition to a blazing Brazilian summer was given additional warmth by seeing Luciano, his mum and his sister. Of course, this was tempered with sadness that I would not see his dad again. 

We went straight to a birthday party being held for Luciano’s uncle where I was thrust straight into the culture of the south of Brazil. We drank Chimarrão - the Brazilian name of the better-known Argentinian Maté and listened and danced to the traditional gaucho music played by musician friends of his uncle. It was the first time I had met Luciano’s wider family and seen the neighbourhood where he grew up.

Rio Grande do Sul was widely settled by Germans and Italians in the nineteenth century and different areas of the state proudly retain elements of this heritage along with the regional gaucho culture that is similar to that in Argentina and Uruguay. 

German beer gardens covered in canopies of German flags, Brazilian cachaça distilleries and Italian wine makers are all found within the state nestled in the settlements amongst the beautiful lush mountain scenery.

At Bento Gonçalves, an Italian region in the mountains famous for its wine making, we took a trip on a traditional steam train. We tasted wine, listened to Italian music, tarantella and participated in the traditional dancing while looking out over the stunning scenery.

Dancing on the wine train at Bento Gonçalves

We visited the stunning Itaimbezinho Canyon and trekked inside it, crossing seven freezing rivers up to our chests. The route is lined with Araucária trees, which look a bit like a monkey puzzle and contain the delicious pinhão - giant pine nuts, which we ate mixed with herbs in a pastel (fried pastry.) 

Itaimbezinho Canyon

With its German and Italian heritage, the Christmas decorations are pretty spectacular. At Dois Irmãos (Two Brothers) we saw amazing Christmas lights and the pretty tourist towns of Gramado and Canela. 

Christmas in Brazil

After Christmas I got the news that my dad had been admitted to hospital back in England. It was serious and it was unclear if he would pull through, so I left Luciano in Brazil and headed back to England again.

After three months in hospital he was finally discharged. We had made the decision to bring Matusadona back across the Atlantic and live in England to work for a while, so we came back out to North Carolina to relaunch Matusadona in March and what we’ve been up to since then will be a story for next time.

Click the links below for the videos

Video 1 - EP 078 - Hurricane Liberty - A tale from the Sea.

Video 2 - EP 079 - Band Reunion

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