Birthday Bliss

Before I describe the great birthday I had on the fourth, I thought I would respond to some inquiries I’ve received into the nightlife in Lençois. The center of Lençois consists of two main cobblestone streets, each about one block long, which intersect each other and end in two fairly large town squares. Both the streets and squares are lined with restaurants and shops. One street is closed off completely to cars after 6pm, and all the restaurants put out tables and chairs into the street and double as bars. One of my favorite places to hang out is a tiny restaurant on the larger square called Natora. Natora is owned by a friend of mine, has about 3 indoor tables and 6 outdoor ones, serves mud oven pizza, and is frequented by local guitar players. On any given night of the week I know that I can go there and run into at least a small group of people with whom I can spend the evening listening to guitar and conversing on subjects ranging from Michael Jackson’s death, Brazilian politics and the virility of Bahian men. I suppose in many ways the restaurants in Lençois mirror cafes in Europe, where ordering food is never required and sitting there for at least 3 hours is the norm.
My other favorite evening spot is also a restaurant but is much more known for serving sixty varieties of homemade cachaça (alcohol made from sugar cane but that tastes nothing like rum). Fazendinha is run by a family that makes cachaça on their farm and sells it to thirsty Lençois residents and tourists. My particular favorites are banana cachaça and chocolate cachaça. While the residents and tourists drink at Fazendinha, the Lençois “nativos” drink at the slightly less expensive, bare bones “barsinhos” (little bars). These closet size establishments consist of only a counter behind which the bar tender serves cold beer and plain cachaça. The clientele hang out on the street outside the bar watching as people make “volta”s (literally “turns”, figuratively “little tours”) of the two streets and squares, walking up and down the street to see and be seen.
On a Friday or Saturday night it is very easy to run into over half the people you know in town and when the bars close more or less at 1am there’s only one place to go- the town’s one night club Inferninho (Little Hell). In a town where the social division between Fazendinha and the “barsinhos” is representative of much more important dynamics, I enjoy going to Inferninho which is one of the only places where both worlds seem to converge. Inferninho is about 500 square feet, dimly lit and always hot. The DJ has an affection for bad house music, reggae and forro. On the evening of my birthday for example I danced to Prodigy, a house remix of a Beyonce song, Bob Marley and thankfully some forro. If there was another option I doubt anyone would choose to go to Inferninho, but as it is the only option Inferninho is usually full. So aside from the occasional privately sponsored party or town event that is the nightlife of Lençois, perhaps extremely lacking in options but not in enjoyment.
Having your birthday on the July 4th (Impendence Day in the US) is quite probably the best holiday birthday anyone could wish for. Almost everyone has the day off, is in a festive mood and is ready to celebrate. Plus, celebrating usually consists of a full day and evening outdoors with family and friends- what more could someone want for their birthday? Rather unfortunately, I have spent seven of the last eleven birthdays outside of the US, and though I am not complaining it is never really quite the same. This year however, I really did have a wonderful birthday here in Brazil. I was lucky enough to have my birthday fall on a Saturday so I decided for the low stress option of not planning a party and just counting on running into people at my favorite places. Friday night I skype-telephoned my parents and some other family and friends as a birthday treat for myself. Then I decided to commemorate the last hour of my 20s at Fazendinha. As expected I ran into a group of people who celebrated the start of my birthday with me and I ended up dancing at Inferninho until 3am. Saturday, my actual birthday, I slept in, made breakfast with my housemates and then spent the afternoon at the river with some friends. At the river I was struck by the fact that this is my reality, that for over ten years I’ve lived a live full of adventures and beauty, and that I am truly a lucky person. After the river I visited with my friend Katia and was surprised with a birthday cake made by my friend Cecilia’s little sister and mother. Then we went out to dinner to the restaurant in town that I save for special occasions and dined on absolutely delicious sweet potato gnocchi in a pesto sauce. I also treated myself to a dessert of homemade cardamom ice cream with a chocolate brownie. I then met up with the rest of my friends at Fazendinha where the entire bar sang me Happy Birthday. I find it pretty remarkable that I have been in town less than a month and yet people were so sweet about acknowledging my birthday. It seemed that almost everyone I know at least passed by the bar to wish me a happy birthday and the best for the future. I suppose that is yet another thing that makes Lençois so special. After closing Fazendinha down a smaller group of us moved the party to Inferninho where I stayed out dancing until 4am. There were no fireworks, grilled delights, pool parties or salsa dancing, but I felt quite content at the end of my birthday and am very ready for another remarkable decade.