Minha Casinha

View from apartment (above); The Kitchen

Eating/Working Area

The Bedroom

The French doors in the bedroom.

Has it really only been four days since I arrived in Lencois? I am experiencing the traveler’s time warp- time seems to be flying by and yet four days ago seems like a lifetime. When I think that this time last week I was leaving Maine and on my way to Boston, well then that adds to surreality of the week. In the last few days I have completed all the things that one does when rediscovering a place and simultaneously making themselves at home. In my case, that meant settling into my cute little apartment, going to the market, bathing in the wonderfully cold waters of the Rio Serrano, visiting friends and relatives of friends, having my first shot of cachaca, and dancing my first forro under the stars.

It feels strange having my own place; I am so used to the hustle and bustle of the inn or my friends’ houses that having a quiet space of my own throws me off a bit. Though I completely acknowledge that is what I need to actually get some work done on my thesis. The apartment is on the third floor of a house that is on the outskirts of the town. The stairs are not yet complete so I climb three wooden ladders to reach the apartment; a little tricky but nothing I can’t handle. The apartment is small but the two sets of French doors opening to a beautiful view of the mountains makes up for the space (not that I need anymore space). My kitchen table/work area is positioned alongside one set of French doors, so that when I sit at it in the morning eating my breakfast (papaya, mango and banana salad) I feel as though I am outside. It is winter here right now, which mean temperatures dip into the 60’s and 70’s at night, and in the morning it stays cloudy and cool until the sun breaks through at mid day. Even with doors and windows closed the thin brick walls do nothing to fliter out the sounds around me, roosters crowing in the morning, crickets and frogs at night, people awake and up much earlier than I, and the somewhat distant sounds of people reveling in the town center at the start of the Festa de São João. I can hear the river when the doors are open and it tempts me to leave my work behind, walk up the mountain 20 minutes and go for a swim. This is quickly returning to be my afternoon ritual, along with everyone else in town with an hour to spare. That is one of the things I enjoy the most about Lencois, people here appreciate and enjoy the natural beauty around them. I’ve been in so many places where locals do not frequent the places that tourists themselves travel hundreds of miles to vist, thus to be in a place where people go to the river every day is very refreshing (no pun intended).

Today the cowboys are coming to town, literally, and so I’m going to a potluck lunch and then spend the day listening to Brazilian cowboy music, drinking cervesa on the praça with a couple of friends, and finding peace and happiness in a simple, Sunday afternoon.