Hotel Eldorado
So we get to Eldorado around 7:00 PM and head to the pousada (poo-SAH-duh - a cross between a motel and a bed-and-breakfast) where we had made our reservations on the internet. I was a little nervous because I didn't get a confirmation e-mail and since our printer isn't working right now I couldn't print out our reservation. Of course, the guy at the reservation desk doesn't speak a word of English, and I'm not on the reservation list. All my Portuguese language skills were put to use, and I was able to figure out that they never got my reservation, but it wouldn't matter since they were already booked solid for Carnaval, the big holiday here. I asked him if there were any other hotels in the area. He responded, "Oh yes, the Hotel Eldorado is just up the street!"
Fortunately, we were all in a good mood that day. The Hotel Eldorado might as well have been the Hotel Alcatraz. When we showed up, the man at the desk just kept looking at us as if to say, "You Americans can't possibly want a room here." He was right, and we didn't get a room there...we got three! They couldn't fit us into one room, or two. And even though we booked three rooms we only paid about $50 Canadian to stay there that night (including breakfast!) You get what you pay for though. Not only were we in separate rooms, we were spread out all over the second floor.
We knew we were makin' memories. So we took lots of pictures and even a couple of little movies with our digital camera (love that thing!) Of course, the girls were all too afraid to be in a room by themselves so I got to spend the night by myself. At around 11:30 PM, just as we were about to fall asleep, a concert started that was only about 50 meters from our windows. The music was so loud that there was no way we could fall asleep, so we laid there in bed, waiting for the music to stop until 4:00 AM when we had a power failure. It was truly a night to remember.
The road to Eldorado
We decided to use the time off for the Carnaval holiday here in Brazil to see something you can't see anywhere in Canada that we know of. There are famous caves with stalactites and stalagmites about three hours away from Sao Paulo near a town called Eldorado. Along the way we passed some of the largest banana plantations we've ever seen. The blue bags are where the bananas are. They do this to ripen them faster. Inside the bag is a newspaper. Don't believe it works? Put unripe fruit in a bag with newsprint and compare it to the same fruit without being put in the bag.
We were impressed with how dense the jungle was on the mountain. Imagine trying to work your way through jungle this thick with just a machete.
The road between Eldorado and the caves was the most dangerous we've ever seen. There was eveidence of erosion all over the place and the road was cut out of the side of a mountain for much of the way. However, they don't take care of the back roads here like we've grown to expect in North America. Here was a rockslide that appears to have been left on the road for days.
This sign says, "Half a road in 100 meters."
Here's what the sign meant. Since the bank to the right of the road is washing away, they decided to just narrow the road down to one lane rather than try to fix the problem. There were four or five of these erosion areas between Eldorado and the caves.
Expect the unexpected
There have been lots of rare sightings lately. Unfortunately we don't always have our camera with us when we see these things. However, it was easy to photograph these bananas that grew together.
On our journey out of the city for the Carnaval holiday we came to an intersection where the red and yellow lights were on continuously. No problem, that just means "Don't have an accident while making a rolling stop."
Our softball players
Softball season has begun! All three girls are playing this year with their spiffy new gloves that they got for Christmas. Summer and Sydney's team has already played two games and they are currently undefeated (a win and a tie). Kilah's team starts playing games next week. Summer is the leadoff hitter and she's been doing well. Sydney is one of the younger players and she doesn't get to play every game, but she's enjoying iot a lot too.
Sydney's pals
One of the real joys of life is watching your children make friends, especially if those friends are children you, as a parent, approve of. Sydney has made three very good friends since coming to Brazil. In addition to Alyssa, two other girls returned to the school for the 2006/07 year. These girls, Jill and Lilian, were good friends of Alyssa's, and rather than make Sydney compete with the other two, the girls each embraced the others to become a bigger, stronger group.
These four girls form the core of Shannon's Girls Club that meets once a month to encourage their spiritual walk. They are also active in junior high student council and are strong positive leaders in the sixth grade class at PACA. It is a bleesing to have such nice girls around for Sydney to chum with.
A day at the amusement park
Now that we know that we will be leaving Brazil in a few months, we have renewed our focus on taking advantage of the opportunity to see and do as much of Brazil as possible. So you can imagine our glee when one of the ladies in the finance department at PACA came to Cary and offered him tickets to Hopi Hari, Brazil's largest amusement park.Cary and Summer had been there before for the middle school outing last year, but it was the first time for most of us. It rained off and on all day, but it was so warm that we didn't really mind the rain too much. Besides, we got to be sheltered from the worst of the rain while the circus was showing.
It was a great day as a family. Great memories!
Big changes at PACA
At the start of this semester we had a staff retreat where we all got together to pray and to discuss the second-half of this school year. It's an annual tradition, and part of that tradition is for people to announce any major changes in their lives. The biggest news of the retreat was that the high school principal, who started the same year that I did, will be returning to Europe to be a principal there. He is finished at PACA in June.
Yesterday, the superintendent of the school who has worked here at PACA for 19 years announced to the staff that he expects to be accepting a position on the international executive staff of ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International). He is finished at PACA in June.
Tomorrow, I will have the "honour" of announcing to the staff that I (the elementary principal) have accepted a job as the discipleship and Christian education pastor at a church in Ontario. I'm not at liberty to say which church just yet because the church wants to make sure that the congregation hears the news from the church leadership, not through the grapevine. I will be finished here in Brazil in June.
None of the resignations have anything to do with one another, and nobody has been let go due to poor performance, or what-have-you. This is just the way that God has been working in our lives at the same time. Neither of us as principals knew that the superintendent was leaving, and he didn't know that we were leaving.
There are too many factors that went into this decision to answer "Why?" It certainly was not an easy decision, and as many of you reading this know, we intended to renew for another two years. From mid December until mid February God made it unmistakably clear to us that He has a change in plans for our family. Although we are sad to leave Brazil so soon, we are also excited about the opportunity that exists in this new ministry back in Canada.
We will keep you informed of the details of the transition as they come up. We appreciate your prayers, as always.
Backyard crop
The fruit in the back yard is starting to come around again. The neighbor has papayas and bananas growing nicely (although he never picks it) and it looks as though his avocado tree is going to yield a bumper crop since it was pruned in the spring. Our lime trees (yes these "oranges" are actually limes) are doing well too.