Arrival in Arapiraca

We arrived in Maceió 3:30 a.m. local time. The Northeastern states do not adopt daylight savings so it was one hour earlier than Rio. Lima was waiting for me with a bag full of documents about the Future Scientists project, as he usually does. He introduced me to a man, the driver who would take me to the city of Arapiraca two hours away. He had brought his wife along to shop in the capital city, Maceió and keep him company during the trip. I thanked them for their sleepless night and followed them to the car. I did not expect to go on a trip right away, I thought I would stay in Maceió on Sunday.

I dozed most of the trip. Two lanes, two ways, dangerous road as I remembered travel conditions throughout Brazil generally speaking but more so in the poorest state and in the interior. He was an OK driver and I was too sleepy and tired to care.

They left me at the San Sebastian Hotel, right in the middle of town. Arapiraca is a large, typical crossroads town in the Northeast of Brazil. I am fascinated as I am able to see much more than before given the fact that I live in a different place. Everything is like new and much is interesting.

For example, the architecture of the houses is very simple. The brick houses are relatively small, built wall to wall, most with one floor, few with two floors. The rooms inside are dark because there are no windows; only the first and last rooms in the corridor-like setting has windows and doors to the outside. I miss light very much. I cannot imagine why houses are built like that, though I can think of two reasons: 1. They are built without a plan, things are just put together without much forethought, or following requirements; the builder, usually a man with very little education, if literate, even, will just work away in the space allotted. 2, Windows are expensive, so holes in the wall are better if the wall allows. 3. It is so hot that no windows will add to protection from the sun.

Whatever reason, the result are rows and rows of little houses, not very tall, one next to the other. Many houses in Arapiraca were painted in strong colors, oranges, blues, greens, purple, a veritable rainbow of colors. There was a lot of iron work as well, gates, protection for front windows and doors, with nice designs on them. A lot of simple tile work as well. In fact, everywhere I went the floors were in tile, simple to wash and keep clean. Much cheaper than wood, of course.

My hotel room was dark, no windows—what’s new? I had to use the air conditioning despite a very pleasant cool breeze blowing outside. When I stayed in my room Sunday evening, I opened the door to bring in the breeze…

I slept part of the morning and received a phone call informing that Professora Adriana would be picking me up to go out to lunch. I made plans to eat later in the afternoon and decided to go for a walk in search of the feira, the fair or street market. I found it about half a mile away. What a feast to the eyes to see the hundreds of booths selling everything, lots and lots of fruits of all kinds—fresh cashews, mangoes, oranges, acerola, pineapples, the sweetest and fleshiest bananas ever, nanica bananas that grow on short trees. And beans, cassava, pumpkins and squashes, meats, clothes, shoes, you name it you can find it in the feira, a Portuguese tradition. In fact, the names of the week days in Portuguese are first feira/fair (Monday), second feira, etc. till Friday, sixth fair. Only Saturday and Sunday are the same, sábado and domingo. I bought a bag of freshly roasted cashew nuts for about 2 dollars.

When I returned from my fair adventure I showered and waited for Professora Adriana, a spunky round 34 year old who came on a Honda motorcycle. A total hoot, Math teacher, Adriana is working on another degree in systems analysis. She told me her life story, including that she had her stomach stapled two years ago and has lost about 60 pounds since. “I was dying with diabetes, high blood pressure. I could not stop eating and decided to do this to save my life. My mother did not want me to do it, but the doctor convinced her!”

This was my first meal. I have to confess that I indulged in goat churrasco (barbecue), a specialty of the region that I am very fond of. Goat meat is drier, strong scented, and delicious. The meal comes with tropeiro beans, another specialty made with chick peas and farofa, a dried caçava flour, with parsley, cilantro and onions chopped into it. Also green salad, mayonnaise salad, rice, salsa. I had banana compote for dessert.

This food description is dedicated to all the friends who think I write too much about food. I did talk with Adriana a lot about eating habits and nutrition, mentioning my life long struggle with overeating and history of bad choices in food.

The evening ended with Adriana taking me to her house on her motorcycle to meet her mother, a retired teacher, Dona Berenice, her young sister Tatiana, and their yappy dog, Bali.