800,000! That’s how many folks turned out to see the grave of a dead guy on Dead Day. Not just any dead guy, but perhaps THE dead guy in all of northeastern Brasil. Padre Cicero was his name. Champion of the poor while living, the focus of miraculous activity while dead. Interesting resumé. Interesting story […]
Black beans and pig tails
Gastronomically, the northeastern diet is quite interesting. Today we had “feijoada.” Yum, yum. Black beans, pig tails, pig feet, pig ears, sausage poured over rice and collards. Orange slices on the side, roasted cassava root in garlic and all the Guarana you can drink. Dang! It just doesn’t get much better than this! Feijoada is a […]
A drop dead (really) Halloween
Today in Brasil is a holiday. Pleasant little name: “Day of the Dead.” Sounds like a horror movie, doesn´t it? But, it is a real holiday. Everybody tries to do nice things for the spirits of the dead so the spirits don´t do evil things to them. Trick or treat anyone?! How do you do […]
Jet Lag — an alternated state of mind
Ever been on an airplane for a really long time? I just got off a flight that qualified. Raleigh to Miami, then Miami to the middle of the Amazon jungle — Manaus. Hot, steamy, and after an all night flight, generally sticky enough to be glued to my seat like I was velcro. Then to […]
Falling up with my eyes closed
Sometimes you do something right, even when you didn’t know that you were . . . Take December 1978, for example. I did something, or better, I participated in something, that I had no clue would turn out the way it did. What is so interesting is that a little child in Africa who wasn’t […]