Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Brazilian hospitality!

I did want to mention that a number of the women we met on our trip to Brazil were really very nice to us. Maybe it was because we were friend with there friends but there were a number of acts of generosity during out trip that I was really impressed by.

First, the first day we were there we met Inez, who had come to our friend's apartment to meet all of us. She was friendly and vivacious and full of energy with a short blond haircut and a friendly personality that made you like her. I mentioned something about liking her earrings and she then told us about how she made them herself out of fish scales that she dried and then dyed different colors. Very cool, huh? Well then, she took them out of her ears and gave them to me! I ended up wearing them on my birthday because they coincedentally matched perfectly with my outfit! (See the previous post) Unfortunately, we did not get to spend more time with her after the 2nd day since her mother was sick in the hospital and she had to travel to another town to check on her.

Additionally, the birthday party we had was really supposed to celebrate the birthdays of all them folks on the trip who's birthdays were in October and November but it was actually held on my actual birthday. So, another friend of a friend, Angela and her daughter Joelle, went out and bought me a bouquet of roses and presented them to me at the party. It was very nice and touching!

Lastly, we met another woman who my friends knew at this "infamous" restaurant on Copacabana beach who claimed her profession as an "actress" although others said that she was primarily a prostitute. She would also mention to me later that she had a "wife" at home but that is a whole other story... She had also just told us a story about how she had been coming from the bank the dat before and had been mugged and they had stolen about $500 from her. At any rate, we were all there and just met her and they told her that it was my birthday. She then proceeded to reach in her purse and handed me a little gift! A pair of huge gold-colored hoop earrings. It was a very nice gesture, especially given that she had just been robbed of a significant amount of money just the day before!

1 comment:

Ms Stella said...

Brazilian hospitatlity is the best! Some of my husband's co-workers from Brazil came to the States for a week. We took them to dinner on their last evening here and afterwards, they presented me with a box of Godiva chocolates that they had purchased earlier that day when my husband took them to the mall.