Brazil #1: CORES (colors)

So, we're back from Brazil, and I can't say enough about how much we loved being there. Marcos and his siblings were together with their parents for the first time in seven years, and it was so cool to see them in action. I think I gained eighteen pounds for the amount of time we spent gathered around the kitchen table eating Mom's delicious food, but for the QUALITY of time that we spent together as a family - that sort of feel good, laughing, teasing, happy time - I would have gladly gained eighteen more.

I was thinking about making our Brazil experience into blog entries, and the whole idea seemed overwhelming. How do you summarize such a vast experience? And then I had it: in categories! While I was taking pictures of our trip, I thought that it would be nice to have an entry dedicated to colors, so we'll start there... with colors.

This is me in downtown Sorocaba, the city an hour outside of Sao Paulo where the Prietos live. If you look downward in Brazil, the world is not very colorful - just a smear of smudgy browns and grays - but if you look straight ahead, it's eye candy. Through American eyes it may be considered somewhat garish (though through Japanese eyes, rather dull), in Brazil many of the shop fronts and walls are painted very colorfully. I rather enjoyed the more haphazard look to the town.


Sorvete! Up on the hill above one of the main roads in Sorocaba is a wonderful ice-cream shop. I chose guava, which was heavenly, and Marcos chose rum-raisin. This picture was taken against a metal garage door.


Here I go again in Macro mode on our new camera. This was experimental, with the bamboo in the foreground being in focus, and Marcos faded into the background, but it came out oh-so well. We didn't even intend for this to be such a model shot, but with Marcos' natural good looks and charm, it's difficult to stop the flow...

Tangerines at the local farmer's market. Each day of the week, the farmer's market meets at a different local around Sorocaba so that local buyers have a regular source of produce close to their homes.


Hawaiianas on display at the grocery store. This is THE brand of all brands when it comes to buying slippahs in Brazil, but for the most modern styles, prices range up to $20 for a pair of rubber slippers. That's love.