Today I was up bright and early with the birds to help prepare breakfast. Tati, Manu and the always reliable Luiz were among the many helpers to ready a morning feast fit for a king to rise for. An early night and a morning coffee had left me obnoxiously chirpy for that time of the morning which I put to good use, with the help of Rodrigo, as a slightly out of time human alarm clock. Everyone was very appreciative ☺.
Once breakfast was gobbled we played “adoleta” (a traditional Brazilian children’s game) which was good times and got everyone properly roused and ready for the day. The work was then allocated and everybody got into it.
There were people painting inside, finishing windows and a large group helping to work on the brick walls being constructed around the outside cultural area. (Which is living up to its name having been used to host a debate/talk on culture with the minister of coulter from Embu Guaçu the night before). I think a lot of people were keen to sink their teeth into some heavy physical work; hence the large group for a reasonable mellow job. But the more the merrier aye!
Lunch came and went, bellies were filled and then the usual post lunch scattering of bodies (vaguely resembling a battle field) followed. There was also some lunchtime soccer.
Just before we started work again the heavens opened and a torrential downpour let loose. The music was already full bore and the combo was too much to resist. Everybody should spend some time dancing in the rain I think, very very good time…
Once everybody had calmed themselves and dried themselves, work started for the afternoon. The jobs were much the same as the morning for the most part, painting and concreting, expect Simon and I got to have some fun. We needed to paint the stair well that goes up to the sleeping area and it was very high and quite sketchy. After a bit of deliberation we decided to get out the rope and harnesses. I was quite surprised that there was harnesses at all and they were in good condition. The same could not be said for the rope unfortunately, which was freighted and old and definitely not meant for its adopted purpose (abseiling), but you have to do things in Aramitan so we decided to go ahead. I climbed up and set the ropes in the rafters and we got into it. All’s well that ends well I always say and there were no falls so the actual strength of the rope and the not so sturdy rafters they were tied to thankfully were not fully tested.
For dinner we had a fantastic lasagne which left no complaints (even from the Swedish girls) only content smiles. Everybody is just chilling out now before we head into Embu Guaçu to go dancing for the evening which I have been campaigning as it is my last night here in Aramitan and my last chance to hang with the crew before I leave tomorrow.
All in all my stay here at Aramitan has been choice (meaning “legal” in Portuguese and “thumbs up” in English). It hasn’t been exactly what I expected but I think it has surpassed my expectations. I have made lots of good friends who I will hopefully see again before I leave Brazil and if not I think I will be returning!
Aramitan, good times, good friends, good night and it will be really good to see you all again!
Sam,
c/o New Zealand
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