Brazil diary: The chacara

Day 3

Today is/was our third day here. And sadly enough we haven't had good weather yet... Only had rain and dark clouds surrounding the sky. But that did not stop us from going outside and explore. So today we went out into the mountains, to our family's chacara (a vacation house). With the 'scooby van' we headed out to the house, far away from the crowded city center, hidden on the top of the mountain, surrounded by nature. And even though the weather was crap, the view was more than beautiful. It was unbelievable. A view that was even better than my wildest dreams and I bet it would be even more wonderful with good weather. Every weekend, my family heads out to this house to party and relax from a hard week of working. This house is an escape from the fuss and noise from the inner city, a resort where they can forget about all their troubles. 

So Junior drove us with the 'scooby van' all the way up to the house. He needed to feed the dogs so he took us with him to show us around. After a 30+ min. drive along the highway we entered the forest roads that leaded us all the way up till the top. With the heavy rain we were a little concerned that we would get stuck or wouldn't get up the high roads or would slip off the cliff... The car trip through on the mountain was like a roller coaster ride, up down up down up down, pretty sweet. When we were almost there, we had to slow down at a very small town. Because of the heavy rain, the streets and a small part of the town was flooded with mud coming from the works that they were doing nearby the little town. People were standing outside and a lot of police men were measuring the damage that the heavy rain had done to the streets and some of the houses. So as we passed, we could see how bad the rain and mud had damaged the streets. And all that because of construction works, for building an ugly fabric in the middle of the forest... It was very disturbing driving through this super pretty landscape and  on the one side see an amazing panorama of mountains and trees and clouds surrounding the mountaintops and the houses on the mountains and on the other side you saw fabrics and machines messing up this wonderful landscape... From then on I realized how fucked up this country really is in connection with money. They would take everything beautiful away, everything that makes this country a special place, different from all the other countries/places in the world. 

Once arrived at the Chacara, Mom, Charlene and I went out exploring. After half an hour of walking around, I went down the garden. I noticed that it was very steep and that there was nothing at the end but was very curious because there was a little path leading down. At the end of this path, I had the most amazing view I've ever seen in my life. You had the whole overview of the mountain. Because of the heavy rain, the clouds were hanging low and looked like smoke wandering around the mountain tops. I was very impressed. Before I left home, I had this image of Brazil in my head, but never thought it would be so impressing. 

After an hour of exploring and taking care of everything at the house, we headed back home. Junior told us cool stories while driving along the highway. Favelas overtook the view. Everywhere you could see these super small houses. Sometimes 3 houses build on each other, sometimes made from bricks, sometimes made from wood. I immediately felt this urgent need of helping these people. But he told us that even though they don't have much, they're happy with how they live. They wake up, go to work (most people only earn 10 Reals a day, that equals 3,7 euros) and after a long day of work go home and enjoy the rest of the evening with their family and without any worries. They're happy with what they have and enjoy what they have. This made me feel so sad. Knowing that so many people back home aren't happy with what they have, people who aren't satisfied with the life they're living and still think they have nothing while they have so much more than some people in the rest of the world. This really makes me feel satisfied when not having much and appreciate the days when I have more than other days and not wanting more than what I have. 

Amy

More pics of day 3 will be up soon.