Seeing is definitely not believing.
The past four days feel like they should have earned me a new degree. It’s like we transported ourselves into an entirely new existence—practically a new planet.
On Thursday morning we packed up everything we could squeeze into a tiny rental car, including Zuca, and moved ourselves to the mountains. We arrived just after sunset in a light rain, and Sr. Tiao (short for Senhor Sebastiao), the 73-year-old gardener who worked the land for the past 10 years was waiting for us.
This in itself was a struggle for me. The idea of “hired help” is such a difficult concept, but like it or not, Helena keeps reminding me that this is part of understanding life in Brazil. He needs a job, and we’re giving him one.
It was about 13 C when we arrived, which feels even colder with a soft drizzle and no heat. In our new life, our only source of heat is the fireplace and our woodburning forno, which is a woodburning stove that’s used for cooking. As we were finishing bringing our things down the stairs to the house, we heard the sound of Gilvania, the cook and housekeeper who’d been working for the previous owner. Word travels fast.
While I attempted to start a fire, Gilvania chatted nervously with Helena about the opportunities that she had for work in other places, all the while making it clear that she was open to working with us. She had a sweet and welcoming face, and Zuca immediately took to her (not his way). I lit match after match, and Gilvania gently moved me aside. She quickly rearranged the pile of kindling I’d been working on, and within minutes, she had a fire blazing in our new fireplace.
As Gilvania and Helena talked, I poked around our new environment. Zuca was my shadow, his nails clicking on the wooden floors as we searched the kitchen for plates and cutlery, pots and pans, still shivering in the damp house that has been mostly empty for the past 6 months.
I clanged around, made us a salad, and squinted at the overhead lights that are typical of Brazilian farm houses—just a single lightbulb hanging from an electric cord.
I joined Helena and Gilvania by the fire and we learned more about life in the Bonfim valley. Of all the sitios around us, we are the only non-farming household. Everyone seems to know who we are, where we´re from, and are curious about our decision to live among them. Already word has traveled that I´m an educator, and people have talked of inviting us to a meeting at the Escola Rural (Rural School) next week.
Gilvania saw that it was time to leave and promised to return the following day to help us get settled and to welcome our first guests.
We pulled the couch in front of the fire, alone for the first time in more than 3 months. As we popped the cork on the champagne, we exchanged three words in celebration:
We did it.
