Natal, Brazil 2007: Return to Lobster Road...

Hugs were in abundance as the family greeted us at the door. I shook Luciano's hand firmly as he took the carefully balanced luggage cart from me and wheeled it out the door. He and I loaded up the Comvee, an old VW Bus, with the 6 large suitcases. William, Paul's son Eric and I claimed into the unreliable automobile and we were on our way back to Ponta Negra. I talked to the best of my ability with Luciano, although I will say he knows more English than I think he realizes. I was again surprised by how much Portuguese I remembered and how much I could actually understand.

We got behind some of the slowest drivers in Natal, and each of them was driving their own VW Gol. Mark had gotten second one since I had left, allowing Lori and himself to each have their own. At one red light we watched as eight Gols in a row puttered their three cylinder engines past us. Before long we had pulled up in front of the wooden gate on Lobster Road. An excited Luciano rang the bell and Inacia buzzed us in. After unloading all of the suitcases, Uncle Mark, Luciano and I filled the Comvee with tables and other supplies for the school to bring to Lillia's house.

Luciano, Uncle Mark and William were covered in paint from the hall. Work was nearing completion with the kitchen, bathrooms painting, and finishing work being the final things that needed to be done. I gave Aunt Lori every item that she had asked me to bring along with me, which I had purchased with the help of many people back in Saugus. I could tell that Paul was restless to get online, and my thoughts were solidified when he pulled 150 feet of RJ45 computer cable out of a bag. Looking like a spelunker ready to descend into a dark chasm, Paul took the large coil, and followed me to the back yard.

I knocked on the gate and Dona Lucia opened it minutes later. She was surprised to see me, but not surprised to find out what I wanted. She led Paul and I to the computer where we played with wireless router diagnostics for a few minutes before plugging in the large coil of wire and leading it back to our home. Within 30 minutes both Paul and I were online wirelessly. Paul, though connected, would not settle for anything less than four signal strength bars. He made it known that a trip to the computer store would be necessary after supper. Since the wireless was working, Aunt Lori and I quickly coiled up the RJ45 before the 18th hour. It was at this time that Saint Adelmo and the Gazelle would be home, and probably would not be happy to see a mountain sized pile of wire in their backyard.

After dinner, Paul and Uncle Mark headed to the computer store as I uploaded the six blog posts that I had written in Microsoft Word over the previous two days. For the first time since my original computer's wireless card bit the dust I was able to get internet access inside. There would be no complaining from me about the signal strength. While they were gone, Luis and Lillia stopped by. I gave each of them a big hug, and gladly handed off the video camera, tripod and sleep apnea machine to them. Paul and Uncle Mark returned and the seven of us sat around the dining room table talking and joking for several hours. At about 10:00 Luis and Lillia left, and Patty, Uncle Mark, Aunt Lori and I sat in the living room as Paul told the story of his TAM airlines experience, causing Uncle Mark to let out his world renown guffaw.

At about 11:00, we all headed up to bed. Due to the amount of visitors currently at Lobster Road, for Caroline, William and I, it would mean almost literally camping out in Uncle Mark and Aunt Lori's bedroom. I was fortunate enough to have the hammock outside on their balcony. Climbing on to the fabric material, both my legs and head jutted upwards at 45 degree angles. Looking into the room, I said the four Procopio's laying in there respective beds, "today's Sesame Street is brought to you by the letter V"; seeing that was the shape I was in. Caroline was worried that I would be cold out there, and would give me a new blanket to add to the growing pile every 10 minutes or so. It turns out that I would end up needed the all of the blankets due to the fact that it did get quite chilly out there. With my Ipod playing some music softly on my makeshift hammock-side table I drifted off to sleep. A normally difficult task was made simple by the fact I had gotten little sleep lately, only 5 out of the past 68 hours), and it was not long before I was snoozing in the cool night air...