Natal, Brazil 2007: Trouble in the Planalto...

It probably didn’t help that I was already laughing at the episode of Scrubs that was on my computer screen, but the sound of the rooster crowing at 1:00 in the morning had me rolling on my air mattress. After the 10th crow, everyone was awake and muttering under their breath. What made it funnier is that Aunt Lori and I had been discussing the section of Proverbs earlier that dwells upon the roosters and how they should be admired. Our consensus had been that it is a creature that can solely decide what time that the day should begin. Even a rooster with a below average mental capacity would realize that the sun was not up, therefore it should not crow. However we seem to live next to a rooster that not only was not blessed with the normal prune sized brain of a chicken, but also seemed to be suffering from a case of altimeters.

As if these medical conditions were not enough for the bird, he also seemed to be suffering from the consequences of smoking three packs a day for 10 years. His crow was raspy and ever-changing as he would express those five syllables that we had all come to hate "COcK-a-DoO-dlE-doO." After the third crow, he had woken and confused every other rooster in the neighborhood. Reluctantly they would begin crowing, following the lead of the moronic leader, probably curious why it was this day that the sun had refused to shine. I continued to laugh until the crowing subsided and the noise of a sleepless Natal street filled the air.

Reason two why it isn't too great to sleep on a balcony outside: Sun exposure. While sunlight can be ignored by putting a pillow over ones head, the hot rays of the sun's direct contact with the skin of the shoulders and arms can leave an unaware sleeping victim sun burnt and uncomfortable for days to come. This is why it is best to bow to the will of the sun, and get out of bed before it reaches its maximum temperature at about 8:00. I had a quick breakfast, and immediately went to my patio office to blog.

At about 10:30, I knocked on the gate that separated our house from the Casa de Adelmo. Dona Lucia led me to the computer again, this time sputtering non stop in her native Portuguese. Up until this point I had managed to say one or two words to her, or maybe a simple sentence here and there. She looked at me waiting to answer the question that had been intertwined with her three minutes of banter, and I looked at her like a deer caught in headlights. "No Mais Portuguese" (Not Much Portuguese), I said to her and she doubled over laughing. She had thought that I spoke the language fluently, and just was a man of few words. Needless to say, I fixed our computer problem quite quickly and then went back to publish the blog that had been written in Microsoft Word.

Mark, Paul and Patty had gone to the Planalto, where Patty took pictures of the work on the hall for a little while. She then got her hands dirty and began painting the grates that protected the windows. Uncle Mark built storage shelves for the co-op while Paul continued to use the camera as a tool for God. Aunt Lori spent the morning handling some things that needed to be finished as well, primarily looking for another project for the cooperative, which had been moved to Souzete's house during the period of hall renovation. The group all returned in time for lunch, which is exactly when Aunt Lori got a call from FedEx about Paul's shipment that had been stopped by customs.

He had sent a box of picture frames and a box of lights in order to take and distribute family portraits and pictures of children to families in the Planalto. Neither had arrived yet and Paul is set to leave on Tuesday, making this issue very time sensitive. Inacia came into the dining room and told Lori that Giselle wanted to see her and her brother, who she thought was me. I decided to make myself scarce and head to the Planalto with Uncle Mark. My plan was to breakup the day by working on the hall, breaking to play baseball with the kids and then returning to hall to clean up.

Uncle Mark picked up where he left off with the shelves, while Eric and William threw a football around on the road. Patty was given the task of applying the okra colored primer to the outside of the hall, which I wanted to do, as Luciano gave me a quick tutorial of applying cement to a wall. This was a new concept to me. I had done some cement work with a patio or a wall, but never with something that ran perpendicular to the ground. It was basically crack filling, but these cracks were not small, running floor to ceiling and probably three inches in diameter. I got the hang of it quick, and finished my first task within an hour. I cleaned out what would become the drainage system next, before leading the anxious kids to the field.

This time we picked up some other kids by the field and had 11 of them taking batting practice in no time. Just after the final one took some swings, Alison Uno came up to me and gave me some rather distressing news. Using his eyes, he directed my attention to young man on the top of the hill overlooking the field. "Vaminos Pronto" (We Leave Now), he said to me.

"Por Que" (Why?), I asked him. He then began explaining to me that the man was a robber who was known in the Planalto for killing many people. I could see out of the corner of my eye that this man was watching us, and Alison Uno's information made me a little nervous. I gathered the group together and packed up our gear. As we started up the hill I noticed that the man was gone and I breathed a sigh of relief. This was short-lived when I saw him standing at the top of the hill ahead of us. He held a birdcage in his hand, and looked harmless enough as he smiled at us. Still, the information I had received was enough for me to clutch the aluminum bat in my hand tighter, and open the "Mike and Shelby Knife" that was in my pocket. He looked right at me, as I casually positioned myself between Alison Uno and Eric. We passed and I called to the other boys where were straggling behind to catch up. When we finally became one group again, we headed back to the church.

I grabbed a roller as soon as I got back. We had about an hour and a half left before it got dark, and I wanted to do some painting. I applied the primer to the walls in preparation for the final product the next day. Patty continued on the trim work, while Luciano finally made a decision about what color he wanted one section of the wall to be. At 5:00 Luciano and his Comvee full of workers headed home, while those of us that remained cleaned the hall.

Paul and Lori had been at the farmers market, which had been turned into a tract and Bible distribution center over the past few weeks. Paul took close-up shots of the fruit, while Neto, Chiquinho and Lori translated and distributed tracts. They arrived back at the Planalto at about 5:30 and we headed home. Paul reviewed his pictures, sharpening and focusing each one until they were exactly the way he wanted. I showered with the intention of getting the yellow paint splatter off of me, but my attempt was in vain. Soon we were all changed and ready to go to dinner at the all you can eat pizza place located down the street from our home.

The pizza was light with a crust that had the similar weight and texture of a piece of pita bread. Because of the light weight of the pizza, it was easy to just keep on eating it. I tried several varieties, while passing on others. We talked about the events of the day, with Paul relaying to us the events of the meeting with the Gazelle. He had talked her and Adelmo into getting cable internet for our house, seeing they would be moving in within the next month anyway. He and Lori also explained the thinking behind the pictures of the fruit, explaining that they wanted to blow up the photos, and use them as the designs for several cooperative projects. After eating some chocolate covered dessert pizzas, we headed home. I answered several work E-mails, while Paul and Patty began printing pictures for the co-op catalog, orphanage and of the fruit.

Paul joined me outside after an hour or so, and we talked for a bit as we each worked on our computers. Darting through the sky was a bat that swooped to pick some insects off the ground. I had never seen one fly so close, and with each pass it came closer. I directed Paul’s attention to the creature, in time for him to turn and see it fly by and miss his face by less than six inches. He made a rat tail out of the towel draping on a nearby chair and the next time the bat did a flyby, he swung at it, nearly missing it and causing the creature to retreat. Paul went to bed shortly thereafter, and I was soon to follow.

I had a brief online conversation with my dad before cleaning the patio area and heading to my balcony. There were no sounds of roosters, horses or soccer games. The night was quiet, and within minutes I had drifted off to sleep...