Staying at Pedro's

So I hit the wall today, physically and mentally.  I will definitely, well maybe, write about this tomorrow, when I have a little space between me and the day, but I figure I'd take the minute to describe where we're staying.

LUME first arranged for all of six us (Galen, Vanessa, Noah, my mom, Thomas and me) to stay in the 2-bedroom home of Bella and Jasmine, a lovely woman and her 11 year-old daughter.  The two of them are great, but their house was a little too small for Thomas to have any room to run around.  And anyone who has ever babysat Thomas knows that this is a necessity.  And then we found out that there would be three more people moving into the house, AND three people camping out on her back patio.  So mom and Vanessa and I decided to look for another option.  Galen and Noah are staying at Bella's...

You might remember hearing about Pedro from one of Galen's posts.  He's one of LUME's producers and a jovial English-speaking guy who will soon be moving to Sao Paulo to join his wife, an actress.  He invited any of us to stay in his spare bedroom so mom and I took him up on it.  Vanessa decided to stay at another family's home whose daily price included breakfast and dinner... I'll let her describe it if she'd like.

Anywho, Pedro's house is notable for more than its wireless internet.  He lives in a neighborhood of Barao Geraldo that is reachable only by dirt road, thanks to the insistence of its residents.  After these days and days of rain, it is one mud puddle after another -- you can imagine us pushing our Maclaren down the road every day.  The entrance to the neighborhood is through a psychedelic public garden that was built up by an elderly woman... imagine a ton of mosaic tiles, Christmas lights, tropical plants, and wooden furniture (including a wood slat hammock!).  Kind of like a rustic Parc Guell.  It's pretty great.  Every night when we come home there are 2 twenty-somethings smoking pot at one of the a picnic tables.  I can't imagine a more appropriate place to do that.  I will definitely try to fanagle a way to get a photo of the garden because I can tell you'd like to see it. (damn me forgetting to bring the digital camera)...

Okay that's all for now.  I am now going to try to find a home for the R115 worth of food that mom and I bought at the grocery tonight, forgetting that we had to walk it all back to the house.  That is only reachable by muddy dirt road.  With Thomas and the stroller and the diaper bag and our purses.  After four hours of intense exercise and no food.  Understanding hitting the wall now?

boa noite,

megan