Sunday, March 3, 2013

Agreste de Pernambuco - and Goodbye Brazil!


On one of our last days in Surubim, we were invited out to see a bit of the countryside by an old friend of Mary’s dad named Dr. Fernando. While he is not actually a doctor, the term was used in the Northeast to refer to anyone who was well educated 30 years ago and it has stuck.

To get to Dr. Fernando’s small plot of land, we piled into the back of his truck along with his grandson and Mary’s aunt Lei.


 

This was the view from the back of the truck along the way…


 And here we are arriving at the farm.


 
Some flowers we saw near the house.

The first animals we saw were the guinea pigs, which are raised to sell as pets. Dr. Fernando’s wife owns a pet shop in Surubim. Here is Nick with a particularly cute one. 
 
Next on the tour were these chickens and ducks, who pretty much wandered wherever they pleased around the outbuildings. 

There were also several peacocks just strutting around looking pretty.

The cactuses behind this peacock are the standard food for farm animals in the semi-arid Northeast.

Fernando’s grandson was really keen on helping around the farm. He ran around the birds tossing out seeds from this bucket. It was adorable.


And here he is with a wheelbarrow. Again being adorable!

Then we came to the cows. They said muuu, which actually translates to “moo” in English.


And finally we got to the goats. Dr. Fernando shouted out the code words for feeding time, and they came running! 

 These guys stopped to strike a pose in front of the landscape.



Here's Mary with a cute baby one! And  a big one butting Dr. Fernando.

Those white specks in the distance are also goats. They heard the dinner call too, and are on their way up.

And here they come!

 

 And there they go!


After the great goat feed, we went for a short trek across the pasture. These hills only slowed down Dona Lourdes a little bit. Not bad for a lady in her seventies!

And this idyllic agreste countryside marked the conclusion of our Brazil honeymoon trip! Thanks to all our family and friends who helped to make it happen!