Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Minas, trem bao demais da conta!

I'm back! :D
And this was a bit of my trip to Minas. It's funny because when I was little I hated to go there (and grandpa would drag my brother and I there every single vacation or holidays)! Perdoes is this really small town, full of old people and not many fun things for an active city kid to do. When I was growing up, I tried my best to define myself as opposed as I could to all the things and people there, but now, I have nothing but the dearest memories of the place. It's undeniable that this is part of what I am too. Most part of my mom's and dad's family's live there (though my father, my brother and I are from Sao Paulo), and now, one of the most important people of my life is also resting there forever, in the city of his heart, grandpa.
I tried to capture a bit of the Minas atmosphere (in my mind, Minas=Perdoes=Minas, they're interchangeable hehehehe).

THE ROAD
It takes a 6 hour and 2 stops bus trip to get there (which contributed to part of my discontentment of having to go there when I was a kid). By the road, lots of green hills, farms, cows, etc. The red arrow points to coffe bushes (not that I know all these plants, it's just that my paternal grandma used to work at the coffe's harvest, so she always used to point it out when she was on the bus with me)








THE CITY

Cobblestone streets and restored centuries-old houses. There's only one big apartment building (with 10 floors) in the whole city.













CITY LIFE


The clock definetly runs slower there. The church is the institution around which everything revolves. At the church's plaza, a place for the local band performances. The milkman brings the product straight from nearby farms on these big metal containers, and the coffe is always waiting on the top of log ovens.







THE FOOD


Ah, the food! If you visit 10 houses, they're gonna make you have "just a sip of coffe" in each one of them. Minas is known for their unique food (top to bottom): column 1 -Doce de leite, curau, biscoito de polvilho; column 2 - goiabada, pao de queijo, Minas cheese; column 3 - cake, milk straight from the cow (not that white water we usually drink), beans in the iron pan; column 4 - angu, frango com quiabo, doce de figo, pe-de-moleque. "Quase morri!" hahahaha




GRANDMA'S HOUSE

Meet grandma, this 96 - year-old cute little cotton-haired figure in the center. She lives in a dollhouse, with everything made in crochet (that she made, of course!). And when I say everything I mean everything! Cupboard mats, couch covers, table tops, curtains, towels, fridge and oven tops, mats, bed covers and even toilet paper holders (oh, and also this blouse she's wearing)! She stopped making crochet only a few years ago, because of her sight, and I'm the only grandchild (out of 20+) that learned to make it, though I'm nowhere near her beyond-pro level.




That's it. I hope you liked the pics (I'm still a Photoshop amateur, but I'm learning... ;-).

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh!!! I love these pictures. My favorites are of the food and the crochet. Can I screen grab some of these and feeature them on Fly? I will of course give you full credit.

Anonymous said...

I love goiabada, dolce de leite, and biscoito de polvilho. Everything looks so good.

书伟 sylvio said...

hum q delícia de comida! agora tenho certeza q vc não vai aguentar ficar muito tempo sem dar uma voltinha aqui no Brasil!
[ ],
sylvio

Anonymous said...

Aaaaaiii, comida mineira!! Que perdição!!!

Uma das coisas boas de crescer é se reconciliar com o passado... e atribuir um significado diferente e mais relevante para acontecimentos comuns :)

Árabe pode ser uma boa! É muito difícil? Tava morrendo de vontade de ir para o Oriente Médio esses dias, hehehe. Israel, na verdade, mas não quero aprender hebraico.

Quem sabe francês, italiano ou japonês?

Tá chegando!

Dea said...

Hi Andrea, good to see you keep visiting! :) You can use the pics on your blog, it's an honour! :)
Sylvio que bom que você passou por aqui! Pois eh, tenho certeza que meu estomago vai me puxar de volta constantemente! hehehe
Erica, vamos combinar de ir pro Oriente Medio juntas? Sempre quis ir! entao, Arabe eh dificil sim, mas depois do comeco, que eh pior, depois q vc ta alfabetizada embala...e eh maravalihoso!!! Fr. e it. sao lindos, mas, com todo respeito, meio inuteis hoje...japones (ou chines) vale mais a pena. Aproveita que vc ta na USP e pega as aulas nos cursos de linguas das graduacoes da FFLCH, eh otimo!! Nao sei as outras, mas os profs do arabe sao perfeitos, recomendo!!

Anonymous said...

Dea, vc mostrou o que eh mais conhecido de MG, mas a gente nao pode esquecer que aquilo eh enorme e praticamente um pais!!! hehehe.. Onde minha irma mora ainda tem umas duas horas e pouco pra chegar na Bahia e a comida jah muda. Eles comem muito peixe (beira do Velho Chico, jah viu, neh?!) e um tal de requeijao duro (blagh, nem curti). Eu adorei um biscoito de polvilho frito que suponho ser de outras regioes do estado tambem. Eh divino!!! Beijinho e adorei as fotos!!!