Our house and customs

Here there are some photos from our house. This is the view we have from our porch and dinning room. You can see the river behind the trees.

This big tree you can see is called Figueira (Ficus tree) and it is approximately 200 years old!

Here you can see a small one. This kind of tree grows up around another tree and embraces, suffocating it until the old tree dies and the Ficus grows in its place! Isn’t it interesting?
The Ficus trees are very common in this area: South of South America.

Alice is having a chimarrão (or mate).
This picture we took to Alma (Alice’s Spanish friend) who learned and enjoyed to drink mate while she was living here in Brazil.

And this is the view from the river. You can see the house in the back.

Here is the house!

Quico and Alice are ridding a kayak.

Here is Alice swinging in a liana (woody vines). PLAY the video to watch her!

Here are Alice and her friends Bruna and Laura. They are wearing Prenda's (Gaucho’s girl) dresses. These are traditional dresses that the girls usually wear them during the week we celebrate the Farroupilha Revolution.

So… those are some pictures of our home. As you can see we live in a gorgeous place!

Gauchos kisses!
Marina

Life in the country side

Sure there are some advantages in living far from the center of the city. We have lots os open space, pure air, trees, river and…animals!
Ok, I have to be fair, those animals are not ours, but at least they are very close to us. They are from our in front gate neighbors.

Alice is giving a bottle of milk to a lamb.

And I am carry it! So cute!

Alice is petting a chick.

Alice is kissing a baby bunny. This picture is for Kyoko! I remember of you!

And playing with a baby cow!

As you can see we had lots of fun this day!

Lambs kisses,
Marina

Our day by day lives

Here you can see some new photos from us...
Alice is having breakfast. Have a look to her smile!

Alice is doing her first grade homework. Very concentrated!

Alice, Quico and Bruna (Alice’s friend) are having the lunch at our porch. As you can see the temperatures are getting higher…

Alice is playing by the river with Bohr and Biscoita at our home backyard. Florzinha doesn’t like to bathe in the river!

PLAY IT!

dogs kisses,

Marina

Gramado zoo

In August we went to Gramado, a city 75 miles (121 km) from Porto Alegre (where we live) to visit Anselmo (Quico´s cousin) and his wife. Selmo and Alice prepared a delicious pizza for us!

On the way back home we stopped at a local zoo. This is a special zoo because it has only Brazilian animals. As you can see the zoo is also in a very beautiful place.

At this part of the zoo we could walk inside the birds’ cage and then we could be very close to the animals. Really fun!

Some big and beautiful macaw (a kind of a parrot)

PLAY the video to hear the macaws sounds!

A colourful toucan! Pretty, isnt' it?

PLAY the video to see how funny this toucan is!

Have a look to the monkey and it baby! So cute!

A beautiful jaguar (onça pintada)!

A puma or cougar.

The beautiful landscape from the zoo. You can see The Gaucho Highlands (serra Gaúcha) that are the mountainous region in the northeastern portion of Rio Grande do Sul state in southern Brazil.

Two black jaguar licking (or kissing?) each other!

Penguins, believe or not! You can find more of those penguins in Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands and only some of them migrating to Brazil.

Alice feeding (special food from the zoo) ducks and turtles.

More monkeys.

Jaguar kisses!

Marina

First Barbecue

This was the first family meeting we had here in Brazil. It was at Marisa (Quico’s sister) house and it was a very warm welcome from our family. We had a very delicious barbecue. Hum…..

Quico, Alice and his father.

Marisa (Quico's sister) and Felipe (stand) (Marisa's son)

The barbecue fire place

The meat....hummmmm...very good (not exactly at this time....)

Alice, Ymara (my sister), Gabriela and Thomaz (my nice and nephew) and me

Irajá, Marisa's boyfriend and the barbecue man!

Finally eating!

Gaucho's kisses,

Marina