No violento mar

On the violent sea.

I’m not such a huge fan of the oceans. I think they make pretty pictures and it’s fun to walk along the beach, but I much prefer mountains to oceans. With one exception. And that exception is Matinhos, Paraná, Brasil. (Part of that exception was because if you turned your back to the ocean, you were looking at gorgeous mountains. What can I say, the place had it all.)

I lived in Matinhos from January 12, 2000, to February 8, 2000, four short weeks. I arrived on a bus from Curitiba that Wednesday afternoon in the city of Paranaguá. I got off the bus and my first thought was just how oppressive the heat was, it felt like I’d stepped into an oven. My second thought after that surprised me.

Sister Sudy was there with some members who gave us a ride an hour down the beach to Matinhos. We’d take that road at least once a week by bus while I was there.

Matinhos was a beach town. During the summer it was full of people. During the winter it was practically empty. I was there in the summer. Some of the streets were paved, but all the roads were covered in sand. And by the time we’d get home at night, so were we. It rained, daily. I sat down to write my parents a letter that first day to let them know where I was then, and the blue lines on my paper rubbed off on my hand because it was that humid. I really don’t know how our clothes ever dried.

Our house leaked, in just a few places at first, but over my bed at the end. We had frogs, I handled those. We had cockroaches, Sister Sudy took care of those. Half the days we didn’t have lunch because nobody would feed us. I was the only person in the town that spoke English, although there were a few that thought they did (I was pretty good at Portuguese by the time I left). And by the time I left one month later, my foot was so messed up I couldn’t walk and the pain kept me up at night.

And I absolutely loved it.

That was where I fell in love with Brasil. I think it took a while longer for Brasil to fall in love with me. Mas, um pedaço do meu coração estará sempre no Brasil.