Marina has already described one of our working days. Now it’s my turn. Actually it is not a totally usual day since she’s away in Sobral to do some shopping for the hotel and I’m all by myself here today. I haven’t left the territory of the hotel the whole day, but luckily it’s big enough to have a walk around, and then again, I’m staying outside the house 95% of the time.
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| Jeri - Paris - Moscow |
So – I got up at 7:30 to have time to shower as the electrician was supposed to come at 8. That was quite a naïve thing to do as the time here has different dimensions and he didn’t show up until after 9:30, and I knew he wouldn’t. But anyhow, it’s good to be there when the guests are having breakfast. While they were eating I stayed at the reception, answered some bookings, checked one room in, checked one room out and chatted with the Slovenian and the French girl staying in one of the rooms. The time between the breakfast and lunch passed by between talking on Skype with my friend Marina in Copenhagen, giving instructions to the electrician, sand-papering the hangers, writing business cards (yes, at the moment they are hand-made) and answering mails.
The hangers were very cheap – 5 BRL(2EUR/16NOK/87RUB) a piece, but they are very far from IKEA quality. Marina painted them already without sand-papering them before, and I thought that that only made them look worse, so I sand-papered three out of seven today on top of the painting. Actually, I think it gave them kinda rustic look with fits well with the rest, so I think we keep it like that.
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| the reception details |
My friends ask me if we have any employees at the hotel – so I might as well answer this here. We have one girl who serves the breakfast, cleans the rooms and washes the bed-linen (which she by the way did by hand until we arrived with Marina’s washing machine!) and her name is Dasdores, or Dady in short. She’s super sweet, and although she can seem shy and quiet, she definitely has things under control! When Marina is not there and I would have people checking in or out, Dady would always stay and listen and help if I have problems explaining things in Portuguese. Well no, she doesn’t speak English, but I guess she learned to understand me better than people who don’t know me. Now, you might have noticed that one thing is sort of not on the list of the things that she does. That is cooking. And according to the Brazilian labour legislation we are obliged to provide lunch for her, so that’s what we do.
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| the evil cactus |
Marina doesn’t like cooking so it is my job to make food for the three of us every day. The selection of products here is very very limited so I really use all the fantasy that I have to invent dishes each day. Most often we eat fried veggies with rice or I make pasta sauce with veggies, since none of us fancies meet. Today was my bonding time with Dady since Marina was not here. When Marina is here it is mostly them two having a conversation, and today I did my best to put together all my knowledge of Portuguese to have a meaningful conversation with Dady. We talked a bit about the family and the food and she told me that she really likes the food that I make and now when she comes home she doesn’t want to eat her Mom’s food anymore and the Mom complains, and also her husband complains when Dady doesn’t want to make the traditional food anymore. Well I was quite flattered, although of course I don’t want to be in the middle of the family conflict.
All due respect, I must say that I understand Dady – I don’t really fancy the local cuisine either. One of the most famous cearence (from Ceará) dishes is baião de dois, those two (dois) main ingredients being rice and beans. Rice and beans are present as a side dish for most of the main courses too. And I also don’t fancy the way the meat, fish and chicken are prepared and served here – straight from the grill without marinade, spices or sauce.
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| bananas |
Anyhow, after dinner I talked a bit more on Skype, did a bit more sand-papering and set to water the garden. Watering the garden is another thing that Marina doesn’t like doing, so it is my daily responsibility. I always do it between three and four o'clock, as the sun is already low and the leaves wouldn't burn, but I still can see everything. The whole garden takes about one hour to water, but I really take pleasure in doing it. In our climate everything grows very fast, and it is fascinating to see the difference from one day to another.
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| papaya |
For me it was funny to discover that bananas are almost impossible to get rid of – they keep on coming through as the worst weeds! We threw out the banana palms that we had as they require a lot of water to produce the fruits, and that is expensive. And without water they look very sad and dry. But those bananas don’t give up! Practically every day I see new ones coming!
Another funny fact is that a papaya plant grows very fast and is able to produce fruits at the age of 6 months. It also does require a lot of water so I do water it every day, we just hope it’s not a male plant as then all our efforts would be in vain!
Out of the many coconut trees we have there is only one or two of the ones that produce good coconuts. Well, it looks like a handful anyway. Oh yeah, and there is also this evil cactus that leaves a million of tiny little needles in your skin if you accidentally touch it, those are impossible to take out as they are barely visible, but they do hurt!
Anyhow, by the time I have finished watering, the electrician was also done with putting up the lights in the garden. I’m such a sucker for lights!!! Now people stop to take pictures of our lights, so I guess it is a good sign.
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| lamps with solar batteries! |
Later on our Serbian friends passed by with some home-made guacamole and beers, which we finished in no time. When I finish this entry I’ll hang the hammock at our reception that has got a small make-over and continue reading the Danish book that I found on the shelf. It’s time to relax, and now my only tasks would be to receive and hand out the keys. Hopefully people won’t stay out all too long and I will be able to go to bed around 2 a.m. at latest. This makes long working hours, but it’s not super stressful so I’m not really complaining!
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| a bit of IKEA in Brazil |
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| a lot of IKEA actually... |
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| good night! :) |
