The catchword is "large"....

The day before the Festa do Divino  is the day of the "Afogado" or "Prato da Casa". The signs here says "prata da casa", the silver of the house.... but this is about the bands. The "Prato" is about food (and not so much about the plate or the silver..... )

Country songs are very popular.

The free food is distributed to people (originally the poor people). Many people take larger quantities home; for the family or to just eat for some more days. The food exists of rice and potatoes with a beef sauce. This is the "Afogado" part: "The dish is drowned." To make it less fluid you can add some "farinha de mandioca"  flour from the cassave. This year 15 bulls ended up in the broth in the enormous pans.

Every year 2 different families are responsible for organizing this event. (This year the families Rodriques and Teodoro.) All people participating are volunteers. It is an honor to serve the community in this way.

The food is distributed in the marketplace of São Luiz do Paraitinga. Huge pots are resting on purpose built fireplaces.  The catchword is "large".

Here you can line up for "Afogado"

A view from behind the counter. The very large pans...

People getting the food on their plates.

Serving the customer.

It is a happy day.

The smaller pans..... and a very large one on a customized fire.

Some wood for the fires, sacks of potatoes and very large pans....

The medium to large pans....

And here a huge pan with the broth.... hanging in a customized fireplace

At the end, everything has to be cleaned up to be ready for the next event.

For more pictures of São Luiz: see Flickr

São Luiz, the day before the "Festa do Divino".

Head of the Bloco  (carnival group)
 Juca Teles in São Luiz.

São Luiz do Paraitinga is a small village in de Serra do Mar, some 30 kilometers east of the highway between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. São Luiz is famous for its Carnival and the music festival some time before (the Marchinha) and other  festivities, firmly anchored in religion. The musical element is always very important. Tradition here is alive.

This year we were able to visit São Luiz on the Saturday before the "Festa do Divino".  The village was already very lively with music, Capoeira, Pipoca (popcorn) and many kinds of other foods. One of the main things on this Saturday is the "Prato da Casa". More about this what is calld "afogado" (drowned dish) in my next blog.

Three years ago on New Years Eve  the village was hit by a disastrous flooding of the Paraitinga river. The water came extremely high. The old church, that was never flooded before, went down. Also many of the beautiful houses of the former Coffee Barons were severely damaged. There are gaps in the streets (behind red boards) where the damage is still not repaired.

But São Luiz doesn't give up easily. Life goes on and the festivals attract many people. Even on days without a festival São Luiz is very much worth a visit.

For more pictures of São Luiz (before the flood / and the flood damage) see  São Luiz do Paraitinga on Flickr.

Damage of the flood behind the red boards....

Structure of the walls

The river Paraitinga

Reconstructing the Church (see: old church)

Cavalhada - procession on horses

Many people in the streets.... but tomorrow it will be many many more!

Capoeira. Almost ready to begin.

Country music and dancing

Pipoca com queijo - popcorn with cheese

A bar in the market

A procession 

Another procession

Till late; many people enjoy the festivity in the streets  

A walk around town...

The end of a busy street.

Quiririm is a small town, part of the larger town of Taubaté, in the Paraiba valley north of the immense city of São Paulo. It is on the high banks of the Paraiba river. Walking around this small town is almost as being in the countryside itself.

In Brazil beautiful flowers are all over the place.

An ugly concrete wall becomes interesting when it is grown with small plants.

The road ends in the fields.

Like this one....

Only two or three blocks away from the center of the town.

 

Home made

Just as everywhere else; a bathtub with water for the cows

A coutryside pub (or like we say here: The bakery)

A small farm

Sitting outside is important.

Great cows.

Like a painting of the Dutch painter Paulus Potter.

Of course.... ants are everywhere.

All ends at the road to Campos de Jordão.

A tropical greenhouse....

The Botanisk Have - the botanical garden in Copenhagen (Denmark) has an excellent Victorian tropical greenhouse. 

In winter, when you want to warm up a bit while walking through the city, it is very nice to visit this greenhouse.
For all the information on this botanical garden, for instance on the history, see: botanical garden in Copenhagen  see also: Botanisk Have (in English and Danish)

Winding cast iron staircases lead you up and down (one way traffic) to and from the gallery high up. It is a bit challenging when you are afraid of heights, but it feels good to walk "through" the tree tops. The lens of the camera gets a bit foggy making the pictures a bit mysterious. 

The gallery

Condensation on the lens - the misty jungle

Down again into "the forest"

This Victorian Greenhouse is of course the right place to see the fantastic Victoria Regia's. I never forget to visit them, but the last time I was there they were gone... Just an empty pond where they used to be. Maybe they come back, but I still had some earlier pictures. The most wonderful leaves I have ever seen.