I wish I could send some of this heat to my family and friends in Minnesota. You are having extreme cold and I´m experiencing extreme heat. The temperature moderates here a bit when it rains, but it was clear and hot all day today. Angela says this means we´re going to have very heavy rains tomorrow. I have come to appreciate the days when it rains in the morning and clears in time to do something in the afternoon. My New Year´s weekend was exquisite. I went with Livia, Lenora, and her parents to a weekend party at a fazenda. A fazenda is a working farm. This one had bulls, cows, horses, and chickens. They have something like a conservation easement here with recognition from the government for creating a nature reserve. Ivan, one of the owners, says that there are three different environments represented here - serrado, Pantanal, and Amazonia. The serrado is the pasture land and the site of the buildings. It is mostly dry rolling land that looks a lot like the farm land in southern Minnesota. Land representative of the Amazon is located along the river and has large trees. Wetlands with shallow lakes and lots of short dense vegetation is what you would find in Pantanal. The buildings overlook a lake, but there are actually three lakes on the property, and at some times of the year they have access to Rio Vermelho (Red River), which feeds Rio Araguia, a famous recreational area. The fazenda, Boca da Mata, is the only development on any of the lakes. There are many types of animals, birds, flora, and fauna represented here. I hope to come back here when the water is higher in a couple months. The ambience is almost indescribable! We celebrated the New Year with about 25 people at the fazenda, with everyone dressed in white to bring good luck for the new year. We had a huge dinner together and lots of interesting drinks. Before dinner, everyone got into the act of decorating the area where the food would be served. We used a round wooden table decorated with large green leaves as covers, and other foliage and flowers as a backdrop. Just before midnight, everyone joined hands and shared their hopes, dreams, and wishes for the new year. At midnight we all greeted each other with hugs, kisses, and New Year´s greetings. Several of the guys lit off fireworks over the pool. Everyone drank champagne and stayed outside talking for hours. For the rest of the weekend, we sat by the pool, read books, talked, and went boating, water skiing, and fishing. I took a tour of the fazenda and got to see the different environments and all the animals up close. Some of the guys played a version of golf in the yard, with a champagne bottle as a target. There was a huge selection of food and drinks at all times. It was like being on a cruise without the ship. For example, when we returned from our tour of the fazenda, there was grilled meat, as well as manioca sauteed with butter and onions. We drank beer and caipirinhas (limes, sugar, ice, and cachaça) at poolside. I was just getting ready for a swim when they told me that lunch was ready - and here I thought we had just eaten lunch! There was another table on the veranda that was loaded with more meat, beans, rice, vinagrette, and a corn dish. From there, we moved to the deck attached to the house for cafezinho and dessert. Lenora´s mother Dora brought ingredients for some of the desserts I have made for their family on previous occasions. Fortunately everything I made at the fazenda was delicious, because I had NO recipes with me - I had to make everything from memory! I made pecan pie the first night. Everyone was watching as I made the crust, rolled it out with a roll of plastic bags (because they didn´t have a rolling pin), and arranged in a large casserole dish. I had a jar of Karo syrup, and added a large dab of butter, four beaten eggs, some vanilla, and about two cups of sugar. I was really winging it because not only did I not remember the original recipe, but I was trying for a quantity that would be sufficient for the size of the huge crust. After about an hour in the oven, it was perfect and everyone loved it! My next exploit was the dough for caramel rolls. We created the name "Sweet Carolines" for these rolls when we made them at Caldas Novas two years ago. I decided to make the dough on Thursday night so I could sleep late on Friday. I started with fresh yeast and warm milk that was just a few hours away from the cows right there at the fazenda. I made a nice dough, kneaded it well, and left it in the refrigerator for the night. The next morning I rolled out three rectangles. I spread butter on the first one, sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar, and spread pecans before rolling it up into a cylinder. I melted butter into a large rectangular cake pan, poured maple syrup from Duluth, and added more nuts. When I cut the slices of rolls and arranged them in the pan, everyone looked on with admiration for the result. By this time, everyone wanted to get into the act. Lenora created a pan of cinnamon and chocolate rolls. We didn´t have any more pecans, so we used walnuts for the next batch. I think everyone in the world knows that I don´t like fruit. Bananas are the worst - I don´t like the taste or the texture. We had one small pan that was still available, and Enio asked me if we could try bananas (also grown fresh on the fazenda) for just a small pan. How could I refuse? He carefully arranged the rolls on a layer of bananas, and everyone thought those were delicious too. In between cooking escapades, I have been to the zoo in Goiania and an environmental park. Another day I bought a real bikini. One day Livia and I looked at apartments in a new building in Goiania, but if I buy something here, it will probably be a smaller apartment in an older building. I´m not ready to give up my house in Duluth, so this will be a second home. I went with Angela, Edmo, and Breno to Brasilia for a weekend Rotary Youth Exchange event. There were hundreds of exchange students from all over Brazil, with performers doing different types of music and dancing. I met a friend from Brasilia, Nelida, who is a fellow Rotarian, as well as an artist and sculptor. I stayed with her a couple years ago when I was here with Larry Riley and Glen Nordehn. For someone who wants to learn about another culture, I can´t even begin to describe the richness of the experience of getting out of the major cities and off the beaten path. I´ve been to many different homes, and cities and small towns throughout Goias. I´ve been to areas and places that seldom see anyone from outside Brasil. The breadth and depth of my experience here has been exquisite!

;)How are you doing mom. I am having a good time and hope and know that you are doing the samething. I have to tell you that I have moved out of the barracks and moved in with a buddy of mine into apartments. I just wanted to see you were doing and to say I love you. Say hi to lenora for me and I will send you a picture of the bike when I get the chance.Love you ANdy:)