Fazenda

The farm, or fazenda, as the Portuguese call it, is situated outside the city of Mogi das Cruzes, near Sao Paulo. The farm is off of a pothole ridden dirt road, often completely muddy due to the monsoon rains that strike nearly daily and send torrential waves of rain down on Brazil. On the muddy days, and sometimes the not so muddy ones depending on the driver, the bus doesnt come here.
The farm is focused on building permaculture, there are no crops yet. We have built a compost, seed planters, we fixed doors on for the front and back doors, and mesh for the moscas, the flies on the windows. The house is simple at best, but at least there is light, hot water for the shower, and an angering and tempermental internet connection.
A big fierce black dog named Delicado (Delicate) prowls the house and farm, and a smaller brown dog named Laika just gave birth to seven (!) puppies, 5 girls and 2 boys. There is a cute black and white kitten, a horse who sticks his head in through the kitchen window above the sink to much whatever you~re cooking (until we fixed the mesh), and a strange small blonde dog named MalMal (maomao), which means bad-bad, after a card game the people were playing when they first saw him at the farm. He generally lurks in the garage far away from the house, and you only see him running away with his head turned back to look at you. Slowly, he has gotten more and more comfortable with the people at the farm, and not sometimes will make raids on the food lying around the kitchen or beds, until someone sees him, then he runs out of the room and disappears into the vapor.
The work is hard but rewarding, and the days either incredibly hot or full of torrential thunderstorms.
The food is simple and vegetarian, a lot of rice and beans and lentils...tons of tomatoes, some avocados, mangoes, papayas, goyabas, and other obscure fruits. But its all quite delicious.