Day 4 Party Day

Friday April 30, 2010
Today is the big day. We are having a party for Mr. Bellinelli. Many relatives are coming in from Campos. Elaine has many cousins. They will all be staying at the pousada. Did I mention that the pousada is a bed and breakfast?
Tomorrow is Dia do Trabalho. May 1st is labor day in Brazil and across much of the world. This meant that we had to do all of the grocery shopping today to be sure there was enough food for everyone over the weekend.
Before we went shopping, we had to stop at Graca's house to get about 20 cases of beer to take to the lake house. We had to do all of this without Mr. Bellinelli knowing or seeing. We had two days of celebration planned for him.
When we finished grocery shopping and delivering the groceries to the house, we had to go pick up the cake. I remember Adriana calling the lady that was making the cake. From what I gathered from the conversation she was having, the cake wasn't finished yet. Adriana gave the lady 15 minutes to have it ready for our arrival.
Buying a cake here in Brazil is very different from buying a cake back home. There is no such thing as one stop shopping here. We had to go to a lady's house to pick up the cake. Pick up the cake? Yes, it was a heavy cake weighing 10 lbs placed on a heavy, round piece of glass. It was so warm that the fruit placed on the icing was dripping and almost melting. I don't know what the icing was but it was very firm and the peaches skated across the surface as if it were a sheet of ice.
There was only one place in the car that the cake would possibly fit. The sheet had to be 24 inches around. Elaine had to hold it in her lap. She had to be very careful and hold it as if it were sitting on a Gimbal tray. Elaine doesn't make for a very good Gimbal tray. Of course Adriana and I didn't help much either. We were having so much fun teasing her. Asking her to hold the cake level so that the fruit would not slide off the top as we made jokes to make her laugh. Imagine what it would be like to be riding in a car with our Danica Patrick, aka Adriana on a motocross track holding an egg on a spoon in your mouth without using your hands. It was pretty near impossible for Elaine to hold the heavy cake and not allow the fruit to slide off the top. At one point she ended up with a little frosting pressed to her dress. To make matters worse, Adriana had to answer her phone to talk to mother while driving. Did I mention that Elaine and her sister are Italian? Yup, it was one hand on the phone and the other hand doing the talking. You had to be there to appreciate what Elaine had to go through to deliver a cake in one piece to the party house.
I remember finally settling down and trying to relax a little bit before the party. It was about 6:30 pm and we were supposed to leave Adriana's at 7:30 pm to go to mother's with Luciano (Elaine's brother) to pick them up for the nice dinner we were pretending to have at 9:00 pm. Well 7:30 pm came and went. I have no idea what Elaine and Adriana were doing to prepare for leaving. When 7:30 came I asked Elaine if we were ready to go. She said we were leaving at 8:00 pm. We didn't leave Adriana's until 8:20 pm. I wasn't even dressed for dinner yet. Mrs. Bellinelli had my shirt and pants at her house. I was to change my clothes when we got there.
Things apparently got a little more complicated too. All of the relatives from Campos had not yet arrived at the party house. We had to stall more. Elaine said she would take care of it when she and her mother needed to get ready for the party. Women are good at stalling.
I remember that we were supposed to "go out to dinner" at 9:00 pm with Luciano. At 9:10 Mr. Bellinelli was starting to wonder what was taking the ladies so long to get ready.
We finally left the posada to go to the party house. I think Luciano took a route that would not be an immediate give away to Mr. Bellinelli. Mr. Bellinelli is a wise man. I don't think you can surprise him with anything. At the same time I was in charge of photography and everyone wanted me to capture the surprised look on his face when he entered the party house. A picture like that is unique. There would only be one chance to capture it. I don't think I got that exact image at the precise moment. What I saw was a man full of happiness at each greeting from the many friends and relatives.
I thought it was going to be easy for me to stay busy all night just taking photographs. I put myself in the role as the photographer I once was many years ago when I photographed wedding receptions. But it wasn't too long before I gave my camera to Giovanni to take over. I think that was the best move I could have ever made. Give the camera to a young enterprising individual full of energy and excitement and you soon find that he takes better pictures than you do. Giovanni captured the moments very well from angles that I could not ever achieve.

It was a wonderful night for dancing.


Unfortunately I have two left feet and I am not the only one. Many of the cousins that were at the party didn't dance either. I think Adriana and Elaine had a wonderful idea when they asked the party host to provide male dancers for the evening. There were nine men catering the party. The host made sure that five of the servers that worked that evening just danced. This would be the first time he paid his servers to dance. These guys danced the whole night. Let me tell you it was a long night full of dancing.
Early on Elaine introduced me to Babu.

Babu is a great friend that Elaine met in college. Babu teaches and speaks English. He and I talked most of the night as each of us did not dance. We enjoyed standing outside and at the bar talking about good times, business and Elaine. :)

As time passed, I was encouraged to dance. Elaine took me to Graca and said Graca will teach you how to dance. So with much patience Graca showed me how to dance Forró.

After much dancing and snacks all night, it was time for Mr. Bellinelli to cut the cake. We sang happy birthday and watched with amusement as he tried to blow out the candles that Elaine brought with her. Of course the candles were the kind that continually re-lite.

Mr. Bellinelli reached the point where the only way he could put the candles out was to crush them on the floor.

Bela and I did dance together a few times after Graca, Mrs. Bellinelli and a few cousins tried to help me find the rhythm. I was envious of her as I watched her dance. Bela is so full of life and looked wonderful in her colorful dress and sexy, high heal dancing shoes.




The dancing went on into the early morning hours. I think it was a very special treat for Mr. Bellinelli and the whole family.





Isto e Forro'




Sooo you think you can dance.