Bingo in Rural Brasil: September 2006

Judy and I were invited to play Bingo on a farm in São João da Boa Vista on Sunday Sept 17. It was for charity but I had my doubts because I just don't play Bingo. It was something new and different for me to experience so I went along with it.

It turned out to be a spectacular event. It was great from my point of view for three reasons:

1 - Language

2 - Prizes

3 - Location

LANGUAGE

In order to play Bingo you must be able to understand the "caller's" words. That is where Language came into play. I now speak some Portuguese and was delighted to put it to use. None of the game was in English of course.

Meia-Meia

Let me give you an example of what I learned. In Portuguese the word for sixty is Sessenta. The word for seventy is Setenta. They are both used a lot in Bingo and sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart. The "caller" used Meia. Meia y Tres - 63, Meia Cinco - 65, etc. The strange one was Meia Meia. I asked Judy what that word was. She explained it was 66. But I had no idea what Meia meant. She explained it is "half". I asked, "Half of what?" Her answer was both surprising and very logical. Meia is half as in half a dozen. Go Figure eh! So that makes my age Meia Nove (or sessenta nove)!

So now I am getting to be able to understand numbers much better. Hooray for Bingo.

PRIZES

Judy won a prize. But I WON THREE!!!!!! Amazing eh? The prizes were things like towels, potholders, aprons and other assorted household crocheted or decorated items. They were all made by hand by the members of the group. They buy a plain towel and decorate it. My prizes were towels, an apron and a lovely scarf. I gave the scarf to the third member of our party because she didn't win anything.

There were about 80 ladies and 2 men in attendance.

After the Bingo we had cakes and sandwiches produced by the members. All proceedes went to the charity they all belong to.
But next is the BIG feature from my point of view.

LOCATION

The farm is right on the edge of the town of São João da Boa Vista, a few kilometers from our house. Here are some pics of what this farm looks like. Keep in mind we didn't go around the farm but stayed right in the vicinity of the "party" house.
More about the fabulous "party" house later.

We crossed over the railroad tracks to enter the farm. Here is the entrance looking back out over the tracks.

Here is a very interesting feature of the farm. It has its own fishing pond. Here is the elderly owner fishing in his pond. What a life eh?

The farm has lots of banana trees, many other fruits, chickens and crops and forests. We saw many toucans flying around the farm.

Here is the farmhouse. See the ham radio antenna in the background. The swimming pool looks very inviting doesn't it?

The "Party" House. This fabulous house is an open air summer party place. It has dois banheiros, (masculino y femenino) - 2 washrooms and change rooms, for the pool. It has a complete kitchen and an additional BBQ/Baking area. It seats from 80 to 100 people (there were about 80 of us there that day). The construction is brick with tile floor, wood beams and tile roof. The workmanship on this building is the best. All the furniture was plastic. So nothing here gets effected by weather.

The same building seen from the pool. The banheiros are to the left and right of the entrance way.

The outdoor baking oven is great. We didn't use it or the BBQ that day.

Here is the BBQ area next to the Baking Oven. Everything is 1st class all the way.

The ladies chat before the games start. Judy is in the back right corner with the blue top. The lady with her is Lucia, a friend who is teaching Judy to speak French. Parlez-vous français?

The kitchen and BBQ area can be seen in the background.

The sun was setting as we saw many toucans fly by but alas no pics of them. This would be a spectacular pic if I had caught the toucans flying amongst the palm trees.

When we got home I modeled my winnings. See my lovely apron and my frilly serving towel. Aren't I just too lovely for words? Hahahahahaha!

That is how Brasilians like to live. How many of you have a large house big enough for 80 to 100 guests, used only for parties.

The farm owner donated the use of the house so the charity had no expenses at all. They made quite a bit of money for helping the poor. A worthy cause and lots of fun.

Photos by Urso Branco