Cheesiest Mexican restaurant ever

My students asked me if I would like to go to a Mexican restaurant with them this evening - the only one in Londrina. I said, of course. I was looking forward to spicy food, finally, and good tortillas and Margaritas. I should have known never to get your hopes up for good Mexican food far from Mexico! Not that the American version of Mexican food is necessarily very authentic, but I love it, and I think it has to be closer than what I found here. There are no jalepenos, at least not that I've found in this region, and all the food is fried. It's so greasy! That's okay once in a while, but I was really craving regular burritos or enchiladas with beans and spicy sauce. Not to be. I ate a little bit and did try the Margarita, which wasn't too bad.

But the evening wasn't a total flop. The best part was that a photographer comes around to your table and hands out sombreros for you to wear while he takes your picture. It's right out of Epcot Center - Mexico in Disney World! They take your picture and post it on a website that you can access for free, they just want the free publicity for the restaurant. I felt like we were in The Three Amigos!:)

Photos from UEL (the university)

The office where we work at the university. These are the students who help out on the projects, and some of the teachers too. Our St. Patrick's Day decorations are on the door of the office, and were the best we could do in a country that is completely unfamiliar with Ireland!:)

Easter down on the farm

Oh, Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling. From glen to glen and down the mountain side...

My Easter looked more like Ireland than Brazil:)


This year, I was invited to one of the French professor's family's country farm in Parana for Easter. It was very nice. Here is a photo of us with one of her great nephews in their very large, Catholic familiy:)


We had a nice weekend sitting around doing nothing but eating and lounging by the pool. However this was slightly clouded by the constant smell of cows and horses and the enormous amount of flies!! If you didn't cover your glass with your hand while you weren't drinking you would have a couple of flies swimming in your beer after a minute or so! But flies and other insects or smelly animals aside, it was a nice place to relax. The weather must have been close to 90degrees both days - a world away from what most of you are experiencing, I know! On Saturday we had a birthday lunch for one of the sisters and we all ate in the barn (tables were set up for us) since there weere so many people. There was the customary rice and beans and salad, beets, carrots and various meat dishes, plus lasagne. They always have to throw some extra Italian carb into the mix in order for it to be a real Brazilian buffet! No wonder my stomach has been upset here with all the various dishes. They are all good, but it's not our usual mix:) Then it rained hard, thunder storm style and we were out in the barn. It looked like The Wizard of Oz. But once that passed and the rain died down somewhat, we got the most magnificent rainbow (I'm attaching a few picutres and a short video blurb too). Just spectacular. And with all the green rolling hills, it looked more like Europe than Brazil. On Easter Sunday, we all met back at the barn (we had been staying in town at the parents' actual house) for left overs and swimming at the pool. It was nice to relax, but the Brazilian style of doing nothing but sitting, drinking beer and sitting some more is a little too laid back for me; although the pool was nice. There wasn't any special Easter tradition that I saw except to pass out chocolate, which we ate a lot of. No Easter bunnies, though:) I hope you all had a great holiday too!

Easter is for the cows: views from the farm



Double rainbow. But where's the pot of gold?

First podcast for NAP at UEL, Londrina, Brazil