Vamos brincar no parque!

We are somehow back to our little routine over here. The boys (the small ones) and I went for a walk the other day to check out if the public park was still closed. You read that right. The one and only park in this town, with slides and swings for the kids, is fenced and has an opening schedule. Open every day from 4pm to 10pm, closed every morning, closed on Monday for “manutenção” (en. maintenance // fr. manutention). Read irony between quotation marks.

It’s so well maintained that about one month before leaving for our 1-month vacation, most playthings were broken and someone (probably the only person taking care of this sh*t) decided to close the park down completely for “repairs”. So we had nowhere to go to. For ONE MONTH!!! Have you ever lived in a town without a park to walk to? In all the countries I’ve been, lived or visited, I had never seen anything alike before. Strangely everyone from here is quite proud of their hometown, the “beautiful” they call it… Ignorance is bliss. Do people here think that because they live so close to the countryside, there is no room for trees and flowers in town? For me, parks and green spaces are what define a town or city. When I visit a city, the first thing I generally do is have a stroll in a park.

I love Brazil, I just don’t love where I live.

Anyway. So luckily we left for our vacation. Over there, in SJC, there was plenty of choice in the matter. When we were there last year, just arriving from Canada, I thought the parks were quite far apart (we had been spoiled without realizing it). Still, at walking distance of my in-law’s there are four parks. Two with a great view. My favorite is one that has a great view, but also a very nice walkway to get there:

Yellow Ipê tree and red flamboyants (and some unidentified flower scent floating in the air).

Usually full of people exercising. This picture was taken right before a thunderstorm. (I live dangerously — ha ha).

Yes, cows in the background. This is the city limits. 🙂

The blue fence is a public school.

To end this post happily, I should mention that the park here has indeed been repaired (I don’t know exactly how long it took, but hey, we now have somewhere to walk to!). All has a fresh coat of paint, some structures have been fixed… er, I did close my eyes when I saw a broken swing.