Fauna, Flora and Felix

Campo Grande is not like the bustling metropolises of the coast.  Our host, Felix, met us at the airport in tank top and flip flops, and made us feel welcome in his home.  The house has a carport which serves as an outdoor living space and a big mango tree in the back.  We relaxed outside while he prepared us lunch.  The mango tree was no longer with fruit, and his tangerine tree had died since my mother's last visit.  He had planted a passion fruit vine in its place.  It was producing its first flowers and fruit.  I watched the butterflies and hummingbirds that were attracted to it. 

Felix set the table outside for lunch and we ate rice, brown beans, and beef with beet juice.  He regaled us with stories of an relative of the owl, a potoo, that had hatched in the 'inga' tree outside his home. He carefully guarded the chick from the neighborhood cats until it had flown off a week ago. And of the toad that came hopping into his yard each evening just to leave the next day. He welcomed the toad as he believed it ate the scorpions.  He has both toucans and macaws in the trees from time to time.  I can definitely hear the parrots... and the children playing in the street.  I can see their handmade kite flying above and the remnants of an old kite stuck in the tree out front.

I find out that Felix bakes cakes as a side business and does some catering for large events.  His wife is considering starting a 'cake-in-a-pot' business and they plan to build on a new kitchen some day.  They work hard without giving the impression that they work hard. They have lots going on, but they always have time for visitors, family and friends.
While reminiscing about past visits, my mother mentioned that she kept a record in her diary of the details. Felix wanted to know if he was in her diary.  Well, now he has found his way into my blog.
The next day he drove us to the bus station and four macaws flew beside the car, three blue and one red and green.  He told us of a place in the city where wild capybaras calmly cross the road disrupting the traffic at rush hour.  He would take us there on our return visit.

He left us with these parting words:

"Eu nao esquento a cabeca com nada. Pra mim tudo e festa."  (Translation: I don't get upset about anything.  For me everything is a party.)