Ótima visita! The Jackpot!

To end my second trip in Brazil, I had the ultimate good fortune of being invited to stay with José Luis Vieira, AKA “Jota.” How did I meet him? He used the videos of my violin teaching on YouTube, made a comment via my now-defunct website, I wrote back, and for a year we exchanged messages every so often. After meeting in Chapada dos Guimarães at the end of August, he sent me a formal invitation to stay with him, and have a “Portuguese immersion visit.” My dream! Because my Portuguese is practiced with strangers, and the longest conversation I can hope to have is under an hour, I was excited—SO HAPPY—to accept his generous invitation.

Jota’s land is called a “sitio,” a house in the country. He bought the property twenty-eight kilometers/seventeen miles from Cuiabá, on a dirt road off the main route to Chapada dos Guimarães. It is half a hectare, fifty by one hundred meters, or one and a quarter acres in area. I call it “the ultimate bachelor pad.” Jota was born in the rural town of Ituverava, in São Paulo State, and grew up in a country life. However, his career as a policeman and then chief of police in and around Cuiabá kept him in towns until his retirement a few years ago. On his country estate, there is a generous four-bedroom house with a large country kitchen; outbuildings include a small employee’s apartment and a storage unit for animal feed and equipment. Jota has populated his haven with many breeds of cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, cattle, turtles and peacocks. He cares for them morning and night. I don’t dare describe the daily upkeep of so many varieties of creatures, as it would be thousands of words. I’ll just say that it is extremely complex. To Jota, though, it is his twice-daily journey through affectionate and interesting encounters with his very large family.

With all these animals, drama occurs. A newly-hatched duckling tripped and stumbled as it tried to reach food, water and its mother. When we saw it ten minutes later, a cat was half-finished eating it. Unbeknownst to Jota, his aged rescue dog (from a mall parking lot, starving and covered with fire ants) had been impregnated by her son. One puppy was born, and as its mother had no milk, Jota fed it with a syringe. It survived three days, and when Jota took it outside for burial, the mother cried and howled for days as she tried to locate her lost puppy. I found a dead hen, expired in the severe heat of the day. And so it goes.

We also had sessions with violins. Jota is involved in a free program of violin lessons given by students at the government university in Cuiabá. He reached a high level of playing in two years by practicing at least an hour every day. However, a stroke in June that left him most of his speech, memory, and motor skills, unfortunately wiped out most of his work on the violin. Persistent efforts are bringing back pieces, intonation, and bowing, but it’s a lot of work. Bravo to Jota’s courage and hard work.

Every day, we had expeditions to Cuiabá: to buy agricultural supplies and groceries, to have lunch, and also to do some sightseeing. We went in Jota’s pickup truck, windows open for “natural” air conditioning, roaring back and forth sometimes twice a day. Not only did Jota share his love of Cuiabá and its surroundings, but he also spoke to me continually in Brazilian Portuguese. Could I ask for anything more?Read more