Where in the world is Lani?

Q: Whats the only thing better than making a new friend? A: Making 20 new friends!

This weekend I travelled to the countryside of São Paulo - a place called Ibiuna - with my 2 Brazilian brothers Victor and Raph & their family + a busload of their friends from school and life. We were celebrating Raph´s birthday from last month and Victor´s birthday next month with a bbq and a day of festivities.

We left the city early, piled into a school bus and hit the road with our iPods and high spirits for a day of fun and relaxing out of the city. After an hour or so we arrived and started exploring the wonderful house and yard (fully equipped with a mini football field and bbq area) and then all the lads hit the pitch for a game of football to impress the ladies.

While the boys were sweating it out on the field, all the girls went for a nice stroll to the nearby artificial lake for some exercise before lunch. The sun was shining and everyone was so happy and relaxed!

Then it was time to get serious... we hit the bbq area like moths to a flame! Meat galore, breads, vinagrette (onions, tomato & vinagrette) and this crazy flour stuff the Brazilians use to dip all their meats in (very nice though) was the fare of the day - very tasty!!!

In the afternoon most people lazed off to siesta, play some more football or just enjoy the sunshine on the grass. But not me! I learnt how to play the national card game of TRUCO - which the Brazilians go crazy for! I havent mastered the game and rules yet (there are quite a few versions of the game) but i did have a great time and i had some beginners luck winning my first game 12 - 1 (which is a whitewash!)

In the late afternoon we feasted on cake and ice-cream before sitting round listening to the very talented boys play and sing some Brazilian folk songs and rock tunes for entertainment.

After saying goodbye to my new Brazilian mates I was overwhelmed with the beauty of the hearts of all the friends I met. It is so nice to meet new people, and to have an opportunity to talk with all these wonderful chicos and chicas was just the nicest thing in the world.

This is one of the best weekends I can ever remember in my life! Thankyou Raph & Victor for inviting me in to join your family and friends for laughter and great times.