Round 1: Josh vs. Jellyfish

The Smiths are so tough.

You ask: How tough are they?

The Smiths are so tough that sometimes on vacation, Josh likes to dive face first into a jellyfish in the ocean, just for kicks.

That’s our story and we are sticking to it.

Love new Brazilian shoes!

After shopping on Thursday night and exploring parts of the city on foot, on Friday we had a brief lovely meeting with our new friends, the Blumes (who, by the way are indeed not from Texas, but have lived mostly in Tennessee – they did their missionary training in Texas and we had it confused J ).

Then, it was off to Torres (pronounced “tor-hees”)– THE BEACH!  Our family, the Narchis, have a beautiful beach house there and we got to spend the whole weekend walking, swimming, sunning ourselves, fighting sea animals, and, of course, eating. 

Friday night was just Josh, me, and our Brazilian parents, Ana and Pedro.  After walking along the beach for a while, we went to dinner where they treated us to one of the best meals we have had in Brazil.  We ate at a hole-in-the-wall seafood restaurant, which is right on the river where it meets the ocean there in Torres.  Pure heaven for our taste buds.  Ana’s birthday was the next day, so we were celebrating and making jokes the whole night.  We had a blast with the two of them!

Amazing food!  Shrimp and cheese, fish, fried bananas

Outside our restaurant on the water

Ironman Brazil

View from our room

Late Friday, Bruno and Guillerme (and Tequila) joined us for the rest of the weekend.  The whole time we were there, the house was full of noise and at least three different languages at all times.  Pedro’s family is Italian, so combine that family heritage with Portugese, which is a fast and loud language anyway, and it constantly sounded like a huge fight was building.  Then, everything would explode in laughter and the levels would come back down again.

Saturday morning brought us to what we are pretty sure is the only reason our Brazilian family wanted us to come visit them….the long-awaited, internationally acclaimed event….the American breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon. 

Ta-daaaaaah! 

We pulled out our box of Mrs. Butterworth’s and our microwaveable syrup and you would have thought we were bestowing knighthood upon our dear friends that morning.  They stood in the kitchen in awe of our stirring and adding of water and begged Josh to teach them how to make scrambled eggs.  Ana loved her American birthday breakfast!

Then, we were off to the beach, where Josh and I proceeded to unknowingly roast our white American winter skin in approximately one hour of Brazilian sun.  I also (somewhat) conquered my extreme fear of violent waves over my head as Josh and Gillerme coaxed me out into the water.  I ended up finally feeling a bit more comfortable diving under the incoming waves, though the occasional dead fish that smacked up against my leg was a bit disquieting.

All in all a good day at the beach.  We went into town a bit later, where I had my first taste of Brazilian crepes on a stick and did some shopping – aloe vera gel “pos sol” (after sun) was on the grocery list.  In 12 hours, as our skin continued to turn redder and redder, we went through the entire 12 oz bottle.

A late night walk on the beach, just the two of us, sealed the deal that God sent us here for healing and to bring quiet into our hearts.  We have arrived at a new state of calm individually and unity together.

Churrasco at midnight?  Sure!  We have learned that there is no bad time to have churrasco.  There’s no fighting a good meal of meat that melts in your mouth, no matter when it comes.  We proceeded to eat a lovely barbeque at the beach house after our walk and then contentedly dropped into bed.

Sunday morning brought a cloudless brilliant blue sky and the beach was just begging us for a morning run.  After watching the beautiful sunrise, we were on our way for a tour of this new city, Smith-style.  We ran to the bottom of the distant cliff where people were going for hang gliding excursions and searched for a way to the top.  There really was no distinct path, so we spied on a guy who seemed to be making his own path down the side of the small mountain.  Aha!  We love a good challenge!  We watched where he came out of the trees and were on our way.  As I focused on not looking down, we tried to visualize ourselves as those mountain goats that cling to the sides of ravines and dams (although I don’t know how they do that without fingers).

The view at the top was breathtaking.  We lingered for a few moments and glanced at the trinkets at a stand beside the hang gliders and then took the back way home.  Now for some more beach time! 

So begins the tale of the jellyfish.

We thought we would be so clever and go to the beach for an hour by ourselves as the family prepared for lunch.  The wind was so strong we actually had to hold our umbrella up if we didn’t want it to blow away.  We were making the best of things, knowing it would be our last day in Torres with the beach.  We held the umbrella fast for as long as we could, to protect us from the sun, and watched the violent waves crash on the shore.  With each wave, the water came nearly all the way up to our feet. 

We looked at each other and said, “Let’s do it.”  We took the umbrella down, weighted our towels with our bag, and ran toward the water hand in hand.  I only got in up to my waist and it was all I could do to stand still as the waves pulled at my legs and tried to carry us back out to sea.  I made a quick decision to try to get back to shore, and Josh dove a few more times under the salty waves. 

Then, he came running.  

“Is it still on me? Is it still on me? I think it’s under my skin!”  Josh was holding his hand and pointing to his face. 

This may look bad but you
should've seen the jellyfish
after Josh was done with it

He had dived directly eyeball-first into a jellyfish.  As he had wiped it off, it stung his hand and both were swelling right before my eyes with huge welts where the tentacles had grabbed him.  I went into nurse mode and, after offering to pee on it (he politely declined), I packed up our stuff in .02 seconds, grabbed his hand, and power walked the half-mile home.

“Temos problema!” I called into the open front door of the beach house.  Our host mom and dad are both doctors, and they snapped into action.  Pedro grabbed the vinegar, Ana grabbed the gauze, and for the next three hours Josh smelled like a salad.  After the swelling went down, Pedro joked that all we needed to do is add olive oil and salt and we could munch on Josh’s eye if we got hungry.

The swelling eventually went down (sorry, Josh, no cool scar to show off, praise the Lord), the excitement passed, and we packed up the beach house to head home via Zaffari’s sorvete shop.  We had some incredible ice cream and commenced the long ride home.

Obrigada, Narchis, for a wonderful trip to the beach and for taking such good care of us!