Ups and downs

Still struggling with the problems Brazil chucks at us. But at least the day ended on a happy note. It was our guests' last night and we took them to dinner at our local, on the corner with the beach road. They are two delightful girls, Sansei - third generation Japanese Brazilians.
 

Naturally, we had to stop for gelatos on the way home - although there was an unhappy note there too. I asked the girl who always serves us whether she'd had a good Christmas, but it could hardly have been worse, as her sister died on Christmas day. That puts our problems into perspective.