São Félix, Cachoeira, Bahia
(August) Although we didn’t know it at the time, our family journey began in Bahia, Northeastern Brazil. Bahia—with its Afro-Brazilian culture, religion, food and music—is where Roque was born and we took advantage of his work trip to make our own Bahian baby. So why did it work in Bahia (to be precise, in São Félix, across the Paraguaçu River from Cachoeira) and not in our previous attempts in Campinas (São Paulo) and Pelotas (Rio Grande do Sul)? I say it was the dende (palm oil) and the candomblé ceremony we went to in Cachoeira. Or the wax uterus I devotedly hung up at the Igreja do Bonfim after a quickly mumbled prayer for a baby. Or the celebration of Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte and the visit to the hospital, Maternidade Tysilla Balbino, in Salvador where Roque made his debut. Whatever it was, Salvador was the place and we shared it with Roque’s countless aunts, uncles and cousins and their Bahian warmth and hospitality, our friend Terre from Los Angeles, and Roque’s colleagues from the University of Virginia.
Pelourinho, Salvador, Bahia
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