That’s the best sauerkraut…I EVA’ HAD!

SAUERKRAUT FESTIVAL 2009!

Never in my life would I have expected to attend a Sauerkraut Festival (don’t let the nomenclature mislead you, it wasn’t only a sauerkraut festival but rather a sort of German heritage party) in Brazil of all places.  So when Fabricio invited us to go to SauerFest 09, I was a bit reticent. 

We wake up around 9 AM and head to Localiza Rent-A-Car to pick up a Chevy Life, a two-door children’s car that seems to be a “f*** you” from GM to all of the truck nay-sayers out there.  Just as the moped is to the motorcycle, so is the Chevy Life to the automobile.  We cram in the Life and head to Estrela, a largely Germanic town about an hour from Porto Alegre.  Many of the cities around PoA were founded in the late 18th and 19th centuries by Italian and German settlers, and Estrela offers one of these interesting anthropological takes on the idea of nationalism.

We arrive in the early afternoon and walk around a park where tens of spectators are sitting in stands watching two people on a log battle with padded sticks.  Bewildered, we watch for a few minutes before getting bored and walking to Fabricio’s friend’s house.  His friend isn’t home, but Jorge is.  Jorge is the most hospitable foreigner I have ever met.  Brazilians in general are a kind, welcoming, sharing people, but Jorge is one step beyond.  When we meet him, he has a red and blue jumpsuit on (he’s ostensibly in his 60s) and we jog with him up the stairs to the top of the apartment building his family owns.  Shortly thereafter, Jorge’s mother comes up with her little dog, Fo-Fo, dressed in a full-on blue cap, t-shirt and pants.  We make small, small talk – the sort of chat that two people make in rudimentary English – and drink chimarrao, a classic gaucho drink unique to this region.  Upon hearing that we are planning to sleep in the car, an unbelievably foolish idea for several reasons here, he offers up an apartment for us to stay for the night.  He then takes us to the buy tickets for SauerFest, feeds us many Brazilian delectable snacks, and introduces us (a bunch of complete strangers) to his whole family.  Jorge, if you’re reading this, we thank you greatly.

I think the pictures speak to the absurdity of the Sauerkraut Festival better than words.  But it turns out to be quite the surprising bash.  We spend several hours eating traditional German foods, drinking (being merry), and watching the dancing.  Eventually, the band busts out its horn section and plays what I’ll call “Motown polka”.  For a while, only partner dancing is socially acceptable on the dance floor, and Jim and I ask a few ladies to dance.  Unfortunately, the girl I’m dancing with speaks no English and we soon run out of things to talk about.  We take a break for a while and then Paul starts a solo dance party on the floor and things get crazy.  Pretty soon the band is playing “I Feel Good” and people are forming trains around the dance floor.  Fabricio works his usual magic with the women, disappears for a while, comes back and we head home.  Pictures below (or above).