Leave it All to Leo

Igarassu! Igarassu! These were the first words the Portuguese heard when they sailed into the country that is now called Brazil. The indigenous people of the area were so impressed with the ships of the Europeans that they were shouting "Big canoe! Big canoe!" In turn the Portuguese called the settlement they built on that spot "Igarassu".

Sunday was a "tourist day" for our group. We took advantage of a free day of our schedule to go to the site of the first Portuguese settlelment in the area, the village of Igarassu. It is also the site of the oldest church in Brazil, named for St. Damien and built in 1537. As usual our guide for the trip was our intrepid translator Leonardo, Leo for short. Together with Rose, our Equip companion-for-the-day, and her sweet daughter Victoria, we toured the beautiful area around Igarassu and the nearby island of Itamaracaa which was once completely turned into sugar cane fields but is now the site of some small towns, a simple beach resort and a reforestated area. All the way out to Igarassu, Leo keep the chatter going, told us interesting tidbits about the places we were passing through, found us the best place to shop for souvenirs, gave us all the history of the area, found a nice restaurant to eat in etc. etc.

As a tour guide, Leo has led many groups of English speakers through the history and culture of Pernambuco, but ours was the first group for which he was hired as a translator. His skills as a translator are very good and he has been very sympathetic to the issues he has been learning about and wonderful with the groups he has met with us. But it is also his outgoing personality, his sense of humour, his enthusiasm for life, his patience and his leadership abilties that have also been a tremendous help to us seven gringos. Need money changed? Leave it to Leo. Need to pick up some medicine? Leave it to Leo. Need to change some arrangements? Leave it to Leo. Need to negotiate a better price? Leave it to Leo. Need someone to lighten the mood? Leave it to Leo and so on and so on. When we do our evaluation with Equip on Tuesday you can be sure we are going to give fourteen thumbs up to their choice of translator.

Leo, in the foreground, translates for Fr. Herminio Canova (left)
of the Brazilian Bishop's Pastoral Land Commission.
Fr. Canova was a D and P solidarity visitor to
Nova Scotia and Newfoundland in 2003