Around Palmas - more excellent hospitality

Even though Palmas is far from the usual tourist routes, there is no shortage of places to visit around here. It’s easy to get out of the city if you have a car, and if not there are plenty of people happy to take you along with them. Within minutes of driving you quickly become surrounded by beautiful, lush forest all around you.

There are also several reserves and spectacular waterfalls which offer refreshingly cool water to escape from the heat - the only time I ever feel cold here!

We recently visited some family members in a nearby village. The drive there was stunning, long winding roads through rich forest and spectacular vistas. Once there we were received excellently, as always, and made to feel welcome. The affection people have for family here is very clear, even for distant family you don’t see as often as you’d like, and for their gringo husband’s you’ve never met.

Within the village we bounced around between various family members’ houses to catch up with everyone. They are traditionally very large families (one aunt had 18 children), so much so that I noticed some of them have difficulty recalling how many in total, and how many survived childhood (until recently, the infant mortality rate was very high in these areas).

There is always lots of food, lots of conversation, and no standing on ceremony. Usually you are invited, and you invite more people, who may or may not know the hosts. This is absolutely fine. There is always plenty of food and space is always made for one, two or three more guests, expected or otherwise.

Often there is a swimming pool or the lake to cool down in. We have visited friends for the day, or for a weekend, in the country, or on the lakeside. We have visited family and friends from all spectrums of society, but the hospitality is always reliably inexhaustible, and the barbeque always reliably excellent and plentiful. 

The only difficulty is finding time to fulfill all the invites we receive!