Kevin, a German student, entering the Casa Vermelha, and Sean posing nearby

A little bit of the garden spilling over the garage

View of the rest of the neighborhood - 4 blocks down and you get to the river

Sean and I live in in a big red house that everybody appropriately calls "A Casa Vermelha."  The house is what Brazilians call a república which means that the house is shared with a lot of people, usually with one or two people in charge.  The dona of our república is Sabine, a German linguist and professor at the university working here on a grant from the Goethe Institute.  Sabine lives here with her husband, Martin, an artist who spends the days painting and drawing in his studio.  The Casa Vermelha was started many years ago and Sabine actually stayed here when she was a student.  The purpose of the house is to provide lodging for visiting researchers, professors, lecturers, graduate students and bolsistas (people here on grants and scholarships). 

The entryway

The living room

I absolutely adore where we live for a few reasons.  The house always has a very international and social community and there are always dinners, parties and cultural events that take place here.  Currently, there is one Colombian student and one German student living here along with Sabine and Martin and me and Sean.  The location of the house is fantastic; it's in the historic neighborhood right across the street from the modern part of the town, the new mall, and the biggest park in the city.  The house is old; it is one of the original houses in Belém and when the Germans got a hold of it they restored everything to its original look and kept the wood floors, vaulted ceilings, and giant doors and windows.  They were even able to get a lot of antique furniture and artwork which makes you feel like you step back in time as soon as you open the door.

The hallway - our bedroom is this first door on the left

Our room

Our room

Dining room

Shared kitchen

But my favorite things about the house are the garden and the three cats (more on them later).  Most everybody hangs out on the porch, which is surrounded by high walls and an immense, tangled web of a garden.  It feels like you are in part of the Jumanji game where vines are starting to grow everywhere.  There are lots of birds and insects that hang out in the garden and it is a peaceful respite from the loud and dangerous city.  When the afternoon rains come, it's fun to watch and feel the spectacle from the porch - it's like our own little Rainforest Café.

Porch

Outdoor hallway to Kevin's room and Sabine and Martin's room

What I don't like about the house is that it's very hot - there is no air conditioning so we live in constant search of a fan's windy path or a breeze from the outside.  There are also no screens so the mosquitoes feast on us day and night.  We have bug spray everywhere and Sean and I sleep under a mosquito net but the bugs get old.  The last thing I want to do when I get out of a shower is put on bug spray.

Ground floor under the porch and entrance to main part of garden and Diego's room

But even with the bugs and the heat, the Casa Vermelha is a good fit for us.  It's an international community in a little bit of bohemian jungle paradise separate from the chaotic and hectic environment that is the city of Belém.

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