This is a chapter from my fourth book called When hunger yearns
I had this thought. What if there was actually a town named Random town. I went looking and nothing showed up in the Google Maps app. Nothing shows up in Google and Gemini does not know of any town named Random. I then decided to close my eyes and select a random location in the Google Maps app. My finger landed on Passa e Fica in Brazil. The literal translation of "Passa e Fica'' from Portuguese is "Pass and Stay". There is no town named Random but Passa e Fica is now my random town. In my quest to learn more about this town I found a song called Passa e Fica by Scracho. It's about a breakup and according to the meaning of the song I found online here is how passa e fica is used in that context - he knows that time heals everything and what passes will eventually settle. I wonder if passa e fica is telling us that if you pass through this town you will want to stay and settle down. Gemini thinks it could be a reference to a location for travelers to stop and rest.
Eventually I was also able to find some history translated from Portuguese. In 1929 Daniel Laureano de Souza built the first house in this previously uninhabited area. It was here he set up a small bodega where there were games and brandy. The bodega became popular and people would say that whoever entered the bodega never wanted to leave. The bodega gave rise to a small town and one resident Antônio Luiz Jorge de Oliveira, known as Antônio Lulu, who was always joking, described it as passa e fica and the name stuck. Today, the population size is about fourteen thousand in an area of 42 square kilometers. The town is one of the 167 municipalities in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, in the Northeast region of the country. It is the 6th smallest by area. The climate is semi-arid, with rainfall concentrated from March to July. I checked the current weather and temps are similar to Trinidad. There is a large Roman Catholic population. It is a destination for ecotourism and adventure tourism having several places for climbing, hiking and rappelling, such as the Serra dos Cocos trail. There are artistic groups doing capoeira, dance and traditional arts. From here you can visit the neighboring Pedra de Boca state park. The people are extremely hospitable. There is accommodation and places to eat like Bona Pizza and Paris Bakery and Sambar & Petiscaria.
Paris Bakery is a popular eatery in the area. In an interview for a local website, owner Ary França says he does not want to leave and move somewhere even though he could make more money. He learned to make croissants while working in Rio de Janeiro where he supplied the Copacabana hotels. The bakery makes a flavor of croissant called Romeo and Juliet. Is not life beautiful. I went looking for Random town. Ended up at a random town in Brazil then a parisian bakery in that town specializing in croissants. I like this quote that I found, "O acaso, às vezes, é o melhor dos mestres," by Brazilian author, Machado de Assis from his book "Dom Casmurro". The quote when translated says, "Chance, sometimes, is the best teacher." Now I am curious about the name Dom because it shares the ending of the word ran-dom. Dom could be short for Domingo. Dom and Domingo derive from Latin Dominicus. "Dominicus" translates to "lordly" or "of the Lord". Perhaps it is not by chance but by the will of God that we have random encounters. Perhaps the deeper meaning of my random encounter today is "Deus fica, o resto passa" or "God stays, the rest passes".
Comments