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Travel News & Tips
Our Lady of Abadia
Vienna - Sneak Peek
Health & Nutrition - Mandioca
Featured Book - 12 x 12
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Issue: #7 JULY-AUGUST/2010
 Greetings!


Welcome to our Seventh issue. The last two months have been full of activity at the casa.  We had to skip the July issue for technical reasons, but now we come back to you with some interesting news and content we think you will enjoy.  If you like this newsletter, please feel free to share it with your friends.
 
TRAVEL NEWS & TIPS
Health PolicyTravel Insurance!!!
Once again we remind you of the importance of having insurance when you come to Abadiania. If you should ever need medical attention or even a hospital stay it is very helpful to have travel insurance.    You can easily obtain travel insurance that would cover all your emergency needs including repatriation costs for about $65 (50 EU) for a two week trip.  Once you are back in your own country, your regular insurance coverage takes over. You can optionally add flight cancellation and lost baggage insurance.

It is a very minimal expense to insure your safety in Brazil.  If you do not have insurance you will be at the mercy of the public health system in Brazil and will have to go through many battles to get the minimum help you might need.  This will take place in some of the most abominable conditions you will ever experience in health care.

Click here to get travel insurance for your next trip.
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SPECIAL FEATURE - Feast of Our Lady of Abadia
Bois - OX
During the first week of August Abadiania celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Abadia. (Our Lady of the Abbey) patroness of the city. The name of Abadiania is derived from Abadia (Abbey).

We visited the first day of this traditional feast and we will give you a glimpse into rural Brazilian culture that you probably would not get to see even if you were here.

In preparation for the feast, dozens of Oxen Carts begin a pilgrimage from the farms around the region.  Along with the carts, there are hundreds of riders on horseback that join the festivities. They converge on the first day of the feast at the old town of Abadiania.  The tired and road weary pilgrims parade through town to the Church of our Lady of Abadia where the local priest blesses every one for good fortune and spiritual bounty.

After some formal presentations including horsemanship demonstrations, singing and dancing the evening turns into a carnival atmosphere with food & drink,  games for young & old and some shopping. 

Although this is a very traditional feast, in recent years it has also attracted a young crowd that is more interested in the fun than in the religious significance of the event.  But these crowds seem to peacefully coexist and enjoy themselves.

As the sun began to set, we made our exit, but we are told the party continued into the early hours of the morning.  The festivities will continue throughout the week.  Ending next Sunday after a traditional Bonfire and a Catholic Mass.

Look through the photos, you may see some familiar faces!
Perhaps you can answer, where in the world is John Orr?

Sneak Peek - Official announcement on Monday !!!!
John of God in Vienna - 2011
Monday you will see the official announcement that John of God will visit the city of Vienna in 2011.   The 4 day event is planned for late march.2001.   For more information and tickets go to www.joaodedeus-vienna.com

(The site only goes live on Monday September 6th. Remember this is a sneak peek!)
HEALTH AND NUTRITION - Brazilian Style
Cassava Mandioca
A definite staple in the Brazilian diet, Mandioca is a hardy tuberous root that has fed many in north and south america for centuries.  Mandioca is also known as Macaxeira, Sagu, Sagudana, Sabudana, Kappa, Aipim, Boba,  and Manioc or Cassava in English or also by it's Spanish name Yuca (not to be confused with Yucca).

Food uses.
Mandioca is a staple food in Brazil and other countries.
The root itself when peeled and boiled and/or deep fried can be used as a substitute for potatoes .  It has a delicate flavor and a pleasant consistency. It is also used for cakes.   Cassava starch (Called Polvilho in Brazil) is used to make the now famous Brazilian Cheese Bread (Pao de Queijo) and the crunchy snack cakes called Peta.  Something you may not know is that this same starch is known around the world as Tapioca.  Your favorite Tapioca pudding was made out of ...  you guessed it: Cassava starch.  The pearls are pressed into shape from the moistened starch and retain their shape when boiled.

Alternative Medicine Uses.
  • The bitter variety of Manioc root is used to treat diarrhea and malaria.
  • The leaves are used to treat hypertension, headache, and pain.
  • Cubans commonly use cassava to treat irritable bowel syndrome, the paste eaten in excess during treatment.
  • As cassava is a gluten-free natural starch, there have been increasing incidences of its appearance in Western cuisine as a wheat alternative for sufferers of coeliac disease.

Biodegradable Bags.
Tapioca root can also be used to manufacture environmentally friendly plastic bags. A polymer resin produced from the plant is a viable plastic substitute that is not only biodegradable, but is also compostable, renewable, and recyclable. The resulting product biodegrades in less than 1 year, as opposed to thousands of years for traditional plastics.

Bio- Fuel
There is also a lot of ongoing research to use cassava for non grain bio-fuel production.



Click here to find Mandioca products in the USA

FEATURED BOOK - Twelve by Twelve
12x12 book cover 12X12 A One Room Cabin - Off The Grid and Beyond The American Dream. 
This month we depart slightly from our spiritual theme to touch on a topic that is near and dear to most of us.  Environmentalist William Powers brings us this account of living in a 12x12 cabin  off the grid and beyond the American dream.   The following commentary is from Publisher's Weekly.  "Powers (Blue Clay People) refers to wildcrafters, people who shape their inner and outer worlds to the flow of nature, as heroes. Among these wildcrafters is Dr. Jackie Benton, a physician who lives in a 12'�12' dwelling in the midst of 30 acres on No Name Creek in rural North Carolina. Benton lives a sustainable life off the grid by raising honeybees, growing her own vegetables and preserving them, and harvesting what she might need from the woods around her. As Powers points out, Benton seems to have achieved self-mastery in these confusing times, and his initial meeting with her is a search for clues to this self-mastery. After the two meet, Benton's sobering and often hilarious (taking showers in rain water warmed by the sun, learning that in order to eat chicken for dinner, he himself would have to kill a chicken given to him by his neighbors) narrative of his life in the 12'�12' offers precious insights into the ways that all individuals living in a fast-paced consumer culture might incorporate different ways of thinking about the natural world into their lives. "
Copyright � Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Click here to purchase a copy of  12x12
Abadiania Web Portal is your direct connection to Abadiania. If you are preparing to travel to Brazil or you simply miss the experience of being in Abadiania, Abadiania Web Portal has something for you.  You can reserve a Hotel, Taxi or House in Abadiania from your desktop.  You can get white clothes, travel insurance or even acai or Brazilian coffee delivered to you. 

We hope you enjoy it and help us spread the word.
 
Blessings,
 

Diego & Sonia
Abadiania Web Portal