Old Paineira Ranch, The History
I was born and have lived all my life in one of the biggest cities of the world, Sao Paulo until I was 34. I’ve lived in a classy neighborhood full of intellectuals in a big apartment with a great view.
I’d decided to retire early from neurosurgery and left the hospital I’ve been working. So I had my own practice in a fancy office. But the big city was scaring me.
Violence for me was a big issue then. And I’ve decided to leave. Let everything and everyone behind, including my dear, dear husband.
After a brief passage over Anguilla (it was Anguilla or the husband, and I preferred the husband). I’ve chosen Sao Francisco Xavier, Sao Paulo State, here in Brazil. A small village 4-hour-trip away from Sao Paulo, in the midst of the slope rain forest.
I moved to SFX on December 1997, to a small rented house near the main square, my dogs and I. And I bought a piece of land full of grass for cattle near the city. The terrain was so inclined that I couldn’t climb it easily. It has a 22 floors gap. I’ve paid it by instalment and afterwards I’ve saved money to do the earthwork.
I began to work as a physician at the local health station the next year. I thought I was now a Local. But in fact, I was an Outsider.
And outsiders have SUCKER written in their foreheads in terms of managing ranches, as I would see.
(To be continued some day)