Valença's beauty and it's pool hall.

30-2 3,4 09

Valença! Holy moley, Valença. Located in the country side about two hours north west of Rio de Janerio. This now small University town had a huge impact on Brazil's colonization way back when coffee was becoming a major commodity. The rolling mountains and vivid greens that surround Valença are like non other I've ever seen. The sheer beauty of the place is so captivating, one morning we drove up one of Valença's many surrounding mountains and it felt like we we're in the scene from the Lion King, looking over the pride land. I've climbed many mountains and have had the chance to experience great views but this one was just so surreal.
Also I finally got the chance to witness brazillian pool at its finest. I love pool, it facinates me with all its endless possibilities, all the various styles people have, the math involved, everything about it, I love it and I support it. The rules of the game are different here of course, the point of the game isn't to sink all the stripes or solids. There is no cut throat in Brazil. The game which I've seen is based on a point system based on which colored ball you sink. Each color has a different significance in points, and the balls are assembled in a different formation, three balls forming a triangle on one end and three balls forming a line at the other. After days of visiting the pool hall I'm still not completely sure the rules of the game, there is no final score to reach, mainly it's a team based game where you have to keep up with the opposing teams points, when you fall to far behind the game is over.
The pool hall I've been accepted in is like something out of a movie. The entrance is a very small alley that leads to a basement of a building where there is a large room half kitchen and half recreation. The men who come here every night are rediculous. Loud and robust, full of cheer, always making fun of eachother, "That guy there, he my girlfriend" "those two there, fat boys, gay fats!" All of these guys had me laughing nonstop, yelling ruthlessly at each other and making some of the funniest sounds I've ever heard just to distract one another from the game. My last time there before we returned to Rio Fabiano's father prepared a famous dish for everyone at the pool hall, cow tongue. As nasty as it looked and sounds, it was actually pretty good. There's nothing cooler then an alley way that leads to a pool hall.