Wherever you go...

The agriculture extensionist arrived for the biofertilizer workshop, and Marcio's neighbor introduced me to them.

One was named Jose Abram.

Upon hearing his name, Marcio's neighbor asked if he was Jewish. He said he was.

His family had arrived to the Brazilian Amazon with the rubber boom at the beginning of the 20th century.

There are so many people and places in Brazil with names related to the bible that I didn't think anything of it when I heard the name "Abram."

What are the odds?

I took advantage of this opportunity to interact with a Portuguese-speaking MOT to help with the keywords to explain a kosher diet to Brazilians. FYI:

Ruminant - Ruminante
Split hooves - Tem pata fenginda

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When Avery and I arrived in Belo Horizonte, our Couchsurfing host met us at the airport. As we were riding in the bus on the way to her house, she asked if we were Jewish (She thought the photo of my lassoing a cow on my CS profile had something to do with kosher). It turns out that she was Jewish, too. Over the next few days, I also met her sister, niece, and father.

There are only a few hundred Jews in Belo Horizonte, and I met five of them without even trying.  There are a couple of synagogues in BH, a Jewish high school, and a place to buy kosher meat.