THE CRYSTAL CUP - Chapter Sixty One

THE CRYSTAL CUP

Chapter Sixty One

The car had already passed the entrance to Cachoeira Paulista and was continuing on. Helena decided that she would only leave the Highway when someone from the car spoke. When they were close to Rodovia dos Tropeiros, the request came... and who asked? Cecilia. Suddenly she felt like meeting Bananal... of course there was widespread protest inside the car, as the arrangement was to head towards the mountains... but, suddenly, the route changed and they started to head towards Sertão de Bocainas... They still didn't have a destination in mind, Helena decided to let her sister guide her along the road.

- But weren't we going to Mantiqueira?!

- We would go to the Vale region... Bocainas is Vale...

- Yes but...

- Guys, this tour belongs to Ceci... let her choose the itinerary...

"Do you know where we're going, Ceci?"

- Not really, Dad... but I suddenly felt like taking that road...

- Why, honey?

- I think it has to do with my dream... I don't know... I suddenly felt an uncontrollable urge to come in that direction...

- Because of your great-grandmother?

- Why?

- Well, this was one of the regions where she and her partners used to ride...

- Serious?

- Yes... according to the family, Isabel was involved in several cases in that region...

- Wow... do you remember any?

- Not now... but if I remember any story, I'll tell you...

- There you go with that lenga lenga, Mario...

- What the hell, Jane?

- This story about this Isabel... for me, she didn't even exist....

-So much existed, that she was my grandmother's mother... it's true that she left her family and went into the sertão... but only she could explain her reasons...

-If she existed, she was an unnatural mother. Where has she ever seen herself, abandoning two small children?

-Like I said, Jane... only she could justify her actions... we don't fear how to know what actually happened at that time...

And they ended the matter, starting to admire the landscape that unfolded in front of them. They passed through Silveira, Areias, reached the border of Rio, straight ahead. After passing through Arapeí, the next town was Bananal... Cecília asked her sister to enter the town...

- But why Bananal, Ceci?

- What difference does? But anyway, I don't know why, it made me want to know this city...

- Papa, the gentleman who knows everything... why is the city called Bananal? Is there a lot of banana trees around here?

- As a matter of fact, the name of the city has nothing to do with the fruit...

- No?!

- No... you know that our language has a great influence of the native peoples of the land... Well, this region was the land of the Puris Indians... in fact, their settlement came from Mantiqueira to here. Bananal comes from the term "Banani", which in their language meant "sinuous river"... when they founded the city, it became "Bananá" and later, "Bananal"....

- And long live Senhor Mario, our walking encyclopedia...

- Guys, I was born in this region... it's true that in the mountains, but still in the valley... it's my obligation to know a little bit about the history of this corner, don't you think?

- I don't know... I was born in São Paulo and I know so little about the city...

- Helena, at kilometer 24.5 of the 247 there is a very good inn... shall we go there?

- Why not, Daddy? This trip is being made in improvisation, even...

- You'll like it there, I'm sure...

And so they went to the Villas da Bocaína inn...

In the afternoon, right after lunch, they decided to visit Cachoeira do Bracui, located in Serra da Bocaína, within a stretch of the Atlantic Forest. From the waterfall, an incredible view of the Bay of Angra dos Reis... yes, the tour was worth it, even if the visitation fee was a bit salty. The waters of the waterfall went towards Rio de Janeiro... well, Angra is in Rio, isn't it? After marveling at the view of the waterfall, after making the way back along the trail... in fact, Janete complained a little, although she was also enchanted by the view... they returned to their inn. They were planning the next day's tour. The family had decided, without having expressed the thought, that this week would be dedicated exclusively to Cecília... it would be an attempt to revive the girl, who has really been very discouraged lately. Of course, no one said that to her, they did everything as if it were by chance. But the center of attention was really Cecília. Both Mario and Helena asked for a fortnight's leave from their jobs to make this pilgrimage, in an attempt to raise the girl's morale... and, by the smiles and twinkle in their eyes during the tour, they would say that the strategy was working. Helena asked her sister what she wanted to do the next day and without thinking twice, she said she wanted to visit the Bananal Ecological Station. Asked if he knew anything about the place, Mario explained that the station was created in 1987, with 884 hectares, being one of the last parks with the Atlantic Forest still preserved, and that several species at risk of extinction lived there, among them the mono-carvoeiro and the howler monkey, several species of birds, among them the hawk-pigeon and the hawk-eaten monkey, the white-lipped pigs and the peccary, and the star of the park, the jaguar. In addition, within the park, an 800-meter stretch of the gold trail was preserved, built more than three hundred years ago by slave labor, all paved with rocks... that's when Cecília spoke...

- It was on this road that great Isabel fought her last battle...

Everyone looked at her in amazement...

- Where did you get that, Ceci?

- She may be right, Helena... in fact, when Isabel died, she and her companions were in that region, behind a gang that made the whole region hell...

- Do you know this story, papa?

- No, girls... as I said before, we don't know much about Isabel and her partners... they went where they were called... and, as I said, when Isabel was shot down, she and her friends were in this region...