I have just returned from an

exciting trip to Brazil in which I enjoyed Sao Paulo, the fourth largest

city in the world, Santo Andre, a city of 200,000 people just 20 miles

from Sao Paulo, where I lived for a week, and Americana, also a city of

200,000 people.

Americana is the site of the

Campo Cemetery, where Confederate soldiers who immigrated to Brazil after

the War Between the States are buried.

The emperor, Dom Pedro II,

had offered free land to the soldiers in return for teaching the Brazilian

farmers a better way of doing things. As the former soldiers began to

die, they were not permitted to be buried in the Catholic cemeteries and

so they began their own in a community known as Americana.

Each year the direct descendants

of the Confederados get together for a festival at the cemetery. They

all belong to the "Fraternidade Descendioa," pay dues each year

to keep up the cemetery and put together a very memorable program.

More than 1,000 people attended

this year. I enjoyed the Brazilian barbecue, marinated chunks of beef

on a stick; pastel, a deep fried pastry filled with ground beef, and of

course Cokes.

A past president of the fraternity

had died at 4 a.m. on the day of the festival. They do not embalm and

so the festivities were cut short so that another direct descendant could

be buried at CAMPO, joining hundreds of other "Southerners."

More next time.

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