Sooo...... where to begin. Let's see, we spent our first full day in Sao Paulo as foreign kidnap victims locked in a compound. Our friend Flavia went to work and left us to sleep, but she took her keys with her... unfortunately for us, that meant we were stuck in a tiny concrete box all day because you need the keys to get out of the complex and the gate goes all the way to the roof, so there was no escaping. I know how people in solitary confinement feel now- you really don't know if one hour has passed or 6 months. We entertained ourselves with singing and dancing and cooking up meals out of 3 ingredients. We also facebooked entirely way too much. When Flav got home, we forced her to go out and drink some Brahma with us, and life improved muchly. The next day, we went into work with her at an early hour and left our stuff at her job so we could trek around the city. On the way there, we got stuck on a very crowded bus for over an hour (when it should have taken 20 minutes) because a semi crashed on the road. Ashley had a panic attack/heat exhaustion and passed out on the bus.... thank goodness som
eone near by had a fan and someone else had water and someone else gave up their seat. They were all very friendly. We walked about 20 miles that day to an awesome park- Imburapeura. There was a beautiful lake and coco juice and black swans with red striped noses. We had lunch at a little place where we were not only the only non-Brasilians, but also the only women and also the only ones drinking beer. We have decided that we are ok with changing the perception of Americans from McDonalds-eating lazy people to alcoholics. After our park adventure, we went back to Flav's work, where we met up with her coworkers (she was on a plane to Vitoria) and they told us a million different inappropriate phrases that we had to memorize. They are coming in quite handy. Renata (pronounced Hey-nata, yes Dad- you were right, Portuguese is not like Spanish at all unfortunatley, but we are learning fast) took us on a tour of the city and we saw the giant gorgeous cathedral, a giant open air market, and Habib's. We scooped up some delicious food at Habib's and then she dropped us off at the bus station. The bus was a 16 hour adventure. We spent the first few hours drinking some cachaça and guarana (delish combo) and speaking of memories past. Unfortunately, that led to my eventual use of the bathroom, and you can only guess how that went. I hate bus toilets, and this one was no exception. Let's just say the toilet threw-up on my leg and I may or may not have almost cried it was so gross. We woke up the next morning to breathtaking scenery. The hills were right out of the Emperors New Groove and so were the llamas. We decided to celebrate this beauty as we like to celebrate everything- you guessed it- our new friend cachaça. What a great word. As you can imagine, this fun led to yet another pickle that is the lives of Margaret and Ashley. Ash looks at me and says, "Did we miss our town?" We had simaltaneous panic attacks and that wasn't pretty. I had to quickly look up how to ask the bus driver where we were in the Portuguese dicitonary (it was my turn) and luckily, we didn't miss it, we were just an hour and a half late. Thank goodness. So, saude to that. We arrived at the bus station in Vitoria and Flavia and her dad picked us up in their car. They brought us back, and were welcomed right into the family. Everyone is so nice and generous and so cute!!!! We are pretty sure that the grandmother (aka amiguinha- which means little friend) makes fun of us continuously throughout the day, so we are quickly trying to learn the language in order to figure out what the shell she is saying. That night we took a little stroll to the beach and watched a beach futbol game, which was pretty cool. We went back to the apartment and rolled out our sleeping bags once again on the comfort of concrete in our own personal bedroom- the little patio. That brings me to yesterday. We woke up rather late, and then Celline got here! She is another one of Ashley's friends that worked up at Eaglecrest. She is also sooo cute and nice and friendly. We went to the beach yesterday and drank some type of Brasilian form of Smirnoff Ice. It as the closest thing the lady with the cart had to a caiparinha..... Let's just say that the scenery at the beach was not too bad. Last night Flavia had her church ceremony at a cathedral and everyone looked like they were going to prom. Brasilians are so super fancy, it makes me feel like a dirty hippie. The service was nice, and we didn't even burst into flames as we entered the doorway, so that was a a good thing. After the church, we came back to the apartment and it was the mom's birthday, so more and more relatives kept on coming, and we had a nice party downstairs with mucho Skol and delicious food of all sorts. This morning we awoke to the sounds of 8374 Brasilians laughing and reuniting as even more relatives showed up. We had a huge breakfast buffet and then Ash, Celline, and I went walking around the town to shop around and stuff. Everything was so expensive, I could not even believe it. No shopping for me. Now we are back at the apartment, eating lunch and resting from the days heat (everyone here thinks I am insane because I dress like a muslim). Tonight is the big party night- I am not sure how the partying can possibly get any fancier or crazier, but apparently it can. I am pretty sure everyone is going to wear princess dresses. Time for lunch now. Sorry this blog wasn't as amusing as it should have been, but I am typing as fast as possible and I am passing the torch on to Ashley now. Love and miss you all.
eone near by had a fan and someone else had water and someone else gave up their seat. They were all very friendly. We walked about 20 miles that day to an awesome park- Imburapeura. There was a beautiful lake and coco juice and black swans with red striped noses. We had lunch at a little place where we were not only the only non-Brasilians, but also the only women and also the only ones drinking beer. We have decided that we are ok with changing the perception of Americans from McDonalds-eating lazy people to alcoholics. After our park adventure, we went back to Flav's work, where we met up with her coworkers (she was on a plane to Vitoria) and they told us a million different inappropriate phrases that we had to memorize. They are coming in quite handy. Renata (pronounced Hey-nata, yes Dad- you were right, Portuguese is not like Spanish at all unfortunatley, but we are learning fast) took us on a tour of the city and we saw the giant gorgeous cathedral, a giant open air market, and Habib's. We scooped up some delicious food at Habib's and then she dropped us off at the bus station. The bus was a 16 hour adventure. We spent the first few hours drinking some cachaça and guarana (delish combo) and speaking of memories past. Unfortunately, that led to my eventual use of the bathroom, and you can only guess how that went. I hate bus toilets, and this one was no exception. Let's just say the toilet threw-up on my leg and I may or may not have almost cried it was so gross. We woke up the next morning to breathtaking scenery. The hills were right out of the Emperors New Groove and so were the llamas. We decided to celebrate this beauty as we like to celebrate everything- you guessed it- our new friend cachaça. What a great word. As you can imagine, this fun led to yet another pickle that is the lives of Margaret and Ashley. Ash looks at me and says, "Did we miss our town?" We had simaltaneous panic attacks and that wasn't pretty. I had to quickly look up how to ask the bus driver where we were in the Portuguese dicitonary (it was my turn) and luckily, we didn't miss it, we were just an hour and a half late. Thank goodness. So, saude to that. We arrived at the bus station in Vitoria and Flavia and her dad picked us up in their car. They brought us back, and were welcomed right into the family. Everyone is so nice and generous and so cute!!!! We are pretty sure that the grandmother (aka amiguinha- which means little friend) makes fun of us continuously throughout the day, so we are quickly trying to learn the language in order to figure out what the shell she is saying. That night we took a little stroll to the beach and watched a beach futbol game, which was pretty cool. We went back to the apartment and rolled out our sleeping bags once again on the comfort of concrete in our own personal bedroom- the little patio. That brings me to yesterday. We woke up rather late, and then Celline got here! She is another one of Ashley's friends that worked up at Eaglecrest. She is also sooo cute and nice and friendly. We went to the beach yesterday and drank some type of Brasilian form of Smirnoff Ice. It as the closest thing the lady with the cart had to a caiparinha..... Let's just say that the scenery at the beach was not too bad. Last night Flavia had her church ceremony at a cathedral and everyone looked like they were going to prom. Brasilians are so super fancy, it makes me feel like a dirty hippie. The service was nice, and we didn't even burst into flames as we entered the doorway, so that was a a good thing. After the church, we came back to the apartment and it was the mom's birthday, so more and more relatives kept on coming, and we had a nice party downstairs with mucho Skol and delicious food of all sorts. This morning we awoke to the sounds of 8374 Brasilians laughing and reuniting as even more relatives showed up. We had a huge breakfast buffet and then Ash, Celline, and I went walking around the town to shop around and stuff. Everything was so expensive, I could not even believe it. No shopping for me. Now we are back at the apartment, eating lunch and resting from the days heat (everyone here thinks I am insane because I dress like a muslim). Tonight is the big party night- I am not sure how the partying can possibly get any fancier or crazier, but apparently it can. I am pretty sure everyone is going to wear princess dresses. Time for lunch now. Sorry this blog wasn't as amusing as it should have been, but I am typing as fast as possible and I am passing the torch on to Ashley now. Love and miss you all.
