Brazil 1

We just got back from a visit to my parents in Brazil, and it was unbelievably fun! We didn't take the kids--my saintly brother-in-law whose here in medical school volunteered to fly them across the country to their grandparents--so it was the most relaxed I remember being for 3 3/4 years. Honestly I don't think it could have gone better; everything cooperated - the weather, the traffic, the missionaries (mostly). We spent 9 wonderful days being totally spoiled and having a terrific time. And the very best part was being together! At the end of each day, Brad and I would talk about our favorite parts and invariably topping our list was spending time (no matter what we were doing) with Mom and Dad. I feel really lucky that the stereotypical in-law relationships don't plague us. We genuinely love each other's families, and in turn feel very loved by them. Thanks Mom and Dad - it was the trip of a lifetime!!!

Now, be prepared for travelogue overload. This is my personal record of the trip, so feel free to just browse the pictures.

We planned to have Michael and the kids leave early Saturday morning, but we got a call at 3am from Delta's lovely automated caller informing us that the flight was cancelled due to a lack of a pilot (seriously, you don't have back-ups?) and that they couldn't get on a flight until Sunday afternoon. I don't really get how an airline can do that to you and offer you nothing in return. It's completely unprofessional. Lame. That's all I'm going to say about that.

We arrived in Sao Paulo on Christmas day. It was so wonderful to go from winter to summer! My parents immediately took us up the Pico Jaragua, which is a high point where we had a fantastic 360 view of Sao Paulo. We also got a taste of some of the neat tropical bugs there on the way up and down. We saw several of these amazing butterflies that look brown unless the light hits them and then they are a striking blue because of the way the light reflects off of them.


From there we went to Mom and Dad's gorgeous home. They live on an entire floor of an apartment building. It was so fun for me to see where they live so that now I can picture things when they are talking about it. After we freshened up, we had a delicious Christmas dinner with my parents and my sister's in-laws who are serving a mission there right now as well. It was so fun to be with the Binghams; we've known them a long time and they feel more like family than like friends.


After dinner we went to a baptism for a fairly young girl. She had such a great spirit. I loved seeing my dad interact with her, and actually with all of the people we met. He really seemed to be blessed with a great love for the people. And they all appeared to love him right back. I thought a baptism on Christmas was a unique and wonderful way to celebrate the Savior's birth. Their mission goal was to have a "white Christmas" where every companionship baptized and they almost met it. :) Mission tidbit: We learned they have the smallest geographical area of all the missions in Brazil, but the most missionaries.

That night we came home and opened the "American store" we'd brought to them. It was pretty fun. They are great recipients.

The next day we did one of my favorite things of the trip - the BEACH. This may or may not have been made all the sweeter when I checked the weather for Rochester and found out that it had snowed 18 inches that night. Before we stopped at the beach, we visited one of the stake presidents in the area (President Santana). He and his family were so kind and welcoming to us. I loved meeting them. I laughed a little because I saw a Kinnect with Just Dance 4 in their house and I found out they'd received it for Christmas. It made me chuckle because Brad's family back in SLC got the same gift. Ahh globalism.


It was SO hot that day. I usually like to lay for a little while and get nice and toasty so that I can brave the cool ocean water. Not so that day. The sand at the beach (Pernambuco beach) seared my feet. I lasted all of about 3 minutes laying out before running into the sea. Luckily for me, the water was the nicest temperature I've ever felt in an ocean. It almost felt like a bath. Consequently I stayed out in it FOREVER. I love swimming - I love the feel of being completely surrounded by water. And I love being out just past where the waves break so that you can bob gently up and down with each wave. It was so relaxing.

 

After everyone else had had enough (I couldn't have possibly had enough of that water), we drove to Santos. We stopped and briefly saw a large church there. We also went to a garden called the Orquidario, which in theory should have been nice, but the heat was too oppressive to really enjoy it. Then we went over to a chairlift called the teleferico, which we rode. I was sort of obsessing over the potential germs on the seats because lots of people were riding it in their swimsuits and I've never seen such skimpy swimsuits in my life. Frequently the bum wasn't even covered at all - I was kind of obsessed with it all day. And it didn't seem to matter whether you had a great body, an average body, or even a flabby body - anything went. Not a pretty picture. The view from the top of the chairlift was a pretty picture on the other hand. We could see the longest stretch of park by a beach in Brazil. The ice cream cones at the top made everything more bearable. :) On our way home we stopped to see another stake president. He was also very kind. On our way home from the beach we hit the only traffic we had during the trip. We've heard this is somewhat of a miracle. In general it takes hours to get anywhere because of the terrible traffic, but we generally sailed through the streets.

 

Sheesh. I think I'll do one more day and then be finished for right now. 

The next day we went to the futebol museum. It was this fantastic museum dedicated to soccer (and attached to one of the largest soccer stadiums in Brazil). It was super interesting because it helped us get a sense of what a big deal soccer is to the country. There were lots of cool exhibits. I particularly liked the one where you could see a controversial call and then hear the refs' feelings about it. I also liked watching some of the greatest goals of all time. Brad loved the foosball tables. He walked into the room and with a gleam in his eye said, "There aren't many things in life that I'm REALLY good at, but foosball is one of them." And he is.

  

After the soccer museum, we went to Avenida Paulista - the most famous road in Sao Paulo. We walked on it for a little while. We also visited the Cathedral of Saint Paul. It was gorgeous! I love cathedrals. We went to the statue of independence of Brazil and then the Sao Paulo museum that was right there. The building was spectacular, and the art was fine, but it wasn't our favorite museum of the trip.

 

That night we went to an all you can eat pizza place. We had some fantastic types of pizza. It was set up similar to Tucano's where they would bring you a slice of a new type of pizza every 3 or 4 minutes. The margarita and dessert pizzas were my favorites. The Binghams ate with us. So fun! 

I'll write more later. Stay tuned . . .