The Daily Bite

Oi! Como vai voce?

We're back from Brasil. It was great! Daniela's family was incredibly hospitable and fun. Almost too much to talk about, so I'll condense things...

After the maniacle drive from the airport (think passing on a double yellow on curvy single lane roads), the first week was spent at the beach. Remarkable scenery - lush, tropical mountains set against a white sand beach with rolling blue waves. I don't think there is any place in the US other than Hawaii as lush as Brasil. We walked the beach (2+ miles) almost every day. New Year's Eve was incredible. We all wore new white clothes and after a fabulous dinner put on by Daniela's family, we all walked down to the beach. At midnight, everyone kissed each other on the cheek and wished each other Feliz Ano-novo, then we drank champagne, waded into the water a bit, made a wish and jumped 7 waves. Then we backed out of the water. There was a slight mishap with the fireworks, what was supposed to be a half hour show turned into a 3 minute explosion (the first one fell into the others and all went off at once), but other than that, the evening was incredible.

After the beach, we went to Sao Paulo for a day, then off to the country house for the weekend. The country house was beautiful, they grow abacaxi (pineapple), bananas, sugar cane and many other exotic things. Hopefully I'll have some great pix eventually.

The last few days were spent in the city, which is a sight to see! Getting to the city was an incredible experience. The roads wind up through the foliage covered mountains and you wonder how the hell they built these roads into the mountains. Then you begin to see the city... soon your entire view is high rises - as far as the eye can see. Like NYC, Chicago, and LA combined! In the city we relaxed, played Buraco (a Brazilian card game similar to Gin) and did a little sightseeing and shopping.

Overall, an incredible experience and wonderful vacation! I'll add more detailed accounts later, hopefully with pictures...