TRIP 1 :
Those of you who follow me probably know I am not fond of repeat trips to the same location. So, although I went to Brazil in February, I haven’t yet written about it, and now I traveling back the states from Brazil on my April trip. Guess I need to write before I have to change the title to “Three Trips to Brazil”
BELO HORIZONTE
So this was my third and fourth trips to Sao Paulo. The February trip was a week and a half. I tried to come up with an extra curricular activity, but most of the things left on my list for South American trips we more than weekend events, and I couldn’t get away for longer than that this trip. Instead I took advantage of the weekend and went to Belo Horizonte (again) to visit with Valeria and Paulo.
Missing my plane?
The Friday that I would be heading to the airport, Braga, my driver, asked what time my flight was to determine the time he would need to pick me up from work. I said, “7pm”. He asked, “Domestic or International”… This was the first of our miscommunication. I thought he meant, “Is your flight Domestic or International” so I answered “Domestic”. Turns out what he meant was, “Are you flying from the International Airport or from the Domestic Airport”, to which the correct answer would have been “International”. He said leaving at 4pm would be plenty of time.
So he picked me up at 4pm, and we started driving and I was watching his route on Google Maps. He didn’t seem to be getting to the International Airport very fast, but I assumed (and felt was confirmed by his growing anxiety) he was avoiding traffic and going some remote way.. It has been fascinating to ride with Braga, because he pays attention to the traffic and goes a different way each day.
Well, when I saw airplane tails and could see on the map that we were nowhere near the International Airport, I realized what happened. Braga was shocked and embarrassed at the misunderstanding, and suddenly very distraught, as there was no way that I would make my plane now! He was turning around, I was calling the travel agent, and found that the next plane I could take was going from the Domestic airport. SO, he turned around again… and we adjusted. I got to Belo about an hour later than planned, but still early enough to be decent.
A Relaxing Weekend
Valeria has been having a lot of family stresses and she needed a relaxing weekend. We decided to keep the weekend low key, we went to the movies, we got massages, visited her parents again.. No complaints from my end.
SAO PAULO
Otherwise my issues with going to Brazil are that the as reported before, the crime is so high that I don’t feel very comfortable getting out and about on my own. But the first week of this trip my colleague, Amy, was traveling with me, and the second week it was Yohanna. We had dinner dates with Brazilian colleagues many nights. Gustavo taking us out to a proper Brazilian BBQ place VERY similar to the Brazilian BBQ places you find in the US.
Gustavo (the project Manager) told us about a style of Pizza restaurant (Sao Paulo is famous for Pizza) where it’s all you can eat and they walk around with pizzas and you eat what you want, sort of a cross between pizza and Brazilian BBQ. I thought it sounded fun.
One of the Practice leaders, Tom and his wife, said they would take Amy and I out for that. But the restaurant he took us to was a tiny hole in the wall, and we were the only customers. The pizza was good, and it was all you could eat, but not the pizzas floating around the room I had envisioned. So the following week Gustavo took Yohanna and I out to “Charlie’s Pizza” after Charlie Chaplin. Fun, but I don’t think I need to do that again!
I brought all my food on this trip as I was on the restrictive phase of my eating program. All this wining and dining made that difficult! I had planned it so that the last 2 days I was not on that phase and could enjoy some Brazilian food… All in all, taking my food was worth it, even if I wasn’t perfect on the plan. I brought my food again on the April trip, and had much fewer social commitments, and perhaps a little better success.
TRIP 2 :
INDAIATUBA
My friend from my other trips, Abner, had wanted me to come over to see his house and meet his friends for the last two trips. Because of the trip to Belo Horizonte, I couldn’t make it to his house. I promised that I would plan it in the next time.
The April trip was 1 week long, but from Wednesday to Wednesday, so I still had a weekend in there. Abner lives in Indaiatuba, a town about 1.5 hours northwest of Sao Paulo, and close to Campinas, where I was working on my second trip to Brazil.
I had Braga take me over Saturday morning, and return me back to Sao Paulo Sunday afternoon. Abner lives in a very nice gated sub-division (called a condominium in Brazil). He lives his parents house, his parents moved to Australia about a year ago, and haven’t decided to sell the house yet.
Abner invited about 15 of his closest friends over and we had a Brazilian BBQ at his house. Really fun, and very Brazilian. Unfortunately, turned out only a couple of Abner’s friends spoke any English. I think this hadn’t really occured to him until everyone was there.
That evening, after the party, we took the dog for a walk, then watched a movie before bed. In the morning he wanted to take another walk, a longer walk, down to the city park that ran down the river. It was a nice day with lots of people out biking, walking their dog, playing, etc. We ended up walking for about 2.5 hours. Then came home for lunch and went to a sporting goods store where Braga picked me up to go home.
SEND OUT CARDS RESEARCH 
Again, I didn’t do much in the evenings while in Sao Paulo, but that’s ok, because there wasn’t too many evenings available and a couple of the nights I just needed to sleep early. A couple of evenings I dedicated to learning about the changes to Send Out Cards. Send Out Cards just released a MAJOR overhaul. Everything is changing. I needed to spend some time and dig into the site. I needed to chat with my distributors and customers that had questions and make sure no one was having trouble. So that was a good block of time to do that.
AVENIDA DO PAULISTA
The last night I was in town I got a little stir crazy and just wanted to get out and walk a bit. I hadn’t managed to get back to the hotel before dark any night, but my hotel was just one street away from Avenida do Paulista, the large shopping street, and even after dark it was bustling with activity.
As soon as I got to the hotel I threw on some jeans and walked. Hitting a grocery store (my favorite activity in a foreign country) first. Walking over to the MASP museum, one of the more famous buildings in town. I picked up a Pastie, deep-fried meat pocket, at a street vendor. And walked around the mall where I bought a pair of cute slipper-shoes on impulse… It felt GREAT! I felt like I needed that.
BRAZIL, BECOMING MY SECOND HOME
Work-wise this trip was great. I felt like I was very effective and we solved all the problems, even the ones I wasn’t sure of the answer. When I left I was feeling very sad, going to miss the friends, foods, etc. It was definitely a good trip. Guess I should not come back too many more times. It’s starting to feel like home.
I’d go back to Brazil any number of times. It is a second home for me. Glad you got to go.