You may have thought I abandoned my blog. Not so. I was just out of touch for a week or so. João and I made a whirlwind trip to Brazil from December 8-16 and it was difficult to access internet while there. Now that I am home and settled back in, I can write a bit about our trip. There are no pictures for now. I was slightly paranoid about theft and violence in Rio, so I didn't take my digital camera. I took a disponsable camera and didn't use all the shots, so I have nothing to post. So you will just have to read all my words with no illustrations. UGH.
Our trip was crazy busy, but absolutely wonderful!
The trip down to Brazil was a little stressful. Our weather in Ottawa was gorgeous the day we left. I wish I could say the same for Chicago. When we got there, the weather was closing in fast. We landed there at 1:30 and were due to leave at 6:00. I had asked, in Ottawa, to be transferred to the 3:00 flight to Miami, but they told me it was oversold. Not to be outdone, I went straight to that gate and asked to be put on standby. The attendant told me there was no way our 6:00 flight would get us into Miami on time to catch our 11PM flight to Brazil, and she would do what she could to get us on this flight -which had a stand by list of 20! She bumped us up to number one spot and lo and behold (through her intervention) we got on the plane. It left 2 hours late and everyone moaned and groaned as we spent an hour on the runway waiting for a take off and they kept spraying our wings for ice!!!! We were happy, knowing we had plenty of time. We later learned our scheduled flight actually got into Miami well after 1AM! We were thanking God for intervening. I knew our luggage wouldn't make it (which it didn't), but wasn't worried as I had a carry-on with everything we needed for about 2-3 days.
When we got to Rio, there were people from First Baptist to greet us, as well as Elly (she studies near the airport and came over to meet us). I was so (make that we) excited to see her. She is so beautiful and grown up now. And so sweet and thoughtful and mature. Wow. I loved every minute we could spend together.
From the airport, we drove to our hotel. We were in downtown Rio and our reaction was that everyone in the city was walking in the streets. I had forgotten how busy it is there. We were overwhelmed. And the traffic! João was nervous and Elly laughed and said: "Dad, this is normal. Have you forgotten what it's like?" Fortunately, it was not too hot, although rather humid. My hair did an immediate frizz job.
We had a great lunch with everyone with a traditional brazilian meal (feijoada), which I scarfed down. I was starving, as we hadn't eaten all day the day before. There was no time in the airports and no food on the planes.
In the afternoon we walked downtown Rio and had a great time. I went swimming in the pool and we tried to sleep early. The next day, Saturday, we were busy with things at First Baptist. I enjoyed my favourite shrimp dish (bobó de camarão) and João had fish (bacalhau) at a beautiful apt. on the beach of Rio. Elly came too, so we enjoyed catching up. Even got to meet her boyfriend who lived close by.
Sunday, of course, was busy with church activities. On Sunday morning, a large group came from our former church, Cascadura, since their worship is at 8:30 and First Baptist at 10:00. I was so stunned when I walked in the auditorium and there sat so many friends. I hugged and cried and then hugged some more, until they asked me to please sit down and quit making a scene in the front of the church. :)! João didn't get to do so until after church, since he was in the pulpit.
Sunday night we moved to Elly's cute little apt. It's so nice. She was quite a hostess, making all our fav. foods.
Monday we went to my old office and they closed business and just visited with us for about 2 hours. That was SOOO neat. Then we took Marilene and Franklin (my best friend) out to supper for their 8th wedding anniversary. We went to a churrascaria (brazilian barbecue) that serves meat until you can't stand to eat anymore. I loved it.
That evening we took a bus (8 hours) up to visit João's parents. We slept some on the bus. We were glad to make it in on Tuesday morning and spent all day Tuesday visiting and talking. Sissy couldn't come to Rio since she was take entrance exams on the weekend, so she came up to Vila Velha on Tuesday too. So more hugs and kisses were in order. She looks great too and seems happy. She has already passed one entrance exam for one university, but since it's private and paid, we are hoping she gets into one of the other public schools ( results in January) she tried out for.
Wednesday, more visiting and fun. Including dropping by to see our Condo. It's gorgeous. I was so impressed. Our apt. is rented out and that is good news. We still have some debt left on the apt, as we put in some extra stuff (like kitchen cabinets) and the rent is paying that. But soon we will have a little income from the rent. It's rented to a pastor.
Wed. night I took a bus back to Rio - in the midst of pouring rain. So the trip was quite long. I got some sleep, but the rain made the travel unsteady and there were many potholes. João stayed in Vila Velha. I spent Thursday with Marilene in Rio. I had a number of things I needed to do at the banks. And we just HAD to talk, of course. She made my favourite food - so as you can see, I'm sure I gained weight on this trip.
Friday João got in and went over to meet him at Elly's apt. We spent the day visiting with Elly, Pr. Baltazar and taking care of banking business. We left for the airport around 9:00PM. When we left Vila Velha, we left Sissy crying. I also have the image of Elly standing on the street bidding us good-bye and tears in her eyes imprinted on my heart. That was SO hard.
The flights were all smooth on our return and no hang ups at all.
When there was a shovel in the trunk of the car of the people who picked us up, we knew we were in trouble. The largest snow I've ever seen in Ottawa had fallen on Friday. They told us it was a good thing we hadn't returned on Friday, as the airport had been closed. The snow bank was about 4 ft. high into our driveway when they left, so we knew we'd have to shovel our way in. Fortunately our snow plough contrator was just finishing our driveway when we arrived. The cats were right at the door to receive us. They seemed very happy. No happier than we were to be HOME.
And thus ends the saga of a one week whirlwind trip to Brazil.
João and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary this week. We had planned a nice romantic dinner at the revolving restaurant here in town, but when it turned icey (literally) cold and icky, we cancelled our reservations. What's the point of paying a fortune to see clouds??? We are just two practical old people. So we went to the mall and walked and shopped and did eat supper and enjoyed our evening. We will go to the Marriott, but on a day where we can enjoy the panoramic view.
