Brazil day 1!

Hello from Brazil!

First, I got to Atlanta. The flight from Atlanta for Sao Paolo had been cancelled the day before, so the boarding area was in chaos. But everyone important (me) made it on to the plane. The fellow sitting across the aisle from me helped me put my bags up, so we made conversation for the beginning of the flight. He is an auditor for a company that sells car parts and batteries to car companies.

The flight was long, of course. My legs were most uncomfortable, and somehow there was no tonic water available. I ended up watching an awful movie starring Mel Gibson as crazy Boston detective. His daughter works in the nuclear industry and is dying of radiation poisoning. Mel Gibson eventually dies of the same. He gives an excellent repeat performance of a grieving William Wallace in Braveheart.

Then we were in Sao Paolo! The line for immigration was long, and in it I spotted Ken Reardon. Yay! I also kept spotting the chatty fellow from the flight. Once he pretended that he was going to trip me as I walked past. He was with his girlfriend, too.

Once the lines were all cleared I met up with Ken and the drivers to the hotel and the other speakers. My name was on no list for any shuttle, but Ken had arranged a private car for himself, and agreed that I could ride with him. Yay again!

The drive out of Sao Paolo was incredible. There are really shantytowns there. All the apartments had laundry hanging outside, and the walls were brightly colored. From far away, though, the apartments looked like so much trash littering the hills. Right up close you could see water-carved channels going down the hill, full of real trash. People were riding bikes in the shoulder of the highway – like Lance Armstrong style, not going to the beer store style. I also saw many kites. They had great long sparkly tails, and the kite-flyers made them dance like birds.

Ken and I chatted about our impressions of Brazil. He was a little disappointed to be staying at a resort the whole time. I was amazed that most of the signs were hand-painted, and the different fonts used were all sans-serif. Then we napped.

We awoke to a scene a little like driving through rural Maryland – big hills, with fields on either side of the road full of some crop. The hills are bigger here than Maryland though, seeming more like baby mountains than grandparent mountains. And the crop was all sugarcane. Some fields were full of tall cane; others were burnt to the ground, and others still were just beginning to regrow. We saw one sugarcane processing plant in the middle of the fields. It just looked industrial.

And we got there. Aaaaah. The hotel is enormous, many small buildings on a large campus. There is a swimming pool, and a swimming pool bar. There are horses to ride as well. My room has three single beds and a private balcony. The weather is not very humid here, surprisingly, and it was only about 70F today. Right now it is much cooler, and good sleeping weather. I wonder if my worries about bugs were goofy since it is winter now, or maybe the bugs are year-round biters.

There are trees covered only in neon yellow or neon orange flowers. There are others that seem to be overgrown azaleas (pink), and rhododendrons (purple). Also some commonly grown houseplants, like philodendron, are growing in the wild here.

Once in my room I took a shower (with solar heated water!) and a nap. When I woke up I couldn’t get out of my room because I couldn’t figure out how to unlock the inside lock. A hotel lady came and stood outside the door until I did figure it out.

Then there was the opening remarks, and a talk about sugarcane, and dinner. In the dining room was a samba guitarist and a drummer (with hand drums). Behind them on a big projector screen was movies of other musicians playing, presumably also playing samba. Ken ate with me, and I finally got some tonic water. Here it is delicious, flavored with lemon as well as quinine. There were only meat and cheese and fruit, and no vegetables at all. We had a very pleasant dinner anyway, and now I am back in my room again, getting ready for bed!

Tomorrow is a long day of talks. I am excited but also lonely. I wish I could come back to Brazil as a real tourist. Portuguese is nice to listen to. I say “obrigado” as often as possible (“thank you”), just to practice a little Portuguese.