So back in the lounge at SP, just finished the last of my emails for the day and have about 2 hours before I board to head back home. Mom and Madeline are picking me up at the airport tomorrow and then a quick stop in the city to pick up 2 months worth of mail, check on the place, and drop off a suitcase.
All in all a pretty good and uneventful week. Typical work, workout, class, work.....well do it all over again. Was a long busy day today and haven't even had time to think about coming home but I am starting to get excited now.
Pray for safe travels, no delays with the flights, and that everything goes smoothly with my visa (one reason I am heading home this month).
Cheers
Adam
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
No Jesus part II yet
iPhone got released in Brazil and before people think about complaining about costs etc in the US about, well anything, the same phone that sells for $300 in the states is US$ 1,500 in Brazil.
Also to give you another comparison a Honda Civic goes for US$35k-$40k, gas is 2x-3x more per gallon than the US and all electronics are at least 3x more expensive than the states. Just a little food for thought.
Also to give you another comparison a Honda Civic goes for US$35k-$40k, gas is 2x-3x more per gallon than the US and all electronics are at least 3x more expensive than the states. Just a little food for thought.
Friday, September 10, 2010
Sao Luis - You need the Jesus (Part I)
So this past weekend was Brazilian Independence day and as in the states it consisted of a long weekend starting on Friday after work until Tuesday (Independence day). Some friends and I decided to book a trip to the Northeast of Brazil and go to Sao Luis, Lencois Maranhenses, and the Preguicas River for 3 days. You might be curious as to the title of this blog entry, but I will get to that shortly.
The trip started at 4 am on Saturday with a not so nice alarm wake-up signifying the beginning of what would be a long but amazing weekend. We had to drive to the Sao Paulo airport for our 7:20 am flight for which we arrive at about 6:30 am. Myself and a friend (Ergys) were able to get checked in via the kiosks while Dan and Claudia had to fight their way through the line. Ergys and I went for breakfast and of course as soon as we are about to order there are 3 couples in front of us that decided to order 1 of everything on the menu which proceeded to of course tick me right off. We then had to get out of line and go to our gate because they were on the final boarding call for our flight and this is not a flight you want to miss because there are no direct flights. As we get on the plane I see Dan sitting in the exit row and think, man he is lucky because I'd love and exit row for this 4+ hour flight. I asked Dan how he got it and he explained his travel philosophy to me. He sits where he wants until someone kicks him out of the seat then he moves to another seat until he gets kicked out. So I decided to try this out and wouldn't you know it, it worked! Exit row for both flights to Sao Luis, I am now not so ticked that I didn't get breakfast.
We land in Sao Luis around 12:30 pm, get a taxi and he takes us to our hotel. We arrive at the hotel a bit before check-in but they are able to accommodate us at the pool to have a couple of beers before we get into our rooms. Since Sao Luis is near the equator the temperature is a steady 30-35 degrees year round and a UV index of 10+ so I spent the first 10 min at the pool slathering myself in SPF 60 so I don't ruin my weekend on the first day by getting too much sun.
After the pool we headed to a recommended restaurant that has comida regional or local food to the region for lunch. Their specialty is fish, shrimp, and annoying locals. We sit down to order some drinks and some food and about 5 min after we sit down, Marcos is strolling over to our table and starts asking if we are all Americans. Now I should have mentioned this before but we are a melting pot of tourists. I of course am the lone American, Dan is Irish (whiter than me), Claudia is Mexican (Dan's girlfriend), and Ergys is Albanian. So you can say that we are a pretty diverse group but we all live together in the United Nations building (our apartment building's given name) and a couple of us share the same Portuguese professor. I digress.....Marcos proceeds to spend the entire lunch with us drinking, telling stories, how many countries he's visited and worked in all while giving me about 20-30 punches in the arm. Ergys has a great picture that I'll post later where I am about 20 min into the meal and already annoyed with this guy. He is of course still a typical guy where he would forget all of the guys' names but remembered Claudia's name (shocking) and called Ergys, Elvis. That was pretty funny.
After lunch we headed to the beach to walk around since we'd been sitting for almost 8 or 9 hours already and it was only about 4 pm in the afternoon. We walked around until we found an outdoor restaurant and headed to the beach for some coco water, swimming, and to watch the sunset. It was pretty cool to be in the ocean so far north and you could see all of the freightliners and cargo ships heading south toward Brazil carrying goods. Interesting to me because the company I work for down here imports lots of goods from the US and it was neat to see them all heading into port in the northern part of the country.
After the sunset and some more pictures, we headed to the Centro Historico (Historical City Center) to walk around and take some more pictures. This was really neat and it had a lot of tourist shops, restaurants, live music etc. Not really a whole lot to do and it didn't seem as if a lot of people lived in this area as it was pretty run down and some places looked abandoned. We found a big outdoor restaurant and decided to get some juice and listen to some music before heading back to the hotel for some rest before dinner. This is where I had my first Jesus.....I had been hearing about this drink (Guarana Jesus) as Guarana is a very popular soda in Brazil, it is supposed to have natural energy and taste like cherries. I love it and once I heard about the Jesus I had to try one. This Jesus drink is only available in this northern state where Sao Luis and Lencois is located so I had to try it and lemme tell you it tastes EXACTLY like liquiod bubbel gum and it's pink. You know when we were kids and you put 25 cents in and got a giant gumball? Yep exactly like that except you drink it. Anyway, the running joke for the weekend became 'You need Jesus' followed by handing someone the Jesus drink, and I decided that whenever I bought a Jesus I had to take a picture of it wherever we were or myself drinking it. We have Jesus in Sao Luis, Jesus on a boat, Jesus on the dunes, Jesus in a bottle, Jesus in the airport etc. It was pretty entertaining.
We headed back to the hotel about 8:30 to get a nap in before dinner. When I woke up for dinner, got a shower and when I was brushing my teeth decided to check out the night view from the balcony. When I stepped outside there was a big crowd of people standing around, one guy sitting, and a car with it's front bumper off. As some people came and went I saw the chalk outline of a motorcycle and a body sitting next to the chalk outline. There was also a chalk outline around the body and realized the guy sitting on the ground was straddling the dead persons body, and this was no joke directly in front of our balcony looking at the street. It was pretty nerve racking to say the least and besides seeing a covered dead body on the way to the airport one day, this was my only other time. We couldn't figure out why they wouldn't cover the body or move it out of the way and this went on for a good 30-40 min.
After we were dressed and ready for dinner we got some recommendations from the front desk, hopped in a cab and we were off. The restaurant had live music, good food, and it was on a lake so it was like everything else, all open air and outside. After dinner we wandered around a little bit and wound up at a couple of more bars with live music, danced and finally called it a night around 4 am.
Lencois Maranhenses - You need Jesus (Part II) to come later this weekend
The trip started at 4 am on Saturday with a not so nice alarm wake-up signifying the beginning of what would be a long but amazing weekend. We had to drive to the Sao Paulo airport for our 7:20 am flight for which we arrive at about 6:30 am. Myself and a friend (Ergys) were able to get checked in via the kiosks while Dan and Claudia had to fight their way through the line. Ergys and I went for breakfast and of course as soon as we are about to order there are 3 couples in front of us that decided to order 1 of everything on the menu which proceeded to of course tick me right off. We then had to get out of line and go to our gate because they were on the final boarding call for our flight and this is not a flight you want to miss because there are no direct flights. As we get on the plane I see Dan sitting in the exit row and think, man he is lucky because I'd love and exit row for this 4+ hour flight. I asked Dan how he got it and he explained his travel philosophy to me. He sits where he wants until someone kicks him out of the seat then he moves to another seat until he gets kicked out. So I decided to try this out and wouldn't you know it, it worked! Exit row for both flights to Sao Luis, I am now not so ticked that I didn't get breakfast.
We land in Sao Luis around 12:30 pm, get a taxi and he takes us to our hotel. We arrive at the hotel a bit before check-in but they are able to accommodate us at the pool to have a couple of beers before we get into our rooms. Since Sao Luis is near the equator the temperature is a steady 30-35 degrees year round and a UV index of 10+ so I spent the first 10 min at the pool slathering myself in SPF 60 so I don't ruin my weekend on the first day by getting too much sun.
After the pool we headed to a recommended restaurant that has comida regional or local food to the region for lunch. Their specialty is fish, shrimp, and annoying locals. We sit down to order some drinks and some food and about 5 min after we sit down, Marcos is strolling over to our table and starts asking if we are all Americans. Now I should have mentioned this before but we are a melting pot of tourists. I of course am the lone American, Dan is Irish (whiter than me), Claudia is Mexican (Dan's girlfriend), and Ergys is Albanian. So you can say that we are a pretty diverse group but we all live together in the United Nations building (our apartment building's given name) and a couple of us share the same Portuguese professor. I digress.....Marcos proceeds to spend the entire lunch with us drinking, telling stories, how many countries he's visited and worked in all while giving me about 20-30 punches in the arm. Ergys has a great picture that I'll post later where I am about 20 min into the meal and already annoyed with this guy. He is of course still a typical guy where he would forget all of the guys' names but remembered Claudia's name (shocking) and called Ergys, Elvis. That was pretty funny.
After lunch we headed to the beach to walk around since we'd been sitting for almost 8 or 9 hours already and it was only about 4 pm in the afternoon. We walked around until we found an outdoor restaurant and headed to the beach for some coco water, swimming, and to watch the sunset. It was pretty cool to be in the ocean so far north and you could see all of the freightliners and cargo ships heading south toward Brazil carrying goods. Interesting to me because the company I work for down here imports lots of goods from the US and it was neat to see them all heading into port in the northern part of the country.
After the sunset and some more pictures, we headed to the Centro Historico (Historical City Center) to walk around and take some more pictures. This was really neat and it had a lot of tourist shops, restaurants, live music etc. Not really a whole lot to do and it didn't seem as if a lot of people lived in this area as it was pretty run down and some places looked abandoned. We found a big outdoor restaurant and decided to get some juice and listen to some music before heading back to the hotel for some rest before dinner. This is where I had my first Jesus.....I had been hearing about this drink (Guarana Jesus) as Guarana is a very popular soda in Brazil, it is supposed to have natural energy and taste like cherries. I love it and once I heard about the Jesus I had to try one. This Jesus drink is only available in this northern state where Sao Luis and Lencois is located so I had to try it and lemme tell you it tastes EXACTLY like liquiod bubbel gum and it's pink. You know when we were kids and you put 25 cents in and got a giant gumball? Yep exactly like that except you drink it. Anyway, the running joke for the weekend became 'You need Jesus' followed by handing someone the Jesus drink, and I decided that whenever I bought a Jesus I had to take a picture of it wherever we were or myself drinking it. We have Jesus in Sao Luis, Jesus on a boat, Jesus on the dunes, Jesus in a bottle, Jesus in the airport etc. It was pretty entertaining.
We headed back to the hotel about 8:30 to get a nap in before dinner. When I woke up for dinner, got a shower and when I was brushing my teeth decided to check out the night view from the balcony. When I stepped outside there was a big crowd of people standing around, one guy sitting, and a car with it's front bumper off. As some people came and went I saw the chalk outline of a motorcycle and a body sitting next to the chalk outline. There was also a chalk outline around the body and realized the guy sitting on the ground was straddling the dead persons body, and this was no joke directly in front of our balcony looking at the street. It was pretty nerve racking to say the least and besides seeing a covered dead body on the way to the airport one day, this was my only other time. We couldn't figure out why they wouldn't cover the body or move it out of the way and this went on for a good 30-40 min.
After we were dressed and ready for dinner we got some recommendations from the front desk, hopped in a cab and we were off. The restaurant had live music, good food, and it was on a lake so it was like everything else, all open air and outside. After dinner we wandered around a little bit and wound up at a couple of more bars with live music, danced and finally called it a night around 4 am.
Lencois Maranhenses - You need Jesus (Part II) to come later this weekend
Friday, September 3, 2010
What is up with the Bears.....
I kind of figured it was coming but I am still disappointed over the lack of excitement for the kickoff of the NFL season next weekend. Being surrounded by avid soccer fans I was trying to prepare myself but I am saddened by my lack of excitement for college and NFL. The Hawkeyes play EIU this weekend which hopefully will not be a repeat of last years near upset by UNI where Iowa had to block two field goals to hold on for the win. Since I am heading out of town this weekend I will not be able to watch the game but am hoping that they will be able to pull out the W without my support from 5,000+ miles south.
My first fantasy football draft has been concluded and next week will be spent doing some additional reasearch to see which guys are injured, starting, sitting, and can be claimed off waivers since I haven't looked at my roster since draft night. I've been very disappointed in this supposed 'high power' offense that the Bears have tried to install by bringing on Mike Martz and you'd think with 3 (2 ex and 1 current) head coaches they would be able to get their act together and win AT LEAST one preseason football game, but going 0-4 does not instill a lot of confidence in me that they will be able to be contenders in the NFC North. We've got an aging defense where this could very well be Urlacher's last year and some needed replacements will need to be made on that side of the ball. The Bears hired Mike Tice to coach the offensive line and I know that sometimes when I've had a few beers I think I can do anything (hit .208 what Milton Bradley was hitting for the Cubs last year or catch a football given that I'm 6'4" tall) but this guy was hired to give Jay Culter 3 seconds to get rid of the football. I am so far not as disappointed in the offense as I am with the offensive line of the Bears. You hire a new guy to come in and coach maybe 10 guys to give your 'QB of the Future' 3 seconds to throw the ball and it's no wonder that you are no longer a head coach somewhere.
Anyway, I am in no way an ESPN analyst but it seems that this is all I have been reading about that and how many players the Cubs are calling up because they've given up on this season (I hope Lou's mom is doing well though).
So this post, not too much to do about Brazil. I was at the foundry a couple of days this week working on a project that I am wrapping up today (hopefully) and then went to Sao Paulo for dinner. Somehow my GPS got me lost and I wound up in a bus station parking lot. I really loathe driving in Sao Paulo and it's not the city to get lost in that's for sure. I made it to my destination safely and had a nice dinner at a new restaurant for me. This weekend we have a 4 day weekend since it's Brazil's independence day on Tuesday so the office is closed on Monday as well. Some friends and I are heading to Lencois Maranhenses this weekend so if you don't know where or what Lencois is you MUST google it. The pictures look like nothing I've ever seen and can't wait to head up to the Northeast of Brazil this weekend.
I hope everyone has a great Labor Day, enjoys the last of the summer weather, BBQs, golf, or whatever your plans entail. Also, for those of you still following this blog and that have any interest, I am returning to the states on October 1 for a few weeks to get my new visa and one of my good friends is getting married.
Tchau
Adam
My first fantasy football draft has been concluded and next week will be spent doing some additional reasearch to see which guys are injured, starting, sitting, and can be claimed off waivers since I haven't looked at my roster since draft night. I've been very disappointed in this supposed 'high power' offense that the Bears have tried to install by bringing on Mike Martz and you'd think with 3 (2 ex and 1 current) head coaches they would be able to get their act together and win AT LEAST one preseason football game, but going 0-4 does not instill a lot of confidence in me that they will be able to be contenders in the NFC North. We've got an aging defense where this could very well be Urlacher's last year and some needed replacements will need to be made on that side of the ball. The Bears hired Mike Tice to coach the offensive line and I know that sometimes when I've had a few beers I think I can do anything (hit .208 what Milton Bradley was hitting for the Cubs last year or catch a football given that I'm 6'4" tall) but this guy was hired to give Jay Culter 3 seconds to get rid of the football. I am so far not as disappointed in the offense as I am with the offensive line of the Bears. You hire a new guy to come in and coach maybe 10 guys to give your 'QB of the Future' 3 seconds to throw the ball and it's no wonder that you are no longer a head coach somewhere.
Anyway, I am in no way an ESPN analyst but it seems that this is all I have been reading about that and how many players the Cubs are calling up because they've given up on this season (I hope Lou's mom is doing well though).
So this post, not too much to do about Brazil. I was at the foundry a couple of days this week working on a project that I am wrapping up today (hopefully) and then went to Sao Paulo for dinner. Somehow my GPS got me lost and I wound up in a bus station parking lot. I really loathe driving in Sao Paulo and it's not the city to get lost in that's for sure. I made it to my destination safely and had a nice dinner at a new restaurant for me. This weekend we have a 4 day weekend since it's Brazil's independence day on Tuesday so the office is closed on Monday as well. Some friends and I are heading to Lencois Maranhenses this weekend so if you don't know where or what Lencois is you MUST google it. The pictures look like nothing I've ever seen and can't wait to head up to the Northeast of Brazil this weekend.
I hope everyone has a great Labor Day, enjoys the last of the summer weather, BBQs, golf, or whatever your plans entail. Also, for those of you still following this blog and that have any interest, I am returning to the states on October 1 for a few weeks to get my new visa and one of my good friends is getting married.
Tchau
Adam
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