Largest Dam - Largest Waterfall - incredible

For our last day in Brazil we went to Foz do Iguacu.  It's a city that borders Argentina to south and Paraguay to the west.  The city is a major tourist area because of all the beauty that surrounds it.
We flew in late Tuesday night and went straight to our hotel ($R45 ride by taxi).  Since our flight didn't offer any food we were quite hungry. Our hotel didn't have anything to offer so we took a walk a bit further down the block and found a hostel with people hanging around outside.  It was called Katharina House. The owner, Ruiz, was there and told us the kitchen was closed.... but he'd make us a couple of sandwiches. Sweet!  We enjoyed dinner with some wine and had great conversation with Ruiz (he's from Chile but has been in Foz for several years).  We said our thanks and headed to the hotel to get some sleep... tomorrow would be a busy day.

Dinner at Katherina's

We woke up bright and early, got breakfast (lots of breakfast), checked out of our room, stored our bags, and walked to the bus station. Our first destination was the Itaipu Dam.  Itaipu is a bi-national utility company providing 17% of Brazil's power and 75% of Paraguay's Power. (We're engineers, we love engineering and construction type stuff, so we were excited).  We took the bus about 40 minutes north of town.  Arriving at the visitor center we bought our tickets and headed onto the tour bus that takes you around the site (walking is no option, the area is too big). The tour guide spoke Portuguese, Spanish and English as she discussed everything about the company and the Dam.  It took us about 5 minutes of riding in the bus to finally see the Dam.... and WOW!!!  This thing is HUGE!!!! The dam is located on the Parana River.  The first thing we saw was the spill way (part of the dam that realeases some water to reduce pressure).  The water gushing down was so loud and fast.  The tour guide said that was only 10% of the flow... wow!  After that we took a longer ride around the site and saw the whole thing.  The dam is an engineering marvel and it's difficult to describe just how amazing it is.  I'll just let the pics tell the rest.

One of 3 spillways releasing water

Section of the Dam

The dam has sections that are earth, concrete and natural rock.  

View from top of Dam

After the Dam we wanted to go see the biggest waterfall in the world, Iguacu Falls (Cataratas de Iguacu), which is shared by both Brazil and Argentina. We took the bus back to the terminal and connected to the falls on the south side of town (about an hour on a bus).  At the Dam we'd met some other travelers and one of them wanted to come the falls too. So he joined us. Very Cool.  His name was Filipe, another Chilean we got to meet.  We finally make it to the visitor center and caught the tour bus.  After about 10 minutes we arrived at the access point for the trails at the falls.  We get on the trail and walk through some woods for a while, then suddenly we see... amazing-ness.  WOAH!! LOOK AT THAT!!  ARE YOU SERIOUS!!  So we take a bunch of pics and continue on the trail, expecting to get closer to what we just saw... but oh no... as we walk further... there are more waterfalls! Really? You mean that wasn't it? That was awesome enough but more?  YES, more and even more spectacular as we went along.  The waterfalls were so vast you could point your camera anywhere and find a waterfall.  (good thing it had been raining quite a bit in the days before we arrived.)  We took pics, recorded video, had our jaws dropping around every corner and  praised God for his creativity and might. Then at the end of the trail we came to the "devil's throat".  What an incredible view! See the pics is all I can say.

For those wishing to go to Iguazu on vacation, this is an incredible hotel right at the falls on the Brazil side.

First View of the Falls

More Waterfalls

We were so blessed to be able to have such a wonderful time. The weather was clear, the people we met were so nice, and we could see first hand the power and artistry our Creator has.


After we left the falls we caught the bus back to the hotel (this time one really long hour). We stressed out a bit because our flight was leaving at 7:30pm and it was 6:00pm.  We got a cab when we arrived at the hotel (A huge Thank You to Ruiz (the owner of the hostel up the block) for getting it for us since our hotel staff weren't at all helpful.... If you ever go to Foz do Iguassu and don't mind lodging in a hostel you should go to Katharina House because the service there is awesome... we didn't even stay there and he hooked us up!). Anyhow, the cab came around 6:20.  We thanked Ruiz (a blessing from the Lord) and took off.  The cab driver didn't speak any English, just Portuguese (not us so much, still), Spanish (sort of for us but not enough to have a conversation) and German (say what? where'd you learn German? I know German, better than the other options given anyway).  It was so cool.  I got to speak to this Argentinan cab driver all the way to airport in German.  (You'd be surprised what you remember in the other languages you learned/spoke as a child when you have no other choice.)  We payed him (reals and dollars since we were getting low on our local currency), caught our flight just in time (arrived at 7:00), and head back to Sao Paulo where we connected to Johannesburg, South Africa.  


So, we had a great time in Brazil.  About 3 weeks that felt like so much more.  We loved the people we met. We felt so welcomed and taken care of by everyone.  We learned what it means to be hospitable and generous. What a truly beautiful country!


See you all in South Africa!

Rio - The Pics say it all

Rio de Janeiro is a major metropolis engulfed in natural beauty.  We'll save the words and just let the pics do the talking. Enjoy!

See them on Picasa

Carnaval City - Arrival

 So we landed in world renowned Rio de Janeiro.  We’d been looking forward to this visit for some time. Good thing we already had reservations for a hostel to stay at… or actually we don’t have any reservations at all and have been praying our faces off for a miracle.  (If you ever want to visit Rio in January, you need to make reservations in advance if you want any kind of choice of where to stay.)  Yeah, throughout our trip in Brazil we’d been looking and looking at all manner of websites to find a hostel to make a reservation in Rio.  Everything was booked.  No Vacancy. No Availability. No Place for you to Rest your Head.  So, as usual, we figured that we’d wing it. Surely the websites can’t have the most current information.

So yes, we arrive in Rio and wonder what in the world we’re going to do. We could catch a cab to…. (Where would we go?)  Oh, maybe we just rent a car and drive around to find something (Um...maybe not.) We grab our bags off the carousel and head to the exit. We head out and what do we see before us.  A 6’3” dude holding a sign with our names on it, that’s what.  WHAT!!! He took us out to a car where another guy was tapping numbers into his cell phone and greeted us with a smile. PRAISE THE LORD!!!  Freddy, our new friend in Brasilia, had called ahead to find some brothers that could help us out.  We were, to be honest, completely surprised. It was 6am.  (How many of you would, honestly, drive to the airport, to pick up someone you don’t know, knowing that the reason they needed a ride was that they failed to plan? I don’t know about you guys, but I’d really struggle with that.) But that’s what they did. We need to give a HUGE thank you to Hercules and Alexandre for waking up extra early (on their vacation) to come pick us up and help us find a place. Alexandre is the lead Evangelist of the Rio de Janiero International Church of Christ and Hercules is helping with the teen ministry there. They took us in the car and made all manner of phone calls to hostel after hostel, trying to find a place for us. They treated us to breakfast. They drove us to the church office so we could get online to find more phone numbers to call.   When we found one that would work they spoke to the receptionist and worked out a place for us.  Then Hercules took us in a taxi (Alexandre had to leave to get ready for his own flight) to the hostel and took care of the fare.  (HOSPITALITY – that’s the biggest thing we’ve learned from this trip, God has shown us this over and over again. Wow.)

So we got to the hostel, Café Rio.  It is really, really nice.  The woman at the front desk, Marcia, was soooo sweet. We were quite exhausted from our trip and the adrenaline we had as we frantically looked for somewhere to stay had died off. But, though we were grateful to have a place to stay, we knew we could not afford to stay more than 1 night ($R110). We needed something closer to what we paid in Sao Paulo (wishful thinking at the last minute, but hey, God can do it.) So we hop on the internet again and look for another hostel nearby for our remaining nights in Rio.  We walk across town (1 hour), after stopping for some arroz com frango e churrasca and some water. (If you really want to take in the full scope of a city you really should walk, in my opinion.)  We’d found another hostel called Vila Carioca Hostel.  The cost was right up our ally ($R70/night).  But, there were no more mixed dorms available, at least not for both of us to be in the same room.  So we bit the bullet and chose to split up, me in the male dorm, and Mu in the female dorm.  We decide to head back to hostel #1, picking up some groceries on the way, took a shower and slept.  What an exciting and draining first day in Rio de Janeiro we had!

Our Room in Cafe Rio

Walking the Streets of Rio

All the sidewalks have some sort of Pattern

Palacia Guanabara (government building)

They built everything on the rock

A preview of the things we would see :)

Old Friends and New Places - Brasilia

So after Sao Paulo we headed to Brasilia, it was Monday, Jan 16.  After a quick layover in Belo Horizonte we arrived.  We are met by my good friend John Hoyt and my new good friend Frederico Batista.  John and I were in the campus ministry together at the University of Florida, we were roommates, and he actually studied the Bible with me and baptized me.  We have a lot of history together. As life went on though we both went in different directions.  He and his wife, Kay, went into the full time ministry in Florida while I moved to Atlanta.  It had been about 4 years since we'd last seen one another.  So it was a great reunion.  He and his family arrived in Brasilia a few days earlier. They will be working with the church in Brasilia, helping the campus ministry.

So Freddy takes us to his home, where we will be staying for the next couple of nights, and we all sit down to eat and chat all night. We are very grateful for Freddy and his wife Nubia for their hospitality and generosity.  They took great care of us while we were visiting. And, speaking Good English, they taught us some good Brazilian Portuguese.  Oi Tudo bem which means Hi, how are you. You hear this a lot in conversations in Brasilia.

The next day we'd planned to hang with John and his family and a few other disciples in the church to take a tour of the city.  Brasilia is the capitol of Brazil with a population of about 3 million.  We checked out the national cathedral, the plaza of the three powers (congress, supreme court, president... like the US).  We saw the President's home. We stopped by a popular bridge.  One of the more interesting things was at the plaza. There is an underground museum showing the history of the city.  Brasilia is a new city, established in the 1950's.  The Brazilian government decided that it would move the capitol from Rio de Janeiro... I don't remember why.  Anyhow, the city was designed completely before construction by one designer.  If you look at it on a map it looks like an airplane with one center section and two wings.  In each of the wings there are quadrants that were made to be self sustaining (you have residences, shopping centers, banks, medical care...etc. everything you'd need so you don't need to go too far for what you need.) It's funny though because each quadrant looks very much the same, so if you were lost, .you wouldn't know it.  The city is built entirely on a grid starting from the center.  So, perhaps if you know what street you were on you would be able to get around.
There wasn't really much else to the city, but the reason we wanted to visit Brasilia was to encourage John and Kay and the church.  We spent our whole time with them.  Helped them get settled into their new apartment and just hung out.

Scale Model of Brasilia

President's House

Anna, Rita Hoyt, me, John, Maya, and Kay Hoyt

John the Apostle, John Hoyt III, John Hoyt IV

Brasilia National Cathedral

Brasilia Government Buildings

Wednesday was an awesome day.  After meeting up at their new apartment and playing with their kids, Maya and John IV, John and I took off for the University of Brasilia.  We met up with two of the campus ministry students (well, the two campus ministry students) Pedro and Hamilton.  We were having Bible Talk (small group Bible study) on campus, Bate Papo (Ba chee Pah po) in Portuguese.  How exciting! I haven't been to one of these in years.  We walked on campus, invited some folks, set up some desks and had a lesson.  Pedro led the discussion about the character of Jesus.  It was great. Two other students joined in on the conversation.  Oh, it was all in Portuguese, but John translated so I could understand what's happening and could contribute to the discussion. COOL!  In the evening there was a midweek church service. This particular Wednesday the church met in small groups so we met with married couples at one of their homes.  John gave the message that all things are possible when you have faith.  He spoke in English, but another brother translated for the rest of the group in Portuguese.  We made many more friends that night and talked and talked and talked.
We are so grateful to have been able to spend time with the church in Brasilia.  We felt such love, warmth and hospitality (lessons we plan to incorporate into our lives).

Bate Papo "Bible Talk" (Pedro, me, John, Hamilton)

After service we headed back to Freddy and Nubia's and got ready for our 5am flight.
Next up, Rio de Janiero!

Ciao Sao Paulo

So to sum up for our visit to Sao Paulo, we really had a great time.  When had no plan, no place to stay, no idea what we were in for, but God took great care of us.  We prayed and watched great things unfold for us there.  We just went in faith and doors opened up for us.  And yeah it was great to see the city and some of the historic sites and touristy things, the thing we enjoyed the most was the people we got to meet.

First off were the people we met with Okupe Hostel.  The staff was kind and patient with us.  They tought us some basic Portuguese.  Bom Dia!  They were our source of all sorts of information about the city. So we give them an A+ for service.

Okupe - Our SP Home

Secondly we really loved meeting the other travelers staying in Okupe.  We met Brazilians, Colombians, Israelis and a Dane.  We had great conversation in the kitchen with many of them. The Brazilians gave some great tips like how to ask for medicine, how the phone system in SP works, what foods we needed to try, good stuff.  The Israelis (there were quite a number of them at this hostel, just traveling through) were telling us about their treks throughout North, Central, and South America. That's when we realized we're not the only ones going on extended trips to foreign lands.  The Dane was our roommate, Lars.  He was great to talk to. He's studying to become a Portuguese translator and is also quite interested in the English language as well.  It was nice talking about all manner of things with him through our stay at Okupe.  We felt like we learned so much from the travelers and realized that as we travel along we'll meet some other newbie travelers that we can help out too.

Lastly we were very much impacted by the church in SP.  They are a huge church so they meet in smaller groups. We met with the Sector Metro Sul group, closest to Vila Mariana.  We looked them up on Disciples Today and mapped the location.  As soon as we got close to the meeting place (a small banquet hall) we knew we'd found it. Hugs all around, women talking outside with that love that is hard to describe.  We come in and hear the singing. We get hugs, get ushered to the front and they found a brother that knows English to sit us next to for translations (that's Biblical friends: look in Corinthians for interpreting tongues.) His name was Klecio.  He translated the whole service for us. We sang songs in Portuguese thanks to a song book that was handed to us. We actually tried to sing the words (no watermelons here) but we kept the volume low.  The message was about Jesus coming back.  I forget the name of the brother who shared the message but he wouldn't let us forget, Jesus Is Coming Back.  Afterwards Klecio introduced us to his family and another English speaker, Liliana.  We all piled into Klecio's car, He and his wife in the front, Liliana, Mu and myself in the backseat, and Klecio's two lovely little girls in back (it was a station wagon of sorts).  They took us to this great place to eat and we just talked, and talked and talked and talked.  It was great meeting them, being encouraged by them and having the opportunity to encourage them as well.  Our brothers and sisters in Sao Paulo truly know what it means to be hospitable.  

Friends we made in Sao Paulo

We are so grateful for God's plan in allowing us to learn so much in just a short 7 day stay in SP.  Next up Brasilia.

Goodbye Sao Paulo!!

Avenida Paulista & Liberdarde

We really did have a lot of free time in Sao Paulo so we had to find ways to fill the time.  After being there for a few days we were looking for some good social interaction with local folks.  We joined a group called couchsurfers which allows you to meet other people from around the world.  Some people offer couchsufing members a place to sleep in their own home be it a room or just a couch.  Some members don't really want to have random strangers in their home but would love to meet for coffee.  And so we requested a couchsufer who lives in Sao Paulo to meet us for coffee.  He suggested meeting at Avenida Paulista. So we head out, walking on França Pinto and turned down one of the streets we hadn't taken before.  Also, a side mission, we'd been looking online for another hostel to stay at to experience another part of town and hopefully save some of our cash (hostels don't usually take debit/credit).  So on our walk we see a hotel that seemed to be in a nice area.  We looked inside and saw the prices were actually better than Okupe. We talk to the receptionist and ask her to make sure the price is per room and not per person.  Then we ask to see the room. (alarms should be going off in my mind, but it was cheaper.) We get to the room and see two towels folded nicely on the bed.... with red letters embroidered on the ends. (hmm, that's nice...I guess). The bed was pretty big, enough for the two of us (remember we'd been in bunks for a whole week). We check out the bathroom (this is when things went awry). First off, there was a window that opened to the hallway... then the bathroom was extremely small. And more than that the shower was in a corner squeezed between the toilet and the sink... really, if you took a shower the water would get all over since there was no enclosure let alone a curtain. Then I turn back into the bedroom and notice on the wall above the bed a mirror, a huge mirror, with a sandblasted image of.... OMG, Muthoni, we need to get out of here, Now.  I knew something about this place just wasn't right.  The fact that this is a pretty nice neighborhood but security to get into this place was extreme.  The receptionist was behind a dark tinted glass with no hole to speak through.  There was a drop box, like at a bank where you open it, drop your money and closed it to the other side to pay. And there was a heavy iron gate to get past the receptionist.  Oh, and you can pay to stay for just 3 hours.... yeah, I wanted to bleach my shoes for just touching the floor.... ewwww.

So we continue to Avenida Paulista.  The area reminds me of 17th street near Atlantic Station in Atlanta. Wide sidewalks, tall buildings, pretty clean, lots of people. Even guys on their long boards skating around. We try to find a cafe that we can meet this guy, but we need to find Wifi to check our messages.  We find wifi and get a message from him saying that he had to cancel. Oh well. We've seen enough so we catch the metro to another part of town called Liberdade.

Entrance to the Gardens (closed)

 

The Streets of Liberdade (stark difference from rest of SP)

We found that Liberdade has a high Japanese population. Even the architecture in some places looks Japanese.  There was an outdoor market going on and almost everything on sale was Japanese. Wow, cool. They had origami decorations, exquisite paper lanterns, little figurines, and some clothing. (a small sample of Japan before we actually get there.) A friend at the hostel recommended the sushi in this part of town, but when we saw the prices we decided that it would be better to just grab some veggies from the market.  Also, we were intrigued by the fact that McD's was right in the heart of this place so we peaked insided...

Jaw Dropping... after the conversion this meal is about $12

Hustling, Bustling City with a View

View of Sao Paulo from Benespa

On Friday we took the train to Sao Bento Station and emerged into the heart of what we’d call downtown Sao Paulo. Wow, this is one busy place.  People just rushing out from the subway into the streets. As with many downtowns this area has many local and international banks, the stock exchange, the federal buildings, etc. (think Wall Street).  As we head into the thick of things we find that there are a few blocks that are open to pedestrians only.  So we walk between the buildings looking all around.  The banks have those gigantic iron clad doors that make you think the Nephelim once lived here.  There are lots of vendors and bootleg hawkers along the way touting their goods which vary from toys to the latest faux handbags, food, bottles of water, clothing etc.  There is also live entertainment from people looking to make some money for the day singing traditional songs, dancing, telling jokes (I think that’s what they were doing), or just playing various instruments.  You truly can’t get bored in this city.  All over Sao Paulo you will find natural juice bars. These vendors make smoothies with all kinds of fruits – many which we have never heard of.  Of course we indulged in the famous Acai which is often mixed with banana.  Truly scrumptious!  In most neighborhoods a smoothie costs about R$3.80.

Sao Paulo is easily navigated by bus and train

We head to the 2nd tallest building in Sao Paulo – Banespa.  This building houses the Bank of Sao Paulo and looks like the Empire State Building in NYC. We tried to visit the day before but got there too late: tours stop at 3pm. So this time we decided to be extra early, so we get there at 2:45pm (lol, that’s how we do it, waiting to the near last minute – perhaps by the end of this trip we’ll learn that it really is a good idea to show up early)   Anyhow, though there was a long line of tourists waiting we made it in.  We actually ran into an American with his Brazilian wife and brother in law (PTL, someone we can speak English to). They tell us a bunch of useful stuff about Sao Paulo and all of Brazil.  They recommended food we should try, restaurants we should check out, places to visit, etc. Well, we finally hop on the elevator (only 15 people were allowed at a time)  and took it to the 25^th floor where we got off and took another elevator, which took us to the 32^nd floor (only 10 people allowed at a time… we moved to the front of the line J) . Then we climbed 5 flights of stairs to the waiting room and then took another spiral stair up to the main deck (if you come to Sao Paulo you’d better have some walking shoes).  When we got to the observation deck, we were awed by the panoramic view of the city of Sao Paulo.  All around this incredible city are “millions” of tall buildings, most of which appear to be condos.  You can also see how the city keeps spreading for miles and miles out toward the mountains. Wow.  Unfortunately, we could only view the city for a strict 5 minutes so you have to take pictures quickly. I just turned on the video camera and circled the deck so we could capture the full scope of Sao Paulo. (I’d been to the top of the Empire State and I’d have to say this one definitely wins out over that.) 


From there we made our way down a few blocks to Mercado Municipal de São Paulo through the dense foot traffic and steep sidewalks. The Municipal Market was amazing.  The bright colors and aromas keep you walking through the market.  There were so many fruit stands, all with perfect fruit.  Cheese, nuts, wines, meats, spices and vegetables are all sold here.  I’ve never seen so many variations of olives. After wandering around for a bit and failing to find tomatoes for dinner we decide it’s time to eat.

Municipal Market 

We went to an upstairs foodcourt where there are a number of restaurants that are just packed with people.  That American couple recommended that we try a “Pastel”.  This is a Brazilian pastry filled with meet or cheese.  So we find a restaurant, go to the window to order the food (have another terrifying/disasterous Portuguese exchange… still worked out in the end.) We ordered a Pastel that was filled with cod ($R12/each).  Then Mu goes and grabs a table for us and I wait for our number to be called. The place was packed so after standing for like 10 minutes one of the servers asks me for our order number and tells me to go ahead and sit, he’ll bring it over.  We go ahead and chow down… the crust was nice and flakey like a pie crust – (delicious), the filling was, eh, so so.  We take off from there, find our tomatoes and head home.

Pastels before and after

The day we got turned down from entering Banespa we walked down the street a few blocks to find the Catedral da Sé de São Paulo. This cathedral is the largest church in Sao Paulo and has a capacity for 8,000 people.  We have to walk through a park to get there where you see all sorts of business types getting their shoes shined (saw a lot of that in SP, High Fashion for sure.) We went into the cathedral and it’s pretty magnificent. It has high vaulted ceilings, huge carved columns, rows and rows of pews, detailed glass work and carvings and alters of all sorts around the perimeter. We sit and take pictures and just soak in the architecture. 

Sé Cathederal with amazing architecture and art pieces

That’s pretty much our downtown experience.  A little overwhelming for me because of all the people, but there are a lot of interesting things to see.  

Next time, walking to Jarim-Paulista and Japan meets Sao Paulo.

Fumbling Our Way Through...

So we’re at Okupe Hostel, feeling good about our hostel choice.   We have access to the internet, breakfast, and friendly travelers to talk to.  The area we’re staying at is called Vila Mariana.  It’s a nice neighborhood in Sao Paulo. It’s got pretty much everything we’d need, restaurants, grocery stores, mini markets, banks, post office, pharmacy… those basic things.  It’s a pretty clean place too, good roads, and the people are kind.  We still resort to our sign language to get ourselves around, 40% success rate I’d say in communication, awesome!   There are two major roads that we walk around Domingos and Franca Pinto. Domingos is really busy, that’s where the buses run, the gas stations are and, of course, McDonalds! (We will not be eating at any of these, in case you were concerned).  We use that street mainly for the super market. Franca Pinto has become one of our favorite streets in Vila Mariana.  It’s a lot slower, lots of people just strolling around, there are many high-rise condos, and we’ve found nice little cafés, a decent market where we can buy bottled water and veggies.  Some of the well-known sites we visited include Parque Ibirapuera (Ibirapuera Park) and the Obelisk.

Condo Central

Homes on Franca Pinto

The walk to the park was 3.8km from our Hostel, so we got to see a lot of this area of SP.  Walking down the street you realize that SP is incredibly diverse. There are all ranges of skin tone, face shape, hair texture…etc. And from what we've seen everyone seems to get along great! So refreshing! So yeah, we too can pass as Brazilians.  Anyhow, so we make it to park (faking some Portuguese to get there).  This park is about the size of Piedmont Park in Atlanta.  Actually built within the park are several Museums. There’s a lake, walking paths, playgrounds, bicycle rentals, big trees to chill under, and of course, plenty of people enjoying it. We spent about an hour there taking pictures and what not. While we were in the park we heard drummers playing, possibly from a Samba school (everyone’s getting ready for Carnival season).  Across the street from the park is a huge obelisk that  was closed to public.  I believe it is the biggest monument in the city and is a symbol of the Constitutionalist Revolution that occurred in 1932.

View of Sao Paulo

Mural at the Museum of Modern Art

Oca Auditorium which holds art exhibits

Parque Ibirapuera

As Muthoni’s cold was not getting any better and her voice was showing no sign of coming back (it’s been 4 days), we decided to go to the pharmacy for some medicine.  On Wednesday night at about 8pm we walk up to Domingos Rd which has several pharmacies. When we get onto the street, we find every single store either closing their doors (security grills and all) or already closed… it’s only 8:15 (I guess we can’t assume everywhere has a 24-hr CVS! Lol!).  So yeah, we go back “home” and try the next day. You don’t need a prescription for what the U.S. calls over the counter medicine but you have to ask the pharmacist for it. Rats!!! This means we have to talk. So out comes our great Portuguese thanks to the app on our iPod.  Eu precisoso xarope. (I need cough medicine.) We would have been fine if he just handed us the stuff, but he started asking questions… Muthoni and I look at each other dumbfounded.  And I looked at the ipod hoping that it would generate some answers.  The other pharmacy workers behind the counter look at us with that “what are these guys doing?” look. How in the world are we going to get medicine if we can’t answer them.  Finally the guy switches to Spanish “Fumar?” He says. Oh. Okay. I think we’re getting somewhere Mu.  “No fumar.”  “Just tosse (cough)”.  I think he realizes that anything specific isn’t going to get across so he goes in the back and grabs a generic cough medicine explains to us the dossage. Okay, great.  Then we ask for a specific brand of cough syrup (recommended by one of our friendly hostel buddies).  That was supposed to be easy, but then… he asked us another question… Aye dios mio, we don’t understand… then we catch the word limon (the other pharm workers are laughing at the guy helping us… “Limon? Ha ha ahahaha!”  I guess that’s not Portuguese, but to us, ha, we know what that is.  Then he repeats “Limon? Minta?”  Minta please.  Praise the Lord we found we needed.  “Abrigado (thank you)”, we say.  “Muy dia (good day)”, he replies.   And that’s that.

I also went to post office to send a package that I’d brought for one of my bros who lives in Brazil.  What a disaster.  I get there, approach the counter.  This time I was prepared with the translator listing all the important things I’d need to say at the post office.  “Can you help me?” “I need to send this package.” “Can I use this box?” “I want to send it at the lowest cost.” “How much does it cost?”  Yeah, no bueno here either.  Soon as I put my package on the counter she disappears behind the counter and and reappears with packaging paper. She says a bunch of stuff that I take to understand as “You can’t send that box like that.  You need to wrap it. Here’s the paper, here’s the tape, and here are the scissors. You can wrap it over there.”  (We’d found the box on one of our walks along Franco Pinto... on garbage pick up day J).  So I take the paper and wrap up the box. Then I return to the counter (same girl because I feel comfortable that she realizes I need help and is willing to do so.)   She starts asking me questions…. (Aye, the questions! Why are there always questions I don’t have a clue how to answer.)  I respond with what I think works, “No frango Portuguese.”  In my mind I’m saying “I don’t speak Portuguese.”  She looks at me like “You don’t have a clue.” Yeah, that was way WRONG.  Frango means chicken. (I didn’t realize what I’d said until I got back home.)   Then she starts pointing in directions … I think that means out… oh, “where am I sending it?”  Yeah, here’s the address... where do I write it?  I show her the address and she point to the top of the box. So I write the address.  “Nome?”  Oh, right, Hugo.   Then she points at me and flips the box over (nothing fragile, no worries) and points to the box… Okay, that must be my return address… (good thing I grabbed the address of the Hostel, my home away) put it down.  Then she puts in the scale and it reads 2kg.  She takes out a tape measure and measures the length, width and height (I think that’s the girth? – see Brian Regan’s sketch on girth, I’m chuckling as I write this… ha ha ha… measure that girth.) Anyhow, she takes all those numbers down on slip of paper, goes to a computer and computes.  She comes back and shows me a number $R56.something (that’s Reals, pronounced “Hay – eyes”.  No, no, no… (lowest cost, what’s the lowest cost).  That $R56 was for next day.  There was another number $R21.90.  7days.  Okay, yes that one.  And just for good measure I show her the iPod where it says “Send at the lowest cost.”  I hand her $R25, she does that universal “hold on” gesture and she takes off to the back with my package and cash.  She was taking a while so I look around the post office. Other customers sending packages, workers working, guard standing on the wall behind the counter with some sort of body shield he’s standing behind with a pistol on his waist.  “Woah, I’d better not trip in here, no telling what I look like making all sorts of gestures, looking somewhat frustrated, sending a package. Could be lights out.”  Anyhow, she comes back gives me my change and says “abrigado.”  Yes, abrigado… Abrigado, abrigado, abrigado.  Then I pull out my walkie talkie and contact Mu (yes, I said walkie talkie!). “All Clear. I’m coming back.” 

Neighborhood.  Not many homes have garages so lots of street parking.