The Best Laid Travel Plans

Yesterday the newspapers were full of stories about poor on-time performance of most major airlines. No one mentioned Tulsa, Ok. But my friend Murph has been sitting in the Tulsa, OK airport for about nine hours. Her flight to Phoenix was supposed to take off at five thirty this evening. We had dinner plans and then were getting up early to drive to San Diego where seven other college friends are waiting to celebrate our fortieth anniversary of graduation. Looks like they will have to wait a little longer. She has boarded a plane about two hours ago. Unfortunately, the pilot had become 'illegal' with all the delays. So they 'un-boarded' sat down to wait. Another pilot is on his way form Tuscaloosa. The hope is that she will arrive in the wee hours of tomorrow.

The latest:
Flight Status Information
Departure Date: Thursday, October 8, 2009
Flight Number: 34
City Scheduled
Time Estimated
Time Current
Status Gate
Departure Tulsa (TUL) 05:45 PM 01:15 AM Boarding 57
Arrival Phoenix (PHX) 06:25 PM Delayed C7

Only delayed by eight hours. So far.

More About Brazil

The topic of ice cream in Brazil needs more explanation and if I was wise, I would open a sorvecharia here in Phoenix. Getting ice cream is self service. You choose the size of your bowl and then move from freezer case to freezer case scooping out however much you want - mixing and matching the flavors. Toppings are also available. The weigh it and you pay - and it is a bargain compared to American ice cream - a moderate sized bowl with two or three scoops costs less that three dollars. There are at least forty flavors - the standards like chocolate and strawberry - morango, pistache, lemon, chocolate chip, but there are lots of others like Romeo and Julieta which is made from guava and cheese. It sounds bad, but it is really pretty good. I had it more than once. They have caipirhina - which is actually better than the drink - at least for me. There were also lots of flavors from the various fruits and several with coconut mixed in. After you purchase your ice cream, you can sit inside or outside at small tables and enjoy.

Campinas, where Lindemberg lives, was originally home to tobacco barons and there are many beautiful old houses tucked in between the high rises. Most of them are no longer private homes, but offices or restaurants. We went to one last Saturday and it was very beautiful. The house had been coverted well and we enjoyed seeing it. But the real show-stopper was the food. Different areas of the restaurant were set up as buffets. One had about twenty kinds of salads, some recognizable, some mysterious. I liked the quail eggs which were very tiny and hard boiled and mozzarella balls which were fried. Talk about calories! There were choices of meat, steak, salmon with shrimp, my favorite picanha, chicken with cheese sauce. Another area had sushi. Toward the middle of the room, there was a table with eight large black cauldrons. They contained different parts of the feijoada - which is made of black beans and pork - ears, tail, feet, bacon, pork ribs, two types of smoked sausage and jerked beef - loin and tongue. I passed on this but David and Lindemberg had a plateful. There was also a table of desserts - my favorite - dulce de leite - made from milk and sugar that are cooked until the mixture carmelizes. It is the typical dessert of Minais Gerais - which is Monica's home state and her home made version of it was better than the restaurant's. We ate an enormous amount that day, at a leisurely pace and thoroughly enjoyed it. Dining out in Brazil is about half the price of dining out in the US.

Before I left, I offered to bring back Brazilian bikinis for anyone who wanted them but we American women are much less comfortable with our bodies. We saw all shapes, sizes and ages on bikinis on the beach - with all the lumps and bumps on display. The bikinis are quite small but no one seems the lest concerned about coverage! How different cultures can be!

We had a wonderful time in Brazil - it thoroughly exceeded our expectations. Monica and Lindemberg were wonderful hosts and did everything they could to make our stay memorable. We were sad to leave, but our visas are good for five years, so we hope to travel there again.
Tchau!

Rainy Day In Sao Paulo

It is easy to understand why all the best Brazilian race car drivers come from São Paulo after a day in the city. The drivers there dodge and weave and won´t give an inch. It is all complicated by the ´bike boys´- men on small motorbikes who deliver documents, food and just generally spend the time weaving in and out of the frantic traffic, pulling in front of cars that are going sixty miles an hour and sliding up in between rows of stalled traffic. Lindemberg says they are necessary to the econonomy, and also, they help by being frequent organ donors.
We had to cross the Tropic of Capricorn when we drove from Campinas to São Paulo - and there is actually a sign that marks the spot. We went first to Avenida Paulista -one of the major streets for business. It was very modern and would fit in with any big city. We walked around the MASP - the art museum of Sao Paulo which is a modern builing suspended in the air on four red columns, really a striking building.
It was starting to sprinkle rain, but Lindemberg assured us that it would be a light rain called "garoa" that is common this time of year. We entered the subway - again modern and much like those in Paris and London. The maps in the wall looked almost the same with the colored lines headed in different directions. Many of the stops are named for famous Brazilians.
We walked for a while after the subway and found the large city central market. It was remarkable - stalls with things hanging and piled everywhere. It was crowded but we managed to get a table and eat the traditional mortadela sandwhich. It had about three inches of a spiced ham interspersed with melted cheese on a crispy french roll. It was delicious but so filling that there was no room left for all the beautiful desserts that were on offer around the market.
Unfortunately, when we left the market, the "garoa" that Lindemberg promised us turned into a pelting rainstorm. Thank goodness for entrepreneurs. At the door of the market, a man was selling a 2 1/2 by 2 1/2 inch packet - for only $1.25. It was a clear plastic Brazilian raincoat which had a hood, and long sleeves and reached below the knees. Thus attractively garbed, we slogged off into the storm through packed streets, past the open air market that was very busy, past historical buildings to the monastery and church of St. Benedict. The monks have been there since the 1600s, and they bake very good bread to raise money. Of course, we bought some.
Back to the subway to the Catedral da Sé - the large cathedral in the exact center of São Paulo. It has a large dome like St. Peter´s and flying buttresses like Notre Dame - quite an amazing sight. Directly in front of the cathedral was a marker that indicated the exact center of São Paulo. Very beautiful despite the rain.
Back to the subway to the car with a brief stop at a chocolate shop for sustenance to help us manage the traffic - which was even worse on the way back - as it was Friday and the end of the workday.
Before we left the city, we drove by the city park which was enormous, with lakes and ponds and paths and trees. Very beautiful. It front of the park, there is an obelisk and an enormous sculpture that depicts the Bandeirantes - the early explorers who first went into the interior of the country.
Lindemberg gave us a nice sampling of Sao Paulo - the city that never sleeps- despite the rain. Tchau!

Life in Campinas

A little bit about daily life in Campinas. Monica and Lindemberg live in a high rise apartment in Campinas on the tenth floor. There are two elevators and one stairway which is only used in case of fire. The have a large apartment with a living room - dining room combination, kitchen, playroom, large utility room and four bedrooms, each with its own bath. There are small balconies off of each bedroom and a large balcony that curves around the living room which has floor to ceiling windows. All the balconies are covered completely on the outside with netting for safety with the kids and the cat. The cat is a Persian that Lindemberg loves and that Monica wants to send to the country to live with her parents in Minais Gerais. That is the running joke - the cat wants her freedom.
The neighborhood - Cambuie - is very nice - with everything they need in walking distance - including Monica´s office. Starbucks is even across the street. There are cafes and sorvecherias (ice cream places) and many, many drogerias - drug stores - two on every street. Like Walgreens, they carry things like milk and baby food so people are in and out of them all the time. There are also boutiques which are very expensive. There are parks every few blocks. Yesterday, we walked to one which was full of parents and children as it was a holiday.
The grocery store is very interesting with lots of fruit that we did not recognize. There are many good kinds of bread that are tempting. Soda and beer come in singles not in six or twelve packs. There is an area where you can buy prepared food and bring it home - which we did yesterday, fish, eggplant, and mixed vegetables. The prices are about half of what we pay in the US for fruit and vegetables. Most of the fruit that we know is much sweeter, especially the bananas. The have lots of flowers at the grocery, and prices are less than half of what we would pay. The very best thing about the grocery store is that there is a special shorter line for old people like me.
The big meal here is eaten at noon with a lighter meal at night. It is mostly a Mediterranean type of diet. The problems come with dessert. Monica made dulce de leche which was amazing. Frequently, at night, Lindemberg goes out for ice cream. He asks everyone what flavor they would like - I favor morango - strawberry. Everyone chooses something different. He comes back with a round styrofoam container with all the different scoops of ice cream nestled inside. No leftovers to tempt us.
Yesterday we went to the bookstore at the mall. The only thing that made it different from the US was that some of the signs were in Portuguese, but not McDonalds or Starbucks.
The kids have been great. Thiago is a very good little boy who loves video games but loves more to have a friend come over to play. He is amazingly affectionate to his sister and learning English through his Pokeman game. Fernanda is a charmer. She smiles all the time and does not mind traveling or being hauled around from place to place. She is just starting to walk, and jabbers continually. Her favorite words are ´que´ which means ´want´- because her parents ask her that often, and `Chi´which in the first syllable of her brother´s name.
Today we are headed to Sao Paulo when Lindemberg comes back from checking his patients at the hospital. Monica has gone to work. The nanny will be taking care of the kids while we are gone. She is a very nice older woman, Neuce, who clearly loves the kids.
We are very relaxed and enjoying our time here and - before our visas expire - may meet them again in a more northern part of Brazil. Tchau!

The Story of Motels - Brazilian Style

Starting with our original drive from the airport and on the drive from IlhaBela, we saw many, many motels with exotic names like Fire Nights Motel or Arabian Fantasy Motel. Turns out that that are quite different from Motel 6 and the Holiday Inn. In Brazil, motels are used solely for the purpose of meeting for sex. They are designed to meet any fantasy with round beds and mirrored ceilings and decorated in the theme of the name. They can be rented overnight during the week but for shorter periods during the weekend when the demand is high. The cost ranges from $20 for the cheapest to $50 for the fanciest ones which might even include a pool table and a jacuzzi. So when you visit Brazil, head for the pousada or the hotel unless you are looking for excitement. Tchau!

IlhaBela

Preparing to travel with a one year old is a little like preparing for the D-Day invasion. But Monica had everything well in hand and we left in two cars for the drive to Ilha Bela, an island off the coast of Brazil. For the first couple of hours, we could have been in New England with rolling hills, covered in trees. The only difference was the occasional village - always with the church poised on the highest part of the hill.
The second part of the trip was a road that was like the road to Panajachel times ten. It started in the mountains with fog crouching over the road, and wound down, around and back again for about forty five minutes. The easy curves were ninety degrees, but a turn to the right was almost always followed by a turn to the left - and then a series of 180s. It was mildly terrifying in the daylight.
We took a short car ferry ride to the island - which has the last part of virgin Atlantic forest mixed with palm and banana trees and tropical flowers. The roads are all cobbled and on every side there are´pousadas´- (guesthouses) and open air restaurants. Tiny picturesque beaches hide around every curve, and since we arrived during the Rolex regatta, crowds of sailboats raced from one end of the island to the other. Every little beach has its own restaurant, and as you loll on the beach, someone brings you Coke zero, Atlantico or Itipava beer, or my new favorite - Guarana zero. We ate all kinds of interesting things, but the piece de resistance was the calderata - a black cauldron filled with things from the sea - fish, squid, octupus. Lindemberg would not tell me what they were until I had already eaten them. But it was excellent to sit on the wooden deck with a thatched roof overhead, eat calderata and watch the sea.
We spent the days eating on the beach, and the nights eating in the town. David will have to carry me home in a wheelbarrow. The kids loved the beach and Nanda would crawl like a little crab right into the water. Thiago was more adventurous and he and David played some adaptation of soccer in the water.
We hated to leave IlhaBela, and so we did not get on to the ferry until five - and got to ride the mountain road in the dark. How twisted was the road? Well, the moon kept changing sides, first in my right, then on my left, then back to the right, then in the rear view mirror. Terrifying.
We had a great four days on Ilha Bela and recommend it. Tchau.

Around Rio

Yesterday morning started with a trip to Ipanema. Cab? Bus? Or something else. We chose the something else - a van with a pretty good looking guy hanging out the window and waving. We leaped in - the stop is pretty quick and you have to move fast. Despite dire warnings, we lost no major organs and were deposited right where we wanted to be - Ipanema beach. Unfortunately, I believed the books that said it was too cold to swim in the winter and did not bring a bathing suit, so we waded in and David got soaked. The morning was a success as he saw several of the vaunted ´dental floss´ bikinis but the thrill passed quickly as some of the buns were not worth looking at.
We took in the National History Museum and the center of town in the afternoon, a street fair in the evening and David ate fezuouada - the traditional Brazilian bean and meat stew. The waitress actually had to pull up a second table to serve it from a round iron pot. He liked it - but I stuck with chicken - which describes my attitude toward unusual food exactly.
Today we went into the mountains to Petropolis - the summer home of the emperors of Brazil. We visited the Imperial Palace which had the shiniest wooden floors you ever could see. Why? Because, as the throngs entered the museum, a guard puts a pair of slippers over your shoes. The bottom of the slippers was made of a chamois-like fabric and the effect of wearing them was a lot like ice skating. I was hoping to pick up a dozen pair in the gift shop for use at my house, but, alas, they did not sell them. The ride down the curvas peligosas (new Portuguese for me)in fog and rain was a little frightening, but we comforted ourselves by eating the candy we bought at the obligatory tour shop stop - a chocolate factory.
Time to go for a night time wander along Copacabana - they have kiosks every hundred feet that sell beer and these great limon ice creams. Everybody is happy!

Rio, Rio, Rio

It was with some trepidation that we left the easy life in Campinas and headed to Rio. I realized that this is the first time I have traveled somewhere that I am not at least familiar with the language and the idea was somewhat daunting. We flew on a made-in- Brazil airplane - Embraer - and it was the nicest plane I have ever been on - brand new - with leather seats for everyone!
We landed at Dumont airport which is right in the middle of Rio and quickly found our way to the hotel. We are on the eleventh floor and have a balcony with a view of Copacaban Beach.
Yesterday, we walked and walked and walked from one end of the beach to the other - David was looking for those dental floss bikinis - but had no luck. We waded and the water was not too cold for us - or for a few hardy souls. The waves were quite rough and we saw some surfers. The scenery was beautiful and the light in Rio is different from anywhere I have been.
Tried caipirhina and it burned going down. Cachaca is definitely fire water.
This morning we started early and actually took a tour. We headed up to Corcovado - the Christ Statue - amazing. Saw the Sambadrome where Carnival is held - and the Marcarena stadium - the home of futbol.
After lunch - Sugar Loaf - two trams which dragged us up to the top. The views were wonderful
There was a group of teenagers from Columbia with us and we enjoyed them. They reminded me of my friend at work, Ariana - and I will have the pictures to prove that.
Tomorrow we will explore more - Ipanema - David looking for that girl from there - and me taking a million pictures to bore you all when I return. I am going to bed with the french doors open to the balcony and the sound of the surf. I sleep well here. Tchau!

Sunday in Campinas

After a breakfast of papaya, today we walked through the neighbored to a street fair that is held every weekend in Campinas. There were lots of booths with handicrafts, artists, food and music. I did some good shopping and bought some typical Brazilian flip flops for myself - unaccountably called ´Hawaiians´. The straps are very decorated with beads and sparkly things. Lindemberg says they make me look like a native. Picked up some presents for some of you and enjoyed the mood and the weather. The weather here is very much like winter in Phoenix, with less pollution. The skies are bright blue and there are few clouds. Since the apartment is on the tenth floor, we have a good view. It is a lovely home with four en-suite bedrooms and many balconies.
We also visited a typical grocery store Paõ de Azucar, which means sugar bread. The grocery store was very similar to stores in the states, but the packaging were much smaller. Beer and coke are purchased by the can or the bottle - which is a nice sign of moderation after our meat binge yesterday.
Nanda is napping, Thiago is playing his hand held Pokeman video , Monica and Lindemberg are making salmon for lunch. Lunch is the main meal of the day. This afternoon, USA (the underdog, of course) is playing Brazil for the World Cup in soccer and we must watch. We are having a very relaxing time and enjoying the pace of life here. Tomorrow we fly to Rio (pronounced Hio). My Spanish is hopelessly scrambled with Portuguese and it should be an adventure.
Tchau.

Anthropological Lunch

Today, Lindemberg and Monica took us for a tour of Campinas, the University and his hospital. We walked in a city park - 1600 meters for those of you who have been coached in math, and for a trolley ride in Parque Portugal. The highlight of the day was lunch - an anthropological gastronomic event that puts American all you can eat buffets to shame. The surroundings were more elegant and the food was indescribable and in some cases, just plain unknown. We went to a churrascaria - a traditional type of lunch. First, vegetables, cheese, salad, fruit, seafood - help yourself. David made the mistake of filling his plate here - not knowing that this was the appetizer. After we sat down at a round table with a white linen tablecloth, Lindemberg pointed out a small card at each place with a red side and a green side. When your card was turned to the green side - hordes of waiters approached with meat on two enormous skewers and a long, large knife. I had tongs to remove the slices of meat as it was carved fron the slab. The choices included my favorite picanha - from a cow, my least favorite - chicken heart, buffalo, salmon, chicken, ham, lamb, fish called pintado - more picanha - ribs, sausages - both chicken and pork, turkey, pineapples cooked in cinnamon - another favorite, cabybara -the same ones they have at the Phoenix zoo - I passed on this one - and more picanha. Did I mention that picanha was my favorite? I have never tasted meat so good. When you wanted to take a breather, you flipped your card to the red side and the waiters circled at a distance - watching carefully for the flip back to green. I ate more meat today than in the past three months. And then we had dessert. David will have to roll me to Rio in a wheelbarrow.
I slept eleven hours last night so I am no longer tired, but I am really full and we ate five hours ago. Tchau.

Whew! I am tired.

We are in Campinas after two long and painful plane rides. Both flights were packed to the gills with screaming children and parents who could not cope. The seats are definitely getting smaller and sleeping is fairly impossible for people of a certain age. I wonder how I took a two year old and a three year old to Europe. Just demented, I guess.Lindemberg met us at the airport in São Paulo. He looks much the same as he did twenty years ago - which is not something you can say for us. We drove through the outskirts of São Paulo - mostly in the industrial area under a very cloudy sky. As we got closer to Campinas, it became very sunny and we saw lots of bucolic scenery on the drive which lasted about an hour.
When we arrived Thiago had not left for school. He leaves at noon and comes home about seven. Schools do two shifts - but kids and teachers do one shift. He liked his AZ gifts. Monica came home for lunch and we struggled to communicate in some mish mash of Spanish, Portuguese, English, French and sign language. She is very beautiful and young looking and does not look at all like a mother of two. She comes home for lunch every day as her office is quite near. It was much easier to talk to Fernanda who is one year and does not care what language you speak.
We had a walk around the neighborhood in the afternoon - very pretty with lots of trees in bloom that have these big purple-y flowers that stretch into a canopy - called ipê. The apartment is very elegant and the neighborhood is lovely with cobbled streets and sidewalks designed like those in Copacabana Beach. I had caipirinha ice cream which was very good but will soon switch to the alcoholic variety.
Almost time for dinner. Lindemberg is cooking pasta. Then to bed. Lindemberg and Monica have given us their room and moved into the pull out sofa in the den. Tomorrow we will go to a street fair in the neighborhood. Tchau.

Getting Ready to Go

About ten years ago, we had planned a trip to Brazil which was  cancelled at the last minute because I needed emergency surgery. However, we had already purchased our tickets and our visas. At that time, the visas cost us about $60 apiece. We sent our money and our passports to the consulate in Los Angeles and received the visas back by regular mail. We just included an envelope with pre-paid postage. 

This time, the procedure was quite a bit more complex, and much more expensive.  The consulate in Los Angeles no longer accepts mail in requests. We had to hire someone to 'walk' our paperwork in. The cost of the visas is now $130 compared to $30 if you are from Mexico, $35 from Australia, and $50 from Russia or Japan. Why is this? Because we did it first.

Although there were no Brazilian terrorists, after 9/11, the US government increased the cost of visas for Brazilians and, in reciprocity, they did the same. This time, we paid more than three times as much for our Brazilian visas. Thanks, George.

   U.S. citizens traveling to Brazil are required to obtain a visa prior to entering Brazil.   This requirement is in reciprocity to the U.S. government demand that all Brazilian citizens hold a visa in order to enter the United States.

    Citizens of countries that do not demand visas from Brazilian nationals usually do not need visas to enter Brazil (most European and South American countries fall in this category). 

Teach for America

While many of my blogs will be about places I like to visit, my first will be about my other favorite topic - teaching. 

I was recently asked by a very political friend what I though about Teach for America. I said to her, "Imagine that you are having major surgery and are admitted to the hospital and introduced to Emily,your nurse by her supervisor. The supervisor tells you that Emily is a Nurse for America. She has only had six weeks of training, and will only be a nurse for two years because she wants to improve her law school application, but she is very enthusiastic." Are you appalled?

As a teacher of thirty-six years, I am appalled by Teach for America. It rests on two very faulty suppositions. The first is that teachers do not need any special training or any particular skills to teach. After all, we all went to school. In fact, there is now a great accumulation of research that delineates effective teaching practices and it takes years to reach true effectiveness. 

The second supposition is more insidious. In the past, schools kept the same teachers for years. The school was an integral part of the community where teachers had brothers and sisters, cousins and neighbors and sometimes even parents and children. Students came back with invitations to high school graduations, college graduations, weddings, quincinearas and birthday parties. To lose this sense of community is to divorce the school from families. Teaching for two years and then disappearing dies not make you a model, a friend and a mentor for students and families. 

If you want to change the world, be a real teacher. Stick around for thirty years or so.