Here I am, finally getting around to documenting our recent trip to Brasil (spelled now like the native I will be). I'm realizing though that I'll probably have to break it into two posts, this one covering our time in Sao Paulo and the next of our trip to Rio.
So, we went down a couple weeks ago with the Rigbys so the girls could get familiar with the country, culture, etc. and to find ourselves a house. It's still up in the air whether we will share a home with the Rigbys at first or, if we do, for how long before we get separate places. Regardless of what we decide, it was great to see what's out there and, in some instances, what we'll have to live without. Rach and I even met with a few other American women who live in the area we are looking to give us advice and let us know what to expect.
Before I continue here's a picture of the Sao Paulo Temple, simply because I don't know where else to work this in. (And yes, I cut off Moroni. Don't worry, he's there.)
Anyway, we spent a lot of our time the first couple of days just searching the area with our charismatic realtor, Edu.
I just want to point out that I used to tease Bret for his excessive use of the thumbs up, thinking it came across slightly dorky and/or patronizing. But having now been to Brazil, I totally get why he does it. Those Brazilians LOVE the thumbs up (refer to picture above with Edu), he must have picked it up on his mission. Forgive me, B.
We saw a lot of homes, so many that they all started to mush together in my mind. Some were really good, others not so good.
We also had a few encounters. In this picture below for example, with what appeared to be a tarantula. It may not look so big in this picture, but believe me, it was huge. That place was an easy "No" for me.
Another time we saw a dead cat laying under a bench in one of the houses' backyard. Yep. No one believed me at first, "It's just sleeping" they all told me. "No, that cat is DEAD!", and it was. I'm making Brasil sound insane and maybe it is a little, but there were a lot of really nice places, too, and the area we will live is very safe, beautiful and pretty chill. By the end of the second day we found a really nice home that we all loved and seemed to accommodate all of our needs. Like I said though, things are still up in the air on all of that.
Once we felt secure with what we found though, we embarked on our road trip out to Rio for the weekend. It's a few hours or so by car and I'm assuming we'll fly from now on, but it was really great to get a feel for the landscape, neighboring cities and the culture that way. I had to keep asking myself, are we really here? It was so beautiful.
On the road....
"Thank you for your visit" and "Have a good trip", coming from the Tony the Tiger look-a-like.
Pictures of Rio de Janeiro to come. This time sooner than later.
P.S. I cut my hair last week the shortest I ever have in my life. Impulsive, that's what I am. Think Scout from To Kill a Mocking Bird meets the fairy from Fern Gully breeds with Peter Pan. Bret disagrees with all of these references but that's what I think when I look in the mirror. And despite that terrible description, I actually really like it. Maybe someday, when I get up the nerve, I'll post a picture of it.
