Brazilian vacation photos!

To check out our photos from the Brazil vacation, please go here.

(I hope the link works like Facebook says it does!)

NYR 4-23-11 - all good things must come to an end

Today we got a 5am flight back to Sao Paulo for our return flight back to Bogota.

Sigh.

A perfect vacation ended.

Part of the point of our trip to Sao Paulo for me was to get over the enormous nostalgia and sense of longing that I still have for there. As they say in Portuguese, I wanted to matar saudades, or kill that deep nostalgia/missing/void.

In short, that didn't happen.

We had such a great time catching up with a lot of the people that made our two years there so amazing.

Even though we didn't matar saudades, I am truly thankful that I still love the place and the people as much in reality as I do in my memories.

NYR 4-22-11 - Good Friday

Today was Good Friday and as in previous Good Fridays that we spent with the Freitas family, we enjoyed a delicious lunch of bacalhau (or cod fish). This is Jimmy's most favorite holiday meal in Brazil, so he was especially pleased. And I was especially pleased because I think I sort of learned how to make it for future Good Fridays that may not be spent in Rio Preto!

For sharing great family traditions with our Brazilian family, I am truly thankful.

NYR 4-21-11 - lazy days at the pool

Fabio's parents have recently moved into a spectacular home. The whole place is like something out of a magazine spread and perfectly integrates indoor and outdoor living. It's exactly the kind of house Jimmy and I would want to build for our retirement.

If we retire somewhere else besides coastal South Carolina.

Because the bugs and mosquitoes and no-see-ums would devour us there if we truly had indoor/outdoor space without screens.

But I digress.

Anyway, the pool area at this house is the most fabulous pool area ever. I honestly could live out there.

For hot sun, blue skies, and a refreshing pool in which to dip, I am truly thankful.

NYR 4-20-11 - our Brazilian "family"

Twenty-plus years ago, Fabio Freitas was an exchange student in Moncks Corner. My time as an exchange student in Melbourne, Australia overlapped Fabio's in Moncks Corner by 6 months so I didn't get to know him until the end of his year there. Jimmy and Fabio were great friends and spent a lot of time together during that year.

One of the first things we did when we moved to Brasilia in 2005 was to re-connect with Fabio who lives in the city of Rio Preto in Sao Paulo state. Fabio and his wife Claudia visited us in Brasilia once and we visited them in Rio Preto once over the course of our time in Brasilia.

Then we moved to Sao Paulo and Rio Preto was just a 4-hour drive away, so we spent many long weekends and holidays with Fabio and his extended family there. It's there that I met Gisele, my BBFF and Fabio's older sister who lives in Sao Paulo. Meeting her and her husband and their girls opened up so much for us in Sao Paulo. It really was a huge part of the reason that we all loved our time in that city so much.

And having our Brazilian "family" was so special. They included us in holiday events as if we were blood. And so it was a no-brainer that when we planned our return trip to Sao Paulo for vacation that we would go to Rio Preto for Easter weekend.

We flew in on Wednesday afternoon, were met at the airport by Fabio, and went straight to Fabio's parents' house to spend a few nights. It was such a special reunion with Dona Amelia and Sr. Daniel, Fabio and Claudia and their girls, and Fabio's younger sister Simone and her husband Caca and their children. Gisele, Flavio and their girls drove in later that evening.

For happy reunions with such dear friends, I am truly grateful.

NYR 4-19-11

Today Mac went with his good friend Andre to his old school for the day. (As a point of reference, Andre and his family were some of the folks we hung out with at Disney World last February when Jimmy was in Afghanistan. They are enormously fun people and Mac adores Andre.)

Mac wasn't entirely convinced he wanted to spend all day - or even 10 minutes - at school, so we agreed that we'd follow Andre's mom to school (with Mac in her car with Andre and her older son), let him say hello to his old friends and then leave. By the time we pulled in the parking lot, he didn't even know we existed. He happily spent the day at school, went to soccer practice with Andre and back to their house until we got there for an 8pm dinner. Another great day in the life of a little boy.

Meanwhile, Jimmy got caught up with folks at the consulate and I got caught up with folks at the apartment complex's salon over a mani/pedi appointment. We reconvened for a lunch date at our neighborhood Italian restaurant, rested a bit and then went to Andre's house for a grown-up dinner with Andre's parents and two other couples who were friends in Sao Paulo. It was amazing food in an amazing house in amazing company.

Again, again, again, for great friends, I am truly thankful.

NYR 4-18-11 - Mac's great day

Mac had the great pleasure to play with his buddy Michael all day long today. Laura let Michael play hooky since Mac was in town and those boys had a ball. Laura took them to lunch at Outback (one of Mac's favorites), they rode scooters on the complex's basketball court, and they played video games together. Mac also had an after-school playdate with two brothers in the complex that he used to go to school with. In other words, it was a perfect day in the life of an 8 year-old boy!

And Jimmy and I enjoyed lunch with friends and a dinner out that included friends from Sao Paulo, Brasilia and Mozambique days. We had such a great time catching up.

For great days with great friends, I am truly thankful.

I am also grateful for being able to show Mac that with a little effort, we can reconnect with people that we've had to say goodbye to. It's a powerful lesson in this very transient lifestyle we're leading.

NYR 4-17-11 - catching up with friends!

We returned from the beach to Sao Paulo in record time and went straight to stay with friends in our old apartment complex. The Tonks family are just good people. They arrived in Sao Paulo the same time as us, courtesy of General Motors. We attended the same church, had many mutual friends, and enjoyed a lot of great times together. And even though their children went to another school, Mac quickly became good friends with their son who is a year older.

For great friends who we caught up with like we'd just seen them yesterday and not nearly two years ago, I am truly thankful.

NYR 4-16-11 - a great day at the beach with friends

On Friday night, my BBFF and her family (really our BBFFs all the way around) joined us at the beach for the weekend. We enjoyed a great sushi dinner our and went to bed early to prepare for today, which turned out to be a perfectly glorious day at the beach. Consulate friends also drove over for the day so Mac had young playmates which kept him entertained for hours, and Jimmy and I had old(er) playmates, which kept us entertained for hours.

For a beautiful day on a beautiful beach with beautiful friends, I am truly thankful.

NYR 4-14-11 - cheesburger in paradise

Last night we ate at one of our old Juquehy haunts, Beach Burger. The cheeseburger was soooooo much better than I remembered. It probably would have been perfect had I ordered a chocolate milkshake to go with it.

For a yummy cheeseburger in paradise, I am truly thankful.

NYR 4-13-11

Today we added a newly-purchased-from-the-grocery-store boogie board to the mix and it made our blue sky day at the beach even better. That, and the amazing fried fish fingers we indulged in.

For another perfect day at the beach, I am truly thankful.

NYR 4-12-11 - hellooooo sunshine!

For six blissful, blue-sky-filled hours on the beach in Juquehy,

interrupted by the occasional dozing off,
snacks of corn and fried shrimp,
paddle ball wars,
an aborted surfing lesson,
walks down the beach,
and swimming in the warm ocean,

I am thankful in a way that you cannot even begin to imagine!!!

NYR 4-11-11 - Liberdade and the beach

Today we made a quick visit to Liberdade, the Japanese part of the city. Gisele mentioned going, and I jumped onboard because the one thing that I didn't buy before leaving SP that I wanted was these beautiful little dessert places from a market in Liberdade. So today I got my dessert plates and some hard-to-find (in Bogota) Asian ingredients, and some beautiful little bowls to use for serving nuts and whatnot and I was a happy girl, and for that, I am truly thankful.

Lots to be thankful for today because we also took off for my favorite beach spot in the area. We came to Juquehy to spend 6 days and it feels like heaven. We checked into out usual pousada and got a regular's welcome back. It was very nice.

The beach is as beautiful as ever and is practically empty since it's a weekday/non-holiday, so it's ando peaceful, too. It's like heaven, I tell you, and for that I am truly thankful!

NYR 4-10-11 - a day around the city

For the best church service I've been to in nearly two years, for a divine churrascaria lunch with friends afterwards, for a quick visit with consulate friends, and for dinner at my most favorite pizza place in the world (BRAZ!) with the BBFF, I am truly thankful!

P.S. The eating that I did in two days in Sao Paulo was criminal!

NYR 4-9-11 - helloooooo sao paulo!

We landed in Sao Paulo on time, got all our luggage, and after a very, very long car rental check-out, we were on our way to the Spinola household. I have never survived in Sao Paulo without my beloved GPS, aka Norah, and let me just tell you that printed-out maps from Google Maps just do not cut it. We were lost and found and re-lost and re-found, but eventually we got to Gisele and Flavio's house while we were all still speaking - a good thing at the start of vacation!

For a great visit with my BBFF and her family and an amazing lunch at my FARF (Favorite Arabic Restaurant Forever!), I am truly thankful.

For coming to a place that feels like home even after two years away, I am truly thankful.

For being in a place where it's perfectly acceptable to wear flipflops, I am truly thankful!

NYR 4-8-11 - happy trails to me

For absolutely zero problems with flight check-in, for no cancellations, and for a FRIENDLY Brazilian airline agent, I am soooo grateful.

here we come, Brazil!

Just a quick little note to let you know that we're leaving tonight for Brazil for Mac's school vacation. They get 2 weeks off at Easter for some crazy reason, so we are taking advantage! We'll fly out around midnight tonight and spend the next 2 weeks between Sao Paulo, our favorite beach in Juquehy and Rio Preto. I'm sure I'll chat with you during the trip, but just in case... Have a happy Easter!

NYR 3-24-11 - that anticlimactic visa interview

This morning Jimmy and I went to the Brazilian embassy here in Bogota to apply for our tourist visas. (Minors don't have to apply in person, so Mac didn't go with us.)

I haven't had to apply for a visa to visit a country since I was 18 years old and returning to Australia for a summer visit. And because there's no embassy in Moncks Corner, South Carolina - I know you're shocked - I just had to mail off the application.

But in these intervening years and especially since Jimmy's worked for the State Department, we've never had to worry about that pesky visa process. There have been "people" who take care of that stuff.

Until we decided to return to Brazil for Mac's Easter vacation.

I did the paperwork online but knew that we had to present in person within 30 days of the online application. This has all got to be timed right because you have to have enough time to get the visa processed and put in your passport pre-vacation (within that 30-day window), but you have to show proof of a round-trip ticket and we don't tend to do things too far in advance around here.

So we got the airline tickets, we did the online application and Jimmy and I went to the embassy this morning to present. Now I have never had to "present" for a visa but I'm married to somebody who has worked as a consular officer and we have lots of friends who are still on the opposite side of the visa window. And I know those people can be mean to the visa applicant.

To make matters worse, we all had our visa photos taken yesterday and we look like a family of deranged thugs who escaped from the insane asylum moments before. The directions on the Brazilian embassy's website say you need a neutral facial expression on the visa picture, so I told Mac we couldn't smile when the lady took our pictures. Neutral facial expression for the Storys equals a mug shot for Nick Nolte. We really look like we've been on the lam and just got caught. (Sadly, the visa officer didn't bat an eyelash at the offensive pictures. We just got a gluestick to the back of the head and got stuck right on the page. I guess that means that unfortunately we look in real life as bad as our visa mug shots.)

Then came the moment of pain. We had to pay the visa application fee. Now the fees are reciprocal, so what we (as the US) charge a Brazilian visa applicant is what Brazil charges American visa applicants.

And let me tell you it's a lot of money.

(I would like to apologize now for everybody who came to see us in Brazil and had to pay that fee. I hope your trip was worth it. If it wasn't, I'm very sorry but you can come see us in Colombia without a visa. We will try to make it up to you if you visit us here. And I would also like to apologize now to every Brazilian who just wanted to go see Mickey Mouse and had to pay that fee. I hope you got an inside tour of Cinderella's castle.)

I'm really hoping we get a 5-year (or lifetime if such a thing exists) visa after that hefty payment. We're just going to have to plan semi-annual trips to Brazil to make that visa fee worth it! (And for the record, you pay this fee whether you get a visa or not. In other words, you pay for the pleasure of the visa officer's company. That's how I see it anyway, and no, I don't need to hear from any of you current or former consular officers out there who will give me a line-by-line breakdown of everything that money pays for.)

Now to pay this fee, you have to leave the embassy (which is in a big office building), walk around the corner to the Bank of Colombia and pay the money directly into the embassy's bank account. You can't pay with credit card - we learned that the hard way - so because we hadn't drained our bank account prior to getting in the bank line, we had to leave the bank, go to an ATM, do multiple withdrawals, go back into the bank, wait in the line again, and pay. It would have been easier and maybe less painful for Jimmy to carve out my kidney and hand it over to the consular officer. After all that, the bank teller stamped the slip "paid" which we took back to the consular officer at the embassy.

Now here's the anticlimactic part. We handed over the paid slip and the officer gave us a little card that I have to bring back next week to pick up our passports with new visas.

No questions about our intentions in Brazil, about whether we had money to support our vacation there, about where we were going or staying. NOTHING. I was very disappointed. (For the record, I expected this to be very short and painless because we'd had almost 4 years' worth of diplomatic visas in the past, but still.... It was my one and only visa interview in nearly 40 years and not even one question? I'm starting to think all those visa stories I've heard over the last 13 years are a bunch of baloney!)

So the long and short of it is that I'll return next Wednesday to get our passports and we're set! Insane asylum-worthy, thug photos and all!!

For jumping the last hurdle to our long-awaited Sao Paulo vacation, I am truly thankful!

some photos from Porto de Galinhas

Beach view from hotel


Mac on his first solo kayak adventure


Mac with one of the Porto de Galinhas ("Port of Chickens") chickens


Mac and me on the jangada

seahorse!


Hanging out in the water

Do you wonder why I could drop off the face of the Earth and live on this beach forever???

2 more observations from PdeG

1. Mac is a great traveling partner, maybe because we've been taking trips together since he was a little baby. One thing he has to work on is his ability to quickly check for food that's stuck in my teeth. After I eat with Jimmy, I ask for a quick check and all I have to do is quickly flash my teeth and he can point out which tooth on which side needs work. Mac, on the other hand, acts like it's a full-scale dental procedure. He gets up close and wants to inspect every tooth. I have to open my mouth wide and narrow and then, if I'm lucky, he'll tell me if there's something stuck. Tonight, however, we did the full-blown check only for me to get back to the hotel to find a HUGE piece of creamed spinach stuck in my front tooth. How did he miss that???

2. I think I'd like to work in a resort one day where the dress code is a Hawaiian print shirt and flipflops.