Back to the USA Via São Paulo

I have been through the airport in São Paulo many times but never got to see the enormous teeming city of 12 million or so people. I had much heard about the terrible traffic and violence so I was prepared mentally.

We had a 12 hour layover starting at 10am. Patrícia had a job interview at 2:30 so it seemed fine to run to the interview, see a few things and then return to the airport. We took the free TAM shuttle to the other airport (about 1 hour), which was much closer to her interview and then took a bus a bit further (45 minutes), grabbed some quick pizza, and jumped into a taxi for the rest of the way. The taxi driver didn't really know where he was going even with the Google maps we printed and she ended up being 15 minutes late to the interview. Unfortunately, I had to wait outside the complex on a bench because there was nothing anywhere near the place. The first hour of waiting was fine, the second hour tedious, and the third hour irritating. When she finally came out, she said the interview was only OK.

We no longer had time to see the city so we took a taxi to the train, made two transfers to get to the metro, and due to the bad directions we were given by a couple policemen, we made about six transfers on the metro to get to a bus to get to the airport. The metro was an experience during rush hour. I have been on 16 metro systems and have never seen so many people squeezing into the trains.

We arrived back at the airport right on time to check in for the flight to Miami. This is a surprise since we seem to have a bad habit of cutting it really close when we travel. Not surprisingly, the flight was delayed for two hours, now departing at 1am. So what to do for two hours before you leave for your marriage/honeymoon? We bought a bottle of wine in duty free, borrowed an opener from a bar, and celebrated. It was a good wait.

Leaving Brazil

They told me I could. That is my excuse for overstaying my tourist visa in Brazil. We have a stable union and have been actively pursuing a visa based on that. Just before my visa expired, I went to the Federal Police and they said I should just stay and go through the process. The only catch was that I have to pay the $420 visa overstay fine on my way out. Not so bad.

I went to the airport to the Federal Police Immigration and they were very friendly and neither surprised nor scolding for my extra year in the country. They did not ask questions, they only processed the fine payment. The worst part was the 3 pages of stamps that they put in my passport and the cancellation of my tourist visa.

Now the plan is to go to San Francisco, get married, register the marriage with the Brazilian Consulate, and apply for a permanent visa so I can return. The consulate says that it takes 4-8 weeks for processing so I am expecting to get everything done in two months or so.

Chapadas Veadeiros

We drove to Patrícia's sister's farm for the weekend, about two and a half hours away. The area is right next to a National Park called Chapadas Veadeiros that has many many waterfalls and beautiful hiking areas. It also has a Valley of the Moon that is just like the surface of the moon.

We stayed in one of the two little houses on the farm, relaxed, ate, played in the small lake, ate, and ate some more. For dinner we did 3 fondues: Wine for meat, cheese for bread, and chocolate for bananas. We wanted more fruit but the selection in the tiny nearby town was not good. What was really good was to cook the meat in the wine and then dip it in the cheese. Mmmmmmm fattening. I forced myself to drink several glasses of wine to counteract all the fat.

A friend of the family invited us to his resort the next day to play in the waterfalls. It was only a couple kilometers away and we got in for free of course. I was impressed, it reminded me a lot of places I have been to in Hawaii. The best part for me of course was jumping from the tallest thing I could find into the water. The water was a perfect temperature and 8 meters deep (25ft). You can see in the picture it had a huge cavern too. In the back of the cavern there was a tunnel that went to the middle of the back of the waterfall. Really cool.

I was in demand as a jumping partner for all the kids (and her sisters) because they wanted to hold my hand and have me there to help them swim after the jump. I do not know how many times I jumped, climbed up, jumped, climbed up, etc...I just know that my muscles really hurt now. Fortunately I escaped with only a light sunburn after being in the sun for hours.

One of the strange experiences of this area is that the tiny fish in the water always are nipping at your skin. It doesn't hurt, although it is a little unnerving at first.