Airport delays

We were delayed a few hours in São Paulo which made us miss our original connection in Miami so we were rerouted through Los Angeles instead of directly to San Franisco. It was a lot of flying and we were tired yet still very excited when we actually arrived in SF.

Trying to save money we took the Bart train from the airport ($5 each) to the Powell street station, only 3 blocks from our hotel. Three blocks uphill. It wasn't so bad though.

The King George Hotel is a nice smaller hotel with free wi-fi, good free coffee, and it is only a block from Union Square and the cable car line. We got a really quiet 7th floor room at the far end of the hallway. The view was of other buildings and Starbucks. The latter was not surprising since if you stand in front of one Starbucks in downtown SF, you should be able to see another one less than two blocks away.

I bought an unlimited week pass for the cable car for $24 because a single ride is $5--no transfers (ouch!) Then we rode up to China town, where most stores were closed by that time, and went into a sushi restaurant where the sushi was delivered on little boats in water that runs in front of the seating bar. They had big signs in their windows about 99 cent sushi! Liars! There was one thing that was that price and it wasn't fish. Everything else was much more expensive. We had a so-so udon noodle dish instead.

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.