Saúde...bless you....cheers...LOL!
Trip Start
Dec 23, 2008
1
11
12
Trip End
Jan 13, 2009
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Sao Paulo,
State of Sao Paulo,
Brazil
Sunday, January 11, 2009
I decided to go out to their place at 8am...on the off-chance they'd be up early...
I found their place really easily - their stop on the metro is called "Saúde", which cracks me up, as it means "Bless You" when you sneeze, as well as "cheers" in Portuguese! It was therefore easy to remember.
When I arrived, I was barked at by two huge dogs in their driveway - they hadn't been there two weeks ago! There was no bell on the gate, so I just had to shout up to the window. To my luck, Fernando was actually awake and heard me, so was able to let me in for my last few hours before I had to go to the airport. They'd been out at a barbeque the night before, so Thiago was still asleep - hungover - ha ha ha! He actually couldn't drag himself out of his bed until midday (I had to leave at 1pm), and only then when I suggested going and getting rice & beans at the kilo restaurant round the corner. (Rice & beans are a staple of the Brazilian diet - I love it! They also have these kilo restaurants which is basically a buffet, and when you've chosen what you want to eat, you weigh your plate, and whatever it weighs, you pay, it's great!)
I was really tired - actually when I'd been sitting in their house that morning, I kept falling asleep mid-sentence when I was talking to Fernando - he thought there was something really really wrong with me and kept asking if I was OK! I was just exhausted from the night bus.
I headed to the airport, to fly back to Dublin, via London and via Paris - I got a middle seat on the plane - I hate middle seats! Ah well, nothing I could do.
The Brazilian woman at the window was quite a character. She was about 70, was on her way to Mumbai, and could only speak Portuguese - oh, and Urdu or something random like that! Very amusing. We were flying with Air France, so most of the stewards could only speak French & English, and it was hilarious when she asked the one who had helped her on the plane if she could "have a seat downstairs to get away from that annoying crying child behind"!! Ha ha ha!!! Me and the girl on the aisle couldn't stop laughing, and had to explain to the steward what she had said. (There was no downstairs - just in case you think it was one of those fancy double decker planes)
Anyway, she was very funny. She watched the flight path map on her tv screen for the entire journey, and got very excited when she could see Moscow, and tried to wake the girl in the aisle seat up to tell her, while sprawling over me in the proceeds! (The girl in the aisle seat was Russian)
So that's it - the end of the Brazilian adventures 2009. It was great to go back again, see Rio at New Year, meet my old friends, making some new ones, and as visiting some other pretty places I didn't go last time. I also found the Portuguese so much easier this time. Just need to keep it up I guess...next stop Portugal?
