Introduction
We got to embark on a great journey through the country of
Here are all the people that went – 63 in all
Bruce Huston
Matthew Blum
Janna Brendtro
Bernard Buice
Barbara Hawes Caldwell
Ricky Caldwell
Robert Caldwell
Dina Dewes
Roger Dewes
Judy Felker
Allan Fisher
Ellen Fisher
Patricia Forsyth
George Gardiner
Janet Gardiner
Emery Gordon
Janice Gunderson
Peter Gunderson
Dean Harman
Lynn Harman
Ronald Hodges
Rachel Breed Janssen
Robert Janssen
Andrea Julian
Betsy Koester
Barbara Kresse
Joseph Kresse
Linda Litz
Sharon Rice
James Royer
Pina Royer
Carol Kurumada
Ronnie Sue Leith
Bryan Baker
Marilyn Michaelson
Malcolm Catchatoorian
Gaylon Babcock
Juliet Mccomas
Carolyn Alexander
William Welch
Elaine Welch
David Bubenheim
Debra Reiss-Bubenheim
Max Capestany
Grace Griffiths
Pamela Eaken
Robert Peterson Jr
Janice Friesen
John Friesen Jr
Ellen Hill
Stephen Hill
Terri Homer
Jo Cazenave
Daniel Kitamura-Tintor
Lory Kitamura-Tintor
Merrill Scott
Sue Scott
Christine Niccoli
Frank Niccoli
Yukie Ozawa
Carol Schick
Al Schick
Hannah Panger
I was a member of the Peninsula Cantare for several years
when I lived in
June 20
We were finally all packed, visas and passports ready, shots
taken, medications in hand and music learned, to embark on our 2-week journey
to
Flying to
After a couple hours in
June 21
There weren't any activities planned in the morning (thank
goodness!), so Ron Hodges my roommate and I ended up sleeping in. Actually we planned to be up by about 10:00
for breakfast and to walk around the hotel, see the mini-zoo and go down to the
river. But I guess the alarm was set for
PM instead of AM, since we both didn't wake up until around 11:30. Oh well - we missed breakfast! We met Malcolm and Emory for lunch around
noon and scavenged a few fries and half a sandwich for lunch (I wasn't really
that hungry) - I then found out they had already done a sea-plane tour over
Around 1:00, we got on the coach for a
Back at the main plaza and patronizing the locals for a map
and ice cream, we headed down to the
We took a short look at the church adjacent to the opera
house - there was a service going on so we couldn't see much at the time, but
we got a good preview of what the masses during the weekend would be like
there. We headed back to the hotel,
where we had a beautiful sunset reflected in the "infinity pool" - there
is no edge and the water looks like it goes to the horizon. At the bar was some of the local beers and
soft drinks, and I decided to try a can of Kuat (at
least that was the name I could see on the label). The bartender didn't understand - maybe I was
mispronouncing it or something. Then I
saw in smaller letters "guarana", and I asked for that, and he
immediately understood! Kuat was just the brand and guarana was the drink. It was quite good and re-energized me a
bit. Turned out throughout the trip,
we'd be drinking quite a bit of guarana soda.
The herb contains a fair amount of caffeine, and back in the
Dinner was at the hotel, where we were treated to a show of some of the indigenous style music and dances - we enjoyed a buffet with Brazilian meats, Italian pasta and Japanese sushi, and sipping caiparinhas (a strong drink made with cane sugar alcohol and limes). Later in the show, some of us got dragged into the dance (the more the merrier), and at the end, we got to give back a little (or at least try)... we started out singing Locus Iste, but that was too "quiet and solemn", so they asked us to try Psalmo (which we hadn't memorized yet, but we knew there was a lot of "la, la, la"'s, so it couldn't be that hard, right?). We made it about 1/2 way when half the choir was singing one verse and the other half another verse, so we gave up... a funny moment indeed, but it was our first try, and a few strong drinks only added to the laughter...
Back in the room, I was pretty tired and sleep came easily - my batteries and my camera's batteries needed a good recharge.
June 22
We had a 2-day boat tour of the Amazon planned over the next
couple days. This was one of the biggest
things I was looking forward to my trip to
We were treated to a lavish breakfast buffet at the hotel - all kinds of tropical fruits, some of the native fruits don't even have English translations to their names, but they were very good. The omelet / manioc bar and the Brazilian coffee was a good way to wake up as well!
The boats were waiting for us at the dock near the hotel
around 11:00 - about 1/3 of us were on "the small boat" - the Igaratim-acu, and the rest were on the Helio
Gabriel - we started cruising west on the
We soon arrived at some small white-sand beaches - a small
resort along the
The chief of one of the Indian tribes greeted us in front of the meeting hall of the village. There were actually members of 3 different tribes - the Tucuias, Tucanos, and the Dessanos tribes. We were treated to about 1/2 hour of various dances and music, part of what can be a 24-hour greeting ceremony of when different tribes come into contact. The chief started out by shaking his spear in the 4 different directions and reciting some verses. The drums started rolling, the panflutes started whistling, the horns started playing, and the earthy tunes of a people from a faraway land and time came alive.
My camera was busy trying to record every moment and capture the sounds, but the 2.5 GB of memory would be used up far too quickly - some things would have to just be written in our memories.
After the dance, most of us took a hike up in the steamy rainforest to see some of the tribal customs of how the people lived off the land. The sap of the white brell tree could be burned to ward off mosquitoes, palm fronds could be used as rope, and this rope could be tied around your ankles to help people climb the coconut palms so that the prized fruit could be picked much easier. Every plant had its use - nothing was wasted. In a way I envy such a society - we live in a land of such extravagance and wealth these days that seemingly few people care about what they waste and what the impact of that is.
Back on the boats, we untied the smaller one from the bigger
one and headed this time back downstream on the Rio Negro, where we passed a
number of oil rigs - oil is one of the major components of the economy now in
One of the best ways to see the wildlife of the Amazon is to do a small boat ride and look for small crocodiles called caymans along the shores. We cruised for about an hour in 3 "canoes" each holding about 15 people, and we probably spotted about half a dozen of the little guys. Unfortunately, most of them were quite quick and we could only catch a quick glance, but it was interesting to see them in their natural habitat (seeing them behind a cage at the mini-zoo wasn't nearly as satisfying). On one of the other boats, the guide actually grabbed a baby cayman and passed it around on the boat!
Back at the floating restaurant, we were treated to a buffet with different sorts of tropical fruits and great meats - so far the food had been wonderful. We got back on our boats and headed just a little ways downstream from the restaurant, where we enjoyed the beautiful night sky. The first-quarter moon was pretty high overhead, and the stars of the Southern Cross and most of the southern constellations were quite visible. It'd be nice to see what it would be like with no moon - the southern part of the Milky Way is the most spectacular since you're looking toward Sagittarius and the center of the galaxy - you don't get a good view from the Northern hemisphere.
The sound of the wildlife all around us was almost deafening - thousands of frogs were croaking, crickets were chirping all around us, and probably millions of other bugs and buzzing. Fortunately, the mosquitoes weren't too bad - they peak around sunset but settle down after dark. Countless lightning bugs lit up around the tall grass.
June 23
I actually had a pretty good night sleep on the boat - I wasn't sure how I would like the small mattress and rocking boat, but after a full day of sensory overload yesterday, I slept well. We were woken up pretty early for a morning boat ride through some of the flooded rainforest to have another look at the diverse wildlife. A few kids on canoes came by and showed us some of the local animals - monkeys, sloths, anacondas, and caymans, like they were their pets.
We got on some canoes, like those from last night, and headed deep into some of the side passages of the river. The wispy clouds lit up a coral pink color in the pre-dawn light, as we cruised along the glassy water. We passed some of the large water lilies - some of the circular leaves were a meter or two in diameter, and some even had bright yellow flowers. A couple jacanas stood on the lilies. It looked like you could get out and start jumping across the lily pads as well!
It was a beautiful morning and I had my camera all ready to
try to capture as many of the moments as possible. I eagerly turned it on, and much to my
dismay, the button didn't seem to work... hmmm - I hope the batteries weren't
dead (I didn't have any with me at the time).
Then I looked and saw the lens was open only about a millimeter, so it
had tried to turn on. But then it was
stuck. Shortly afterward the lens went
back shut and the camera started making a rattling sound - sort of like when
gears going opposite directions grate past each other. Hmmm - not good... and we were still at the beginning of the
trip! The camera beeped "E18"
and the screen went blank. This had
happened before, and I remember in
Many of the banks and islands in the river are cut with
parallel river passages, just wide enough for the canoes to pass. I thought were pretty lost in the flooded
wilderness, as we cruised past monkeys, colorful birds, and interesting trees
and ferns. Then all of the sudden, we
popped out in another very wide river.
We had actually crossed from the
We cruised back to our boats on the canoes, just in time to enjoy a buffet breakfast of tropical fruits and cheese breads and juices. We were soon underway, cruising past some fazendas (local farms along the river banks), and watching some of the native people playing and doing laundry and cooking. They had probably been living the same way for hundreds of years - it was like a piece of living history.
Back on the Solimoes, we cruised downstream on the brownish
water until way in the distance we could make out what appeared to be another
large river merging from the left. This
was in fact the Rio Negro, and the town of
We slowly turned around and meandered back toward
Our first official performance was at a Saturday evening
mass at the Sao Sebastiao church near the opera
house. The church was beautiful, with
graceful sweeping arches, domes, paintings, and sculptures, like a cathedral in
Back at the hotel, we enjoyed a buffet dinner at the Karu Grill by the pool while watching some of the locals play "Tropical Bingo" - not sure how it was any different from regular bingo, but it sounded interesting... Afterward, since we enjoyed the infinity pool a lot a couple days ago, we had to go back for an 11 PM swim under the stars.
June 24
This morning we were having a morning mass at the same church as last night, and then performing a full concert afterward. We enjoyed another wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel - all you can eat tropical fruits (some that I couldn't even pronounce the names of, but they were very good), sweet breads, cheese bread, and of course Brazilian coffee. A cup of the coffee was probably good for most of the day!
Unfortunately, Ron my roommate developed a bit of a stomach illness overnight (it may have been linked to some of the food on the boats yesterday, since actually quite a few people caught the "Montezuma's Revenge" as well. I had it very slightly yesterday, but it passed quickly). Ron had to miss the concert in the morning, but after the extra sleep, he was feeling pretty good again.
We were at the church at 9:00 for a full Sunday mass, pretty similar to the one last night. But now with the sun lighting up the stained glass windows of the beautiful church, it added a heavenly light that wasn't there the night before. After the service, we performed a full concert -
SACRED
Locus Iste - Bruckner
Ubi Caritas - Durufle
Psalm 117 - Knauf
Salmo 150 - Aguiar
AMERICAN FOLK
Hark, I Hear the Harps
Eternal - arr. Shaw-Parker
How Can I Keep from
Singing - arr. Stroope
Shenandoah
- arr. Erb
SPIRITUALS
Ain'a That Good News - arr.
Balm in Gilead - arr.
AMERICAN
Gershwin Portrait (medley) (piano)
BRAZILIAN
Ja Vem a Primavera!
- Henrique de Curtiba
Samba-Lele - Brazilian folk song arr. Daniel Alfonso, Jr.
It was quite a varied repertoire, and the audience really enjoyed it. We had a couple of the sacred works for more solemn occasions, and some American folk songs so we could share a bit of our culture with the Brazilians. Then, the Brazilians really enjoyed Psalmo 150 and Samba-Lele - since most of them probably knew those and could follow along (assuming our pronunciations were good enough!)
Lunch was on our own after the concert, so I decided to have
a little walk over to the beach adjacent to our
hotel. I was trying to get Malcolm or
some other people interested to take a walk, but people had already split
up. But I ventured down to the
Back at the hotel, I stopped for another look at the mini-zoo, watching the jaguar prowling back and forth, the monkeys swinging around (there was even one outside a cage which was far more interesting, maybe it was a local one!), and all the colorful birds - the toucans, macaws, and parrots.
We were getting ready to board the coach to head to the
airport for our short flight to
Soon after we took off, the meeting of the waters was
clearly visible from the air (we didn't have to do the scenic flight for $180
after all! - funny thing was Ron and I inquired about it a couple times after
Malcolm and Emery went, and all the flights were full so we didn't get to
go). We flew over the city of
As we were landing, we saw interesting patterns of lights
below - almost like a large airplane shape.
There were lights along the "fuselage" and "wings"
of this giant "plane" and traffic flowed smoothly around. It turns out
Once in
June 25
Today we did a city tour of
The city felt very communistic, many of the buildings were
stark and rectangular concrete - seeing the "twin towers" and many of
the government buildings near one end of the "fuselage" felt like
being in a "city of the future" from 30 years ago. Citizens of the city have to pay up to 40
percent tax, but the standard of living is very high and the city was quite
clean. But the bright white round dome
of the
An interesting quote by Juscelino Kubitschek, one of the presidents of
We took a visit to the cathedral - with the statues of 4 apostles and a giant bell tower standing guard out front. Inside the cathedral was beautiful, clearly an inspired work by a great architect. Stained glass adorned the sweeping curved walls, while angels appeared to be ascending to heaven above the altar. We figured it would be a great place to check the acoustics, so we lined up and sang our customary "Locus Iste".
We blend in with some of the locals for lunch, doing a little shopping at one of the popular malls in the city. The 5-story shopping mall featured an ice rink at the bottom - kids were skating across the artificial ice effortlessly and really enjoying themselves! Going up the tiered escalators to about the 4th floor, passing portable McDonalds and Burger King stands, we went up to the food court. I tried my hand at ordering something simple in Portuguese (knowing the numbers was pretty useful). And I thought I was doing pretty good, when she gave the total and I handed her a R$50 bill. She didn't accept it and instead asked some question. Hmmm - what did she ask? I could make out a couple words (since it is similar enough to Spanish, but the accent was very different). She eventually (after much hesitation) took the R$50, and I found out later that she was asking if I had something smaller (like a 10 or 20, but the ATM that I visited earlier only gave 50's).
I enjoyed a stuffed bread with carne and queso (beef and cheese), and afterward we went to one of the ice cream stands. I wanted just a small cone, and the guy asked which flavor - I decided to try something different - cupuacu (a Brazilian tropical fruit that was quite tart), and abacaxi (this one was smooth). Abacaxi is pineapple (I found this out later), but cupuacu didn't translate. They heaped two large scoops and I thought I was getting some bonus (I thought I was paying for a small, so of course I wanted them to heap it on!). When the guy handed me the cone, it was definitely far more than I could eat - and unfortunately, they charged by weight - I had 500 grams of ice cream - R$9! Oops - oh well, I'll know for next time. The cupuacu was too tart to eat too much of so I ended up dumping about half of it (but I was so full already anyway).
It was a fun day seeing the city and enjoying some of the
local food, but we were soon ready to head on a flight to
Our flight took off on time (actually a few minutes early -
I guess
The landscape around
We checked into a beautiful old rustic hotel in the mountains just outside the historic city, and enjoyed a buffet dinner at the hotel. It had been a long day and it was nice to check in for the night.
June 26
Today was our big day touring Ouro Preto, then in the evening we planned to give a full concert at one of the churches. We enjoyed a breakfast buffet at the hotel, and soon we were ready to get on the bus to town. However, when we got back to the room after breakfast to get our things, we found the doorknob just spinning but not undoing the latch to open the door. It wasn't like the door was locked (hopefully it wasn't, since Ron left the key inside (we only had 1 for the 2 of us), and neither of us actually locked the door). But the door was locked (it locked automatically). Hmmm - we were locked out - and the bus was leaving in 1 minute! Fortunately, we explained to the front desk and got in just in time to grab our stuff and jump on the bus.
We headed to the bus station just at the edge of town, where
we would get on smaller buses to reach the main town square - the Praca Tiradentes.
Tiradentes, meaning "tooth puller" was named for freedom rebel
Joaquim Jose da Silva
Xavier, who revolted against the Portuguese in 1789. The narrow cobblestone streets of the city
were too small to take our big bus to the town square. The rest of the day would be a walking tour. The historic city was built near the end of
the 17th century, and was the focal point of
The narrow streets followed the contours of the mountainous landscape - if you thought the streets of SF were steep, then you need to visit Ouro Preto. The elevation was quite high - probably around 1,200 - 1,300 meters above sea level. It was cool and a bit misty in the mountains, as is usual. We could just make out the gravity-defying angled rock of Pico de Itacolomi in the distance, rising to 1,722 meters. This strange rock served as a prominent landmark to help the original settlers navigate the mountains.
We started with a short guided walking tour starting at the
Aleijadinho status in the town square.
Aleijadinho was one of the famous sculptors who had designed much of the
ornate baroque style sculptures in the churches. Amazingly, he was quite handicapped - leprosy
had begun to cripple his limbs, and eventually he lost his fingers and toes. Later on "O Aleijadinho" came to
mean "Little Cripple". Doing
most of his work at night, he still managed to produce some of the finest
carvings in
Our first stop was at the Igreja NS do Carmo where we got a history lesson about the city and how it boomed during the gold rush. In fact, at one time, silver was worth more than gold, since gold was so abundant! Many other minerals were mined, and almost every other shop featured giant carvings from amethyst, citrine, quartz, or other exotic minerals. Unfortunately this church was under renovation and the doors were shut. Down one of the side streets we visited the Hotel Alberge Ouro Preto, then around the corner was the beautiful Igreja do Sao Francisco de Assis. We peeked inside for a quick look, giving us a glimpse of what it would be like tonight when we sang in that church.
Near the church was one of the large open-air markets, like a giant flea market of soapstone sculptures. Sculptures, vases, boxes, and other ornate figurines all carved out of the smooth but delicate stone filled the shelves as far as you could see. And the rates were quite reasonable, and bargaining was all part of the game (some figures didn't even have prices - you negotiated a price). We picked up four small jewelry boxes for R$10 (about 5 dollars).
We finished the tour back at the Praca Tiradentes, where we broke off into smaller groups to go out on our own to explore. We had some rough directions to the Matriz de NS do Pilar church, the famous one with the most gold inside. It was only a few blocks away, but we had to walk one block up a 30 degree angle, then one block down a 30 degree slope, etc, until we finally thought we reached the church. It was pretty old, but looked interesting for exploration. But the heavy wooden doors were locked tight - hmmm maybe this one was closed for renovation too? When we got the map back out, we realized we were at the wrong place, and the Pilar church was still a couple blocks away. Looking up the hill, we saw an elegant church up on a steep hill overlooking much of the town. Wow - what a location! We saw a couple other people in front, looking around, but not going inside. Why not? I hope it wasn't closed too... We trekked up the steep cobblestone hill to the front door, and again all we saw were some heavy wooden locked doors. Hmmm - the book said it should open at 12:00, so it should be open by now. Maybe they were late?
Well it turned out we were at the wrong place again - the map was 180 degrees out of whack, and we went 2 blocks uphill when we should have gone 2 blocks downhill! We were at the De Paula church about 4 blocks from the Pilar church. Again, that doesn't sound far, but virtually climbing stairs the whole way for 4 blocks made it a bit of an ordeal! The church we were at didn't open until later in the afternoon, so we decided to hoof it back down the hill. The Pilar church was actually quite famous and all the locals knew where it was and could help us with some directions (charades were easier than using broken Spanish / pseudo-Portuguese to communicate). When we finally arivved at the church around 12:45, they asked for a "boleto". Hmmm - boleto - I think that is "ticket". You needed a pass to get in. For R$4 each, we got our tickets and entered the beautiful sanctuary.
I'm not sure if I've ever seen so much gold in one place in my life before! Everything was covered in ornate carvings and gold! Every square inch of the altar and the area surrounding the altar was adorned with sculptures of angels, cherubim, Biblical scenes, saints, flowers, and seashell-like carvings. This church, built in 1731 was the pinnacle of the rococo period of the Baroque era - known for its extravagant, over-the-top style of design.
This church, like many of the others, had a second set of fake doors just inside the main doors (I thought maybe these were the original doors and the current doors were new, but this was part of the style). Then the main sanctuary contained a set of side chapels (all with their own rather ornate altars). Then the ceiling and domes overhead were painted with scenes from heaven - angels kept watch over the congregation as they worshipped and prayed and knelt on the kneeling-boards behind the pews. Kneeling in a prostrate position before God and listening to His word seemed to honor and revere Him more than just sitting in a comfortable chair listening and singing along with words projected from computer screens, as is so common in comfortable American churches these days.
The Pilar church, like many of the others, was built in the late 1770's. Ouro Preto lay claim to over 23 churches - many of them ornate wooden structures. Amazingly, all of them were original - none of them ever burned (even though for hundreds of years, people used candles for lights). As we were meditating in the church, we ran into one of the guides, who accompanied us for lunch later on.
We had lunch at a nearby cafe - the Cafe Gerais,
one of the popular local hangouts. It
was interesting to hear a more personal side of the guide and how she was
getting ready to teach a English class at a local
college (she actually had to leave a little early to not be late). The soup and sandwiches (and dessert
afterward) was delicious! And we ran
into some other people from our group there as well! They were dining at one of the tables in the
back. And as a bonus,
After lunch, a few of us got a bit adventurous and hired a cab to take us to another interesting church about 3 km from the square. This church, the Capela do Padre Faria, was one of the oldest, actually one of the very first in the mountains of Ouro Preto. Just behind the cemetery, the slanted rock of the Pico de Itacolomi loomed overhead. I feel like the trip back and forth to this church was as interesting as the church itself. The cab somehow managed getting up and down the 30 degree cobblestone streets at breakneck speeds (I guess these drivers do it everyday). It was like being on a roller coaster but with no safety bar to hang onto! I think we were skidding the whole way down the hill too.
After the cab dropped us back off at the Praca Tiradentes, we walked around a little more. We noticed a side door of the NS do Carmo was now open. This was the church under renovation that we didn’t get to see earlier, so I wondered if we could sneak a quick peek. Indeed, they were doing a wonderful job. Part of the floor and gold-plated altar looked almost new, and workers were polishing the rest of the floor and renovating some of the other fine carvings in the back of the church. We were only there for a minute or two, and as soon as we left, they shut the side door!
We also decided to give the mineral museum a quick look. It displayed some of the geology and history of the mining in the state of Minas Gerais (means General Mines). Seeing some of the scenes of how the slaves were put to hard work digging the tunnels and mining the gold, gems and diamonds later on. Unfortunately the last bus was leaving at 4:00 to take us back to the hotel, so we only had about 20 minutes in the museum.
Back at the hotel, we changed quickly to get ready for our
evening concert at the
It was nice to be at the church a little early and actually to take pictures (we weren't allowed to take pictures in most of the churches in Ouro Preto, but since we were performing in this one, it was OK). My camera was doing its weird thing again - making that strange rattling sound when the lens opened only a millimeter of two. Hmmm - not again! But fortunately after a couple good thumps it was working again. We warmed up, figured out how to arrange the electronic piano (we didn't expect to have a piano, so this was a bonus), and figured out how to arrange ourselves along the edge of the altar. Every church was different and it always took us a while to figure out the best way to line up.
It was a full house - people even standing in the back. The Brazilian choir performed a few numbers - including some classical works, a movement from Handel's Judas Maccabeus, and some Brazilian works. Their voices were so pure and clear - and so energetic! Afterward, we got up and performed most of the numbers from our program. Then at the end, the choirs combined, and we got to sing 2 pieces together - the Locus Iste and the Psalmo 150. It was a great experience being able to perform together - we both did these pieces from memory (I was wondering at first if we learned them the same way, but we did!). The voices blended so well, and again the amount of energy was great. I just wish there was a recording!
After the concert and getting pictures, the director of the
Brazilian choir handed
We headed down a side street a few blocks and enjoyed dinner at the nearby Casa dos Contos - it was a great day not to be forgotten. We walked back to the Rodoviaria where we got back on the main bus back to the hotel and for a good night sleep.
June 27
Today was a day to unwind from all the action the last
couple days and take a bus ride down the countryside to the big city of
I wasn’t able to charge my camera batteries overnight, since the electricity wasn’t compatible. Even with my adaptor, I couldn’t get the lights to come on indicating the batteries were indeed charging. Ron was also a bit annoyed he couldn’t get his hair dryer working – most hotels indicate a “110V” above the outlets that are indeed 110 and not 220 (this hotel didn’t have any “110V” stickers on the outlets). And he didn’t want to risk blowing out his hair dryer that he brought. This was also the only hotel without a hair dryer inside, and even with every combination of adaptor and plug, he couldn’t manage to fit the plug (one prong was just a little bit too wide). Bummer – but that’s one of the interesting lessons of overseas travel.
The road to
We were ready to turn on another freeway when all of the sudden - traffic jam! Traffic was stopped in both directions - hmmm. Maybe my original traffic fears would come true. After waiting about 5 minutes, we soon found the source of the traffic jam. Three large trucks, carrying enormous tanks were coming down the road. Each tank was the entire width of the road (probably 3 lanes wide), so for safety, they were taking up the whole road. It was actually quite amusing to watch. As soon as the trucks with the tanks passed, traffic was flowing smoothly again.
Soon afterward, we turned into the Fartura
restaurant for lunch. We saw the first 4
letters of the sign before seeing the rest of it, and that generated quite a
few laughs! It was one of the popular
"kilo" restaurants of
Afterward, a couple people took a little walk around the swan lake (there were a few white swan-shaped paddleboats you could cruise around in), visit the organic garden, or watch the parakeets in a big cage. What was most interesting for me, however, were the numerous termite mounds all around the countryside. Some of these mounds were probably 6 or 8 feet tall, and who knows how many bugs were in each one. Each mound was a maze of tunnels in every direction, and the nest extended far underground too - the mound was actually made from the excavations of the dirt from underground. I wasn't about to try kicking one...
The landscape was changing around us, and we could tell we
were getting close to
We reached the Candelaria church just before 4:00, giving us a bit of time to start getting ready for our performance. It was nice to have some extra time, and the church was quite beautiful. Again, it was nice to (legally) take pictures of the ornate marble work and carvings and paintings all around us. It was like being in a part of heaven. However, for me, my stomach was feeling even further from 100% at this point (the long bus ride didn't help, and it wasn't feeling so great since lunch). I even felt like a bit of a fever was coming on, but it would come and go. I thought I should be fine for the evening, then I'd get a good night sleep and take some medicine and I should be fine.
We rehearsed for about an hour, where I had to sit a couple
times since it was quite hot and stuffy inside.
The acoustics were wonderful and the design of the church was
exquisite. I think the adrenaline of
such an experience kept me going, even though my stomach condition was sinking
fast. We were almost ready to perform,
and we put on our suits with black pants, long sleeve white shirts, blue, yellow,
and green ties (to match the colors of the Brazilian flag), and thick black
coats (with buttons fastened). By now,
it was pretty hot and I was wondering why we needed to button our coats (it was
great in
We made through the first third or so of the program, when all the sudden I started feeling faint. I didn't lock my knees or anything - I just started feeling really hot and stuffy. I had to quickly bow out (I was near the back so this was hardly noticed), and head to the bathroom. A few minutes of letting my body clean itself out really helped. After a couple glasses of water and sitting for about 15 minutes (the middle third of the program) I was ready to go back on. I wanted to be able to sing the Gershwin jazz part at the end (plus whatever encores the audience asked for). I just didn't want to get sick again.
I felt fine, actually quite good, and really enjoyed singing
the rest of the concert. We had a
standing ovation, and probably did an extra 3 or so songs for an encore. I'm really glad they really liked it -
especially the Ja Primavera and Psalmo 150. After the concert, we headed to dinner. This time I was hoping for something simple,
like a nice bowl of soup or something - anything but meat! But of course, since
June 28
My roommate again wasn't feeling so well overnight, and he
had to get up early to go to the bathroom - and of course woke me up in the
process. It turned out to work out for
the best, however, since when I peeked out the window, a brilliant red glow
came through the shutters. We had a
great view from the 16th floor of the luxurious
We headed down to the 3rd floor for another wonderful buffet breakfast - my stomach was mostly better, but I still had to cut back a little. The tropical fruits and sweet breads were delicious and easily digested. I didn't want to risk any uneasiness today - this was one of the most anticipated days of the trip.
We got on the bus and headed over to the famous
Corcovado is probably the most famous postcard view in all
of
This mountain and statue had been visible the whole time in
Suddenly, the trees opened up and the view of
It was like being on top of the world - the whole city at our footsteps. Christ the Redeemer had his hands spread out indicating love over the city - and of course Christ had His arms spread with love in a similar way on the cross. Unfortunately, we were on a pretty tight schedule, only giving us about 1/2 hour at the peak. But I did manage to get a picture of my arms spread under Christ's arms so it looks like we are both flying over the city (like in Titanic)! Many of us were wearing our "SF Bay Chorale" t-shirts, and started to collect under the statue to sing a little. Time was short, but we managed to perform a couple songs. It was quite a blessing for the other tourists and for us too!
We had to line up to get on the next train back down and we had to wait in a waiting area behind the statue without much of a view - bummer. But it was still really worth it. My ears started popping as we headed down the steep hill toward the station at the base of the mountain. They must have some good brakes!
Back on the bus, we continued our tour of the city, circling
the Lagoa Rodrigo, passing one of the largest
shopping malls in town, and heading over toward the beach. It was a vision of paradise, the turquoise
waters and white-sand beaches. Right
next to the beach were granite slabs running straight to the ocean. It was soon like driving around Olmstead
Point in
Around the corner was the beautiful Ipanema
beach, and just next to it was the ritzy Sheraton hotel.
The surf on the beaches was a little big today, but a few hardy surfers were out riding the waves. Most people were just walking, enjoying the sand, the black and white waves in the mosaic tile pavement, the sun, and ice creams and local snacks from the stands along the street. The beach ended abruptly against the rocky point that divides Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. A historic fort was built on the point – cannon blasts would sound periodically, and it was open for tours. I wish we had another day to see the sights, but time was short.
A lot of people decided to get off at one of the jewelry
factories near Ipanema beach and get a ride back from
there.
So while the rest of the group was out looking at jewelry,
we headed back to the
It was a fairly short drive to the eastern end of town,
where we were dropped off at the cable car station for Sugarloaf by the Praca Gen. Tiburcio. The weather indeed was starting to come in -
clouds had already covered some of the nearby peaks. Hmmm - I hope the view is still clear from
Sugarloaf... Galen, Juliet, Joe and
Emory and I got our tickets and soon were on the gondola heading up to the 220
meter first hump of
We walked around a bit, taking the path toward the second
cable car to the summit of Sugarloaf itself.
A few clouds were swirling below the top of the 396 meter summit, rising
like a vertical loaf of bread (hence the name Sugarloaf). I stopped to take a few pictures and thought
I had fallen behind a bit, when I saw the second cable car was almost full and
about to leave. When I got on, I ran
into Malcolm! There'd be no way he would
miss this! (I wonder if he asked about
hang gliding too...). We passed through
some of the thin clouds, as the views continued to open up of
Once on top and we got off the crowded cable car, I couldn't find Emory and Rob and Galen and Juliet - hmmm - maybe they missed it and took the next one? The view was amazing, and it took a few minutes just to drink it in before I even thought to reach my camera (I hope my camera doesn't do the rattling thing this time!) The summit was like an isolated ecosystem - since the only way up (or down) was by cable car. A couple dozen squirrel monkeys were swinging in the trees on top (and looking very cute), and even a bunch of desert cactus were growing around the sides of the rock. It was turning into a beautiful sunset - the sun was playing with the clouds coming in, while a few clouds passed below us. The rest of our group showed up - they were on the next cable car and we got our photos (with a couple cute ladies that Malcolm managed to pick up on the way).
Clouds capped many of the lower mountains to the east, and
It was getting time to head back, and we were soon on the
cable car, passing through the clouds on the way down (made a great video!) to
Morro da Urca, and then
back to Praca Gen. Tiburcio
at sea level. My ears popped on the way
down a couple times - it was a quick trip.
But it was definitely well worth it.
Only thing that could top the cable car ride to Sugarloaf would be a
cable car up to Half Dome! The taxi
driver was still waiting for us at the parking lot, and soon we were back at
the
Back at the hotel, we had a couple hours to kill before
dinner. It was already dark (and Rio is
one of the most dangerous cities in the world, up there with
We got on the bus to head to the Clube
Plataforma, where were treated to another wonderful
dinner. I was able to enjoy most of it,
but still had to lay off the red meat. I
felt like I had become a vegetarian now, but at least there were plenty of
non-meat choices this time. Right after
dinner, we headed upstairs to a theatre where we enjoyed an extravagant samba
dance show. It was like a little taste
of what Carnaval was all about. People knew how to party in
It was definitely a day of sensory overload and we weren't done until after 11:00. I was glad to get back to the hotel and relax a bit. The rain was coming down quite heavily - was quite a surprise since we had beautiful weather the whole trip so far. On Sugarloaf earlier, we were watching it come in, and now it was here. It made for good sleeping weather.
June 29
It was pretty foggy when I woke up - most of the mountains were covered. Glad I got the good pictures yesterday at sunrise. Today we planned to head to a small colonial town a couple hours outside the town, do some sightseeing and give a concert.
We had our usual breakfast buffet at the hotel - I was
feeling pretty good by now, having mostly recovered from a couple days
ago. It was nice to have a little walk
on Copacabana beach, watching the heavy surf pounding on the smooth white
sand. A bunch of sand sculptures had
been built, honoring the Pan American games, which were about to kick off in
We were amazingly on time at 10 AM (our group had been
pretty good the whole trip, always being ready on time. Another bus next to us was just leaving, and
their group was supposed to meet and leave at 8 AM, so they were 2 hours
late!) We headed north, about 80 km out
of town, the narrow and windy roads heading high up in the mountains and
clouds. It was a bit foggy and misty and
much cooler in the small town than in
Visiting the palace was like visiting one of the palaces in
We took a little stroll around town, passing the Municipal theatre, some of the parks, a nice cathedral (but we just got to see the heavy locked wooden doors in front, since I think it was under renovation), and some restaurants. It was starting to rain a little, so we ducked into a pizzeria for lunch. We were tired of buffets and just wanted to order some food, so we got a couple pizzas. The food was good, but service was slow. Then came 3 (minor) fiascos - one pizza never showed up but we were charged for it, an extra fruit drink was added that we didn't order, and an extra banana split was added... trying to explain to them their mistakes with a few phrases from a guidebook proved challenging. I think we ended up just getting ripped off and eating some of the charges and moving on instead of fighting it. Hmmm - maybe we should just stick with the buffets next time...
We headed to the municipal theatre and started warming up
for our performance. It was interesting
to tour backstage in a real theatre, and outside the
The mayor of the town and his wife were there for the
performance at the Municipal Paulo Gracindo theatre,
which opened a choir festival in
We took a ride outside town and enjoyed dinner at the
Churrascaria Rio Sul, which was next to a beautiful
lake reflecting an exquisite palace on the far side. Definitely a memorable moment, and I was just
starting to enjoy the meats again! For
about 20 people of our group, this was their farewell, since they weren't going
on to
June 30
This was our last day in Rio - we enjoyed breakfast at the
hotel and soon afterward were on the bus headed to
We eventually heard the cause of the delay, which was because of "inclement weather conditions" - whatever that meant. I thought the forecast was for sunny weather the next couple days. Maybe mismanagement of the airlines (there had been problems going on for several months with the airlines in Brazil with air traffic control - and they could always use weather as an excuse). Hmmm - this wasn't good. And for the rest of us, this was the part of the trip we were looking forward to the most. We had to start making contingency plans - what if we couldn't get out until tomorrow? What if there was an airline strike and we were stranded? How long would it take on a bus? We later found out the whole airport was closed because of fog. Apparently, a weather system had just gone through, and when the skies cleared quickly overnight, the air cooled quickly, blanketing the whole area in dense fog.
Fortunately, we got the announcement we had all been waiting
for, and they said the flight was going to be leaving in 15 minutes! Back on track - woo-hoo! We were going to
We were greeted with a band at the airport, a group of guys
hitting drums and cowbells and dancing.
Of course, Malcolm had to join the action for a moment! We claimed our luggage and were soon on our
way through downtown
Behind the souvenir shop was another mini-zoo, like back at
the hotel in
We arrived at the hotel, which was right near the edge of
I had gotten so wrapped up in the moment that I almost forgot we had to meet at 7:00 to get on the bus to dinner and a show. I was walking with Ron, and as it got pretty dark (and I was using the screen from my camera as a flashlight), Ron found a shortcut and started heading up some stairs. The elevator had been shut down for the evening, which caught me by surprise. I missed the shortcut and kept going straight toward the road. I got a bit worried, but at least getting back to the hotel was easy - just follow the road, dodging the coatis roaming around scavenging bits of food. I just hoped Ron found the road too. About 5 minutes later, I saw him way ahead of me!
We were back just in time - about 6:58! My clothes were soaked from the spray of the falls and thanks to Emory for giving me an extra (dry) sweatshirt for the show! Since our room was at the far end of the hotel (the Tropical hotels are very linear and it's probably a 15 minute walk from one end to the other!), I probably wouldn't have time and I didn't want to make the group late waiting for me.
We headed to the Rafain Churrascaria for dinner and gorged ourselves with all kinds of meat, seafood, sushi, pasta, and dessert. It was nice to have so many choices. The raw oysters and fresh salmon sashimi really hit the spot. We enjoyed a few caiparinhas over dinner as the show was starting. It was similar to the last one in Rio, featuring samba dancers, a bola dance, some wonderful costumes, and an "extreme" harpist who played the harp like he was in a heavy metal band (I thought was going to set it on fire when he was done). There was also a Mexican mariachi band and some other folk groups did a few songs as well. And this time, the bola dancer had a volunteer get in front of her, and she swung the balls so fast and so close to the volunteer that his hair moved (he didn't flinch a bit - whew!). The packed house gave a great ovation.
I needed a good recharge overnight, and so did my camera batteries (recording 10 minutes of video at the samba show, and using the screen as a flashlight took quite a bit of battery juice). I slept quite well in the hotel.
July 1
We had all day at the falls - I was really looking forward
to this day. I woke up early, and much
to my dismay all I saw was a lot of fog out the window of our room. Some of the other tourists complained about
yesterday being so foggy until about 1:00 (so the air traffic control folks
weren't lying after all). Hmmm - we'd
have to wait until 1:00 again today? We
planned on going on a boat tour up close to the falls (like the Maid of the
Mist at
After breakfast at the hotel, I looked outside, and it was
suddenly all clear! Cool - the fog had
burned off earlier. We got on the bus
and headed to the Macucu Safari just down the street
- it was a little pricy, but well worth it to get up close to the awesome
falls. We took a wagon ride through a
narrow road in the rainforest, where we could see the plants and a couple birds
up close. Some of us got out a little
early and walked a path to the river, while the rest stayed on the wagon. We hiked toward a smaller waterfall along the
way, when suddenly we noticed a bunch of gem stones right in the rocks along
the trail! I guess the gems are pretty
abundant in
We filled 2 boats - actually giant motorized inflatable
rafts that could navigate the swift rapids in the
We cruised up the river, visiting the fork of the falls on
the
The flow was down quite a bit, which actually made the
two-tiered falls more picturesque.
Supposedly during a couple of the El Nino years, the river was so high
that the middle tier was completely covered - the rust-colored water was 40
meters deeper (making the falls look just like a big muddy rapid instead of a
vertical curtain of water). There are at
least 300 separate waterfalls - the place is definitely a wonder of the natural
world! And unlike Niagara with its main
horseshoe of falls,
We spent probably 1/2 hour back at the entrance of the Macucu Safari waiting for the bus to come back to pick us up. Meanwhile, we were amazed by a spectacular butterfly display - there were brilliant butterflies with shimmering blue wings, some with red, green, yellow, and even with transparent wings. They would land right on your finger and open their wings for a photogenic moment (normally butterflies with bright wings keep them closed, since they would be easier for predators to see). After being awed by nature's artwork in the butterfly wings for a while, we discovered the bus was actually there all along - the driver was waiting for us for a half hour!
It was nice to get back to the hotel and change into dry clothes again. I draped as many of my wet clothes as I could, hoping they would dry at least a little before we got on the plane tomorrow (I was only about 2 kg short of the weight limit by now with my luggage, and wet clothes wouldn't help). Ron probably spent 1/2 hour with the hair dryer from our room trying to dry his jeans (that was his last pair - the others had developed a bit of a rank smell by now), but it was to little avail. Oh well - smelly jeans weren't as bad as soaking wet ones.
A few of the people decided to get a quick lunch and head
over to a bird sanctuary near the river.
As for me, I had seen a bunch of wonderful birds - even at the souvenir
shop yesterday! But I'd rather look for
birds in the wild than see them in cages (I had seen plenty of birds in cages -
there are so many even at the SF zoo!).
The rest of us walked back to the falls, enjoying burgers and fries at
one of the restaurants (our first "American" food on the trip). We mostly just spent hours soaking in the
wonder of the place, drinking in the splendor of the falls, rainbows, canyons,
and rainforest. Catwalks went out along
the middle tier of the falls, giving us a panoramic view (I think this was
probably the best view possible, since on the
It was about 5:00 when we started moseying our way back to
the hotel. A toucan with a bright orange
beak flew overhead. It had been such a
perfect day! A couple of us went to the
tower on top of the hotel for an even better view of the falls. But there was more to come. They were running rappel trips - where you
could rappel on a rope 55 meters down the cliff down to the river, with a great
view of the falls all around. It was
definitely a memorable experience and quite worth the R$75. Gently twirling around as the rope passed
through my figure-8 on my way down was defiantly an adrenaline inducing
experience. It was a free-hanging rappel
all the way down from a platform that extended probably 10 meters over the
cliff face. Now when are they going to
have a rappelling opportunity from the platform they just built over the
We enjoyed a nice happy hour with free drinks while watching the sun setting low over the river canyon. Fog was starting to fill the canyon and the orange sun skimmed the surface of the mist. Just afterward, we enjoyed our "last supper" at the hotel. The wine was included this time, and we dined with the music of a graceful harp (played normally this time, not like a heavy metal rocker!)
And the day was still not over - it was a full moon outside, and our timing was perfect. During full moons, they give guided walks to the falls, and tonight was a perfect night. I had never seen a "moon-bow" before, but the mist of the falls and the bright moon gave me the perfect opportunity. I found that my opening my camera aperture to f/2.8 and using a 15 second exposure at ISO 400 gave pictures that looked like daylight! Except the water was silky smooth and stars twinkled overhead in the pictures. And the moonbows actually proved to have the same colors as regular rainbows during the day. Turns out the eye is just not sensitive enough to pick out the colors at night, but the camera is. I just had to be very careful to make sure my camera didn't get soaked from the spray was it was sitting on a railing for 15 seconds to capture a time-exposure. I also had to be careful when using the railings climbing the stairs, since the railings were full of bugs - crickets, spiders, praying mantis, beetles, and other more exotic bugs - I guess they are nocturnal since they weren't there during the day.
July 2
Alas, our wonderful trip was nearing its end, and we were ready to begin the long journey home. We got one last look at the falls in the morning, capturing the rainbows behind us, before we got our suitcases on the bus to head to the airport. After breakfast, we checked into the Foz de Iguazu airport, and caught our 1:30 flight (which left at 2:00).
We got into
It was about 45 minutes along the freeway into town, mostly
against traffic as people were getting off work. We got to visit the stunning
We did a bit of a walking tour around
It was a stream of solid traffic back to the airport - it probably took an hour and a half to get back. But our flight wasn't supposed to leave for a while yet, so we had time to kill. After grabbing something to eat at the airport (you could never count on getting fed on planes anymore these days), we boarded our plane for out 10:45 departure. We were all in our seats, seatbelts fastened, tray tables to their full and upright locked positions, luggage stowed in the overhead bins and under our seats, and we were ready to push back for an on-time departure.
But instead of pushing back, we sat. And we sat some more. And some more. Then came some short announcement hastily spoken in Portuguese which none of us understood (which I was thinking might be "flight attendants, prepare for departure"). And we sat some more. Finally, they said air traffic control couldn't let us depart right away, but we should be cleared shortly. Then I looked out the window, and it didn't look quite as clear as before - the lights were looking hazy. Then they became even hazier - then I couldn't see them at all - it had become quite foggy. We sat longer, anticipating every little sound to be the engines warming up on our A320 to take off. But no such luck.
By 2:30 am or so, they told us to get off the plane - the airport was shut down because of fog. Well, if we had taken off on time, we would have beat the fog! They said come back at 9:00 am and you can find a hotel if you want (they weren't about to help us with that - we were on our own). So we got off and prepared to curl up on the floor of the airport and try to doze until morning. Then came another announcement - we had to go back and get our luggage! Our luggage?! I didn't want my luggage! It was supposed to be checked all the way through... But no, we had to go to baggage claim, sift through the mess of displaced passengers and their luggage (all 21 flights for the evening were canceled because of the fog as well). It was strange going through customs again, since we hadn't gone anywhere! We had no forms or any proof that we were legitimate, but all the security personnel knew the airport was closed so they just let us pass through.
At least none of our bags were lost. We schlepped the luggage around the airport, trying to figure out where to hang out and wait until morning. Since we had to go outside security, we were back in the common area by the check-in counter. What a hassle! Thousands of passengers all stranded all around us, schlepping their luggage, trying to find taxis to nearby hotels or just going home to give up with their trips or calling friends and relatives on their cell phones - it was a mad house. Normally by 3:30 am, the airport should be deserted.
At least with my luggage, I pulled out a jacket (which I didn't plan on needing, but now I'm glad I had it), and curled up to snooze a bit. A woke up a couple hours later, sore in strange areas from lying on the hard tile floor of the airport. Supposedly I had missed some news action - a local SBT news camera had filmed me sleeping when reporting a news story! A couple hours later, the check-in counter opens and we are able to off-load our luggage. Since we already had bar codes on the luggage, they didn't need to go through the computer again, so they put us in a separate line where we could just go right through and drop the bags on the belt. But then the belt stopped working - it jammed! There were guys running up and down the belt, trying to figure out what happened and why it jammed. Hmmm - the saga continued.
Finally about 15-20 minutes later, they got it working and we dropped off our bags. It was about 5 am now. Security wouldn't open for 2 more hours. So we curled up again to try to nap, but with little success. It was probably worth just going up to the line and waiting there, since we'd be waiting anyway. Then suddenly, we realized we needed to get our boarding passes re-issued and re-stamped. There was an immigration control that required the boarding passes to be validated with a passport and stamped. But they were already stamped and taken the first time we got on the plane. We weren't even supposed to be where we were - they had to somehow "reset the system" and allow us to pass again! Thankfully, Ilse took charge and got our boarding passes re-issued.
July 3
Actually it had been July 3 for about 7 hours now, but it
didn't feel like it - it just felt like a "really long July 2", and
the saga was to continue quite a bit more.
The security line opened briefly and I think a couple people went
through, since the line moved a little.
But then it stopped for at least 20 minutes. Maybe it was just compressing? Then it moved again a couple people and
stopped again. Probably around 8, we
were finally moving. I just hoped the
ordeal would be about over. I didn't try
to think of what to do in
Our flight still said boarding at 9:00, and we were there. But it was clear looking out the airport windows that we weren't going to take off at 9:00. I could barely see the tail of our airplane through the dense fog! Hmmm - was it ever going to burn off? It seemed like with modern radar and air traffic control systems that we could at least take off in the fog. (Landing is a different matter). But the airport was still closed - nobody was landing or taking off. Finally about 10:00, they said we could board the plane, and by 11:00, when the fog had burned off enough to reveal a couple patches of blue sky, we were pushing back.
From the air, we could see the full extent of the fog,
covering much of the area around
Flying over the tropics of northern Brazil (we probably
crossed the Amazon somewhere, but it was all in clouds), then crossing the
northern coast into the blue waters of the Caribbean, then Cuba and the
tropical paradise islands surrounding it, we made our way toward Miami. It had been a pretty smooth easy flight the
whole way, when I looked ahead toward
The rain was just starting as we landed and a couple flashes
of distant lightning lit up part of the sky.
I was just glad we landed safely.
We got to the baggage claim and waited to claim our bags. We waited and waited, and no bags showed
up. Maybe they were on the other
carousel (that one also said
- can we get a flight out tonight on standby?
- if so, we wouldn’t have our luggage and would have to wait probably several days.
- if not, we could try to get our luggage the next morning. But could we find a hotel overnight?
- and if we got the hotel, we wouldn’t have any change of
clothes (but at least we could take a shower)
At least I was smart and packed some toiletries in my carry-on this time (I hadn’t been doing this earlier on the trip). It seemed like some people were starting to do their own thing - it felt like a "every man for himself" time at this point. I lagged behind, hoping my bags would show up (the carousels were still moving and fresh bags were still showing up sporadically). When I was in line to file a missing bag form, most of the group had gone to speak with an AA representative about getting a hotel room. I lost the group (I was just with Emory and Galen and a couple others, but I forgot they weren’t going back to SFO right away, so they were away from the group on purpose).
I finally got in touch with a TAM representative (I didn’t realize the group had gone to talk with AA, since the luggage problem was TAM’s). I managed to get a voucher for a free hotel at the nearby Regency hotel, as well as free dinner and breakfast at the hotel. A small victory for a tough journey was well received. And they said I could go to the AA counter where they could re-issue boarding passes to SFO the next morning. I was satisfied at this point and just wanted to crash for the night. At least I wasn’t schlepping bags at this point. I ate at the Burger King at the airport (didn't expect the hotel restaurant to still be open, so why take the chance? But alas, it wasn't free - oh well), then took the free shuttle to the hotel. It was quite a vivid display of lightning and thunder outside while waiting for the shuttle - we don't get that in the Bay Area!
At the hotel, I'm by myself at this point - I was too tired and didn't really care to try to find the others - at least I had a free hotel with a nice warm bed for the night (no more curling up on cold hard floor at the airport). I watched a few minutes of an old James Bond flick before hitting the sack (I felt like Bond over the last couple days, being on a mission, trying to complete an epic journey).
I wondered how the rest of the group was doing on their
flight home – they probably missed all this excitement. Actually not – I found out later they had
their own saga. It had become foggy in
July 4
I had two alarms set this morning at 7:00 to be extra sure I
would be up in time to not miss my flight.
They went off within 30 seconds of each other, so yes I was up. One last free breakfast - a buffet at the
hotel, and I caught the 7:30 shuttle to the
Miraculously, my bags were sitting behind the TAM counter. I thought the luggage never made it on the
flight, after the fiasco with the luggage in
I got my bags at the TAM counter – what a relief! Then, when I turned around, I ran into
Andrea! She had been going through a
similar saga of trying to get her bags, and our timing must have been impeccable! We rolled our bags down to the AA counter and
checked them in (we already had our boarding passes, so we just had to get
stickers for them). I guess the airline
took care of passing our bags through customs in
We got on our flight to
A smooth landing in
Over the next few days, we would compare notes on our return
saga. I was actually quite lucky to get
a free hotel (AA only gave discounted rates on rooms, but TAM gave me a free
room and free meals). I was also one of
the few to get home with my luggage.
About 5 people got out on standby from
My friend Ray Harwood picked me up (Rob and Rachel got a
standby flight the night before, and it wasn’t fair to ask Rachel’s dad to make
two trips). Ray and I enjoyed some time
in the pool (now this really felt like vacation – without a care in the world
now), then headed up to
My pictures from this trip are online at http://community.webshots.com/user/mattshots.