So much for NaBloPoMo

It's hard to blog everyday when you don't have access! I made it to my homeland. Got my passport early morning Friday, and then packed my bags. I know, I should have been already packed...but that's not how I work. And so I'm going to journal this trip on the blog so that I'll have a record of how it went.

I think so far I forgot to tell anyone. I had a reservation on a flight that left ABQ for DFW at 3:55. I was thinking that only an hour in Dallas wasn't going to be enough especially if my plane was a little late, and I had to rush to another terminal to catch my international flight. I called and changed it to an earlier flight that left ABQ at 2:10. Good thing. When I got to the gate, quite early, they were announcing that the 3:55 flight had cancelled!! If I had been on the way to the airport, I would have been too late to catch the earlier flight and would have most likely missed the flight to Brazil.

I sat next to a woman, a jewelry designer from Sao Paulo going home, Leticia Linton. She's on the left in the link. We conversed, and had some things in common...she's also married to an American, but he lives in Sao Paulo. Other than that, I am so NOT Brazilian, it isn't funny!

The flight was fine, long, and I got up a few times to walk and stretch. Leticia helped me fill out my customs form, and she didn't think I needed to declare peanut butter or Reese's peanut butter cups. I got through customs without a second glance. I found out later that apparently TSA opened my suitcase, and opened two of the three packages of test strips for my dad's glucometer, and then they must have decided that the third one was the same thing!

I met my friend Cybelle at the airport, and then we went by bus, comfortably to Sao Jose dos Campos. It is on the way to the coast, and a pleasant city. It is home of Embraer which manufactures small jets that used all over the world--including the US. I had a different idea of where her sister lived.

Sunday evening we came back to Sao Paulo. It is an amazingly crowded city. Everyone is in a hurry.


This is the view from Cybelle's brother's apartment, there are buildings as far as the eye can see and then some. Traffic is absolutely crazy, and even the locals agree. I expressed an interest while walking in a city park by designer Burle Marx, to see a cashew fruit, since I was only familiar with it from pictures...Before I left Cybelle's brother went to a little shop and here they were on a plate. The fruit has a kind of sticky sensation on your teeth like overly green bananas, but if I squeezed the juice out, it was tasty. Not to die for, but good. The fruit hangs with the nut at the bottom. I kept the nuts, which according to informed sources will sprout if planted. Maybe I can get one to grow, if it isn't confiscated as contraband.