Back home again, Archie and I caught an Acadian Lines Bus home from the airport, great ride to Port Hawkesbury ....although I did scan the bus for underwater emergency exits. Thanks Susan for picking us up. Many thanks again to Tom and Gabrielle Daniels for house and pet sitting. We certainly appreciate your help.
Most of the snow gone, daffodils and crocus are showing.

March 13, 2011
Left Sao Paulo at 8:30 PM. Eventful flight, first there was a dog running through the huge airplane them there was a medical emergency. A young healthy looking fellow in his late 20s early 30s was in distress, he had a collapsed lung. They called for doctors onboard and decided we would divert to San Jaun, Peurto Rico tosend him to hospital. That took up about 2 hours and we finally arrived in Toronto at 8:00 AM. The whole huge plane (777 or 747)  had to go through customs and be rebooked since we all missed our conneccting flights, huge line up, and I was lucky to in the front section of it. Finally arrived in Ottawa at 11:00 AM . Visiting with Leona, Nathan and Owen. He cretainly is growing and what a handsome fellow.

Thursday Geiselle picked me up and we drove her school in Sorocaba about 100 Km from Sao Paulo.  What a beautiful setting for a school. The have an enrollment of about 175 and the grounds are a fruit grove, bananas, coconuts, star fruit, a red fruit something like a cherry, avocados, mangoes, a fruit that looks a bit like a tomato with a stem like a tomato and more. The climate there is not all rain like Sao Paulo,  its very nice and warm and has much more sunshine than Sao Paulo. We had meetings and observed classes all day Thursday and Friday I taught three classes. A very good school, with a controlled, comfortable atmosphere. I stayed at the Ibis Hotel and plugged in my surge protector for they had 220 wiring.My surge protector made a funny noise and then wouldn't light up any more and the TV and hairdryer also wouldn't work. Think I blew a fuse, better than blowing the computer.
Friday after noon Geiselle and I went back to Sao Paulo with her son Guillame who is preparing to defend his thesis in a few weeks. Traffic wasn't too bad so we arrived in Sao Paulo before it was too late.
Today, Saturday I catch a flight home at about 8:30  PM .Leona and Owen will pick me up in Ottawa. and Archie and I will arrive home in Judique on Monday. I'll have to look for my socks and my warmer coat before I leave the airport in Ottawa.

 Cathedral from the back

Today and yesterday I took advantage of the metro. It is a great way to see the city, stop at a station check out the map telling what is above ground and take a look around. If it’s nice I stay and have a look around. Saw some beautiful old churches and very old ornate buildings at the Se´ station. These are holidays so when I went there today all the shops were closed and deserted. Tomorrow I will have off again, and since I did some work today, I’ll go have a look at the places I found that looked good but were closed. The metro stations and areas around them (where I go) always have a very strong military/police presence so I feel quite safe.

The carnival still is going on every night. It runs from 10:00 PM till 9:00 AM in the morning…all night. Someone told me there is a big finale on Friday evening. I will be in Sorocaba, a place about 110 Km from here, Thursday and Friday and probably will be back too late to see any more of the Carnival.  I have had poor internet service since I arrived here, tried using the cable, still terrible…but now it is flying. Maybe they repaired it since I asked them again at the desk.

The sidewalks here are beautiful. Many are mosaics made from different coloured blocks of stone. In public places they are uniform but in many areas every lot owner chooses what they like. Walking on the sidewalk here is a challenge just as in Macae especially the ramps for the many parking garages. You are walking and all of a sudden there is 6 in to a foot drop. Walking here is something you have to concentrate on.

Today I conquered the Sao Paulo subway system. It’s not much different than any other city, just very hard to ask directions. This morning I went on the subway to a market in Republic Square. A lot of very interesting things there, food, stones, clothing, jewelry, leather and much more. When I left there I went to the Sambradome, bought a ticket for tonight and got acquainted on how to get there.  Met a fellow from Malta while I was buying my ticket, all English speakers are so happy to get someone they can talk to.  This evening I went to the Sambrodome on the subway and then took a taxi the rest of the way. It is a huge structure, 530 m long and 14 m wide, with lighting that make night into day. There are two sets of bleachers/seating on either side of a large thoroughfare that passes between the bleachers. It is open air but the Carnival goes on rain or not , the feathers just get droopy and wet if it rains.  
Carnival is awesome. It is like the Chestico days parade times 100,000. There are HUGE floats and hundreds of costumed people with each float. The floats are entered by various districts of the city. The participants are not all young pretty girls, it looks as if whole neighborhoods (mom, dad, grandma and grandpa) get costumed in the most beautiful and imaginative costumes you can imagine.  So much flash, feathers and glitter on the dancers, lots of birds gave up their feathers for the parades. The huge parade passes between the two sets of bleachers. The whole length of the bleachers (one side) must be ½ a km.
Now there are beautiful girls, some are in very intricate costumes and some are barely in costumes at all. Each float has many dancers on it and preceding it and following it as well. The floats are pushed by a large group of ‘pushers’ and one person steers it.  These floats are very high and there are dancers on all levels. It would be a long way to fall. Then there is so much music, on speaker systems and from the dancers singing.
Met a lovely couple, Renaldo and Martha, he is Brazilian and she is Polish. They speak English so it was so nice to have a guide to explain the parade to me. So instead of having to leave early and catch a cab and a subway, I was able to share a cab back to my hotel and they continued on down to where they live.
Pictures will be posted when I get a better connection.

 The city

 Party on the street

First whole day free to explore. I walked about 3 km to a flea market and saw a local Carnival parade. It was nice in the morning but as usual the rain started around noon. Nobody seems to care, everyone has umbrellas and it is a warm rain. I think flea markets are the same everywhere. This is a huge city, I walked through a pretty fancy shopping area today, didn’t stop in too many stores there.

I walked to day from 10 till 6:30, feet meed a rest. I think tomorrow I’ll look for more interesting places and try the subway and look for the Sambadome. This is the place where it all happens, may get a ticket for a performance. At least I will experiment with the bus and subway.

The plants here are what we call ‘house plants’. They are huge and so many flowers. There is (what I think is) a Jasmine tree. The smell is heavenly.  Got to watch those sidewalks, so many ups and downs.

Sao Paulo is rain central, an umbrella is an essential part of wardrobe here, and rubber boots would be good too. I’m not getting many pictures for 2 reasons, the rain and I don’t want to stand out like some sore thumb/flashy tourist.

Last evening I went to the main street nearby and there was a demonstration on the median. Probably about 200 250 protestors, a union group I think.  Well there were at least 500 police/military law enforcers there watching and taking pictures and video. No disturbance while I was there, just watching.

I am living in the central part of Sao Paulo, a block from the financial district. Lots of tall buildings and people, it is a very hilly city and bad for driving a standard. The Renaissance Inn is just across the street.

I’ve been working in the office reading and summarizing and making power point to put on the website. I’m on holiday till Thursday. Everything stops for Carnival. Don’t know how much I will see especially since I don’t have a body guard. The parades in Macae were pretty wild so I can imagine what the real thing will be like. I am little by little expanding my comfort zone around the area where I live. There re a lot of little shops and some big trendy mall near by. I was so glad to see English book stores. Tomorrow there are some street markets nearby so I will look for them.

Thursday I go to a school on the outskirts of the city. I may have to do some teaching and have some meetings. I’ll be there two days and will stay at a hotel nearby. Then next Saturday it’s back to Canada. Doubt if the snow will be gone.

March 2, 2011

Walked the three blocks to work this morning and saw some green PARROTS flying about in the trees overhead. This is a tropical place and it must be the rainy season now, for it has rained ever since I arrived. My new umbrella is nice and big but…it takes a lot of practice to manoeuvre the crowded sidewalk with a wide umbrella. I think it is a learned skill, I didn’t acquire yet. A group of us from the office went to lunch at a buffet restaurant. Yum, so many good and different things there, I love the food here. Tonight I ate at the hotel restaurant, language barriers is annoying sometimes. I ordered what I thought the waiter understood was bread to go with the soup I ordered. Got a big plate of cheese, just what I want to avoid. Oh well soup was good but enough for 3 people.

The restaurant isn’t very busy so later on I went back and sat down there to surf the web. My room has terrible internet wireless.  I got a conference call from Susan and her sister Louise. Three way call but costs nothing. Great to talk to them and my buddy Frank at the bar didn’t mind one bit.

Marble is everywhere, where we use wood they use marble. My table top in my room is marble, the window sills, the door trim, all counter tops, floor tiles, you name it its marble. The climate her is certainly a lot less humid than in Macae, (my clothes actually are dry). It is also not as hot, the temperature is just right, my feet still aren’t cold.

I get the weekend off and also all the carnival time off. I’m on vacation till Wednesday or Thursday. Then I go to visit a school near Sao Paulo. Now my schedule is changed again, I get to go home the 12^th as originally planned, we finished everything here fast.

 Where I'm working now

Hotel is very nice, laundry service provided, someone cleans my room every day and I just show my room key for meals at the restaurant, breakfast is very nice buffet. My work place for now is 3 blocks away and easy to find. It passes by a huge book store with English books, I was worried since I was on my last book from home, now I have two new ones. There is a large mall close by and many, many shops and restaurants. We are right in the heart of the city, a block from the main drag where Carnival will take place. Lots of rain, my old umbrella couldn’t take it so I bought a nice big one.

 Bus terminal

 Hills on the way to Rio

 Cattle country

The breakers were even bigger this morning when I left. Caught the 7:40 bus to Rio from Macae, nice 2 1/2 hour ride, got to see the country side.  On arriving in Rio I was able to get a taxi to the airport and arrive there with time to spare. Good thing I was told to keep checking on what gate for my departure, I was sitting at gate 3 when what do you know it changes to gate 2.  Arrived in Sao Paolo  in heavy rain, I am on a  hill and the water is gushing down. Unpacked and just realized how damp It was in Macae. My clothing all felt as if I had just taken it out of the washer, so wet. Very nice place, a hotel this time, 8^th floor of the Landmark Hotel in the Jardin district. No cooking utensils here, guess I’ll have to eat out, the hotel has a nice restaurant.  This area is said to be quite safe, that is nice. Tomorrow morning I walk about 3 blocks to work. Internet here is pretty slow, hope they can remedy it.