This
is going to be a really long post, but I consider it family history,
so it'll be worth it to have recorded!
In 2000-2002 I served as a missionary
for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the cities of Goiânia,
Uberaba, and Caldas Novas, Brazil. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but
also the best thing I've ever done in my life. I never regretted it and I grew
so much as I served the people of Brazil and spent every single day for a year
and a half teaching about Jesus Christ.
I have wished to go back to Brazil ever
since I got home from my Brazil Goiânia mission 14 years ago. I even tried
once, but I was flying on a stand by airline buddy pass and days before I left,
the flight home oversold, which would have left me stranded in Brazil for
several days, in the middle of my college semester. So when a joint
mission president (I had 2) reunion was announced last fall, we decided to make
this trip happen. I had one condition – that I could take my family with
me. I had to introduce my husband to all of my Brazilian friends (and
vice versa) and my children have grown up hearing stories about Brazil and
being sung bedtime songs in Portuguese. We purchased tickets for
everyone, but even though 1 1/2 year old Kathryn would fly and stay for free,
we recognized how miserable she would be during all of the traveling. It
made my heart ache, but I knew she would be so much happier staying home with
her Grandma and Opa (which she was).
It was a long preparation process.
We had to get passports for Tyler and Lydia, and visas for all of us.
$700 in visa fees for our family just to visit Brazil for a week! It took
months and a visit by my sister to the Brazilian consulate in CA. And who
knows if I will ever go back to Brazil? So I shopped and shopped and
filled up an entire suitcase with presents for my Brazilian friends. That
was the fun part! Kristen, my sister, asked if we wanted a nanny.
Why, sure! So we helped with some of her expenses and she came along to
help with her niece and nephew. It was nice to have her along.
The day of departure arrived, Thursday,
March 24, 2016. We were all packed, Callie had her cat sitter lined up,
and we were headed out the door to drop Kathryn off and go to the airport…when
we received a text that our flight out of SLC had been delayed. Again and
again and again. Mechanical reasons. However, this was bad because
we were flying Southwest (SW) on free mileage tickets just from
SLC-LAS-LAX. There we were supposed to meet up with Kristen with plenty
of time to pick up our luggage, change terminals, and catch our American
Airlines (AA) flight from LAX to São Paulo. Well, because our SLC flight was so delayed, when
we got to Las Vegas, we missed our connecting flight to Los Angeles.
Which, in turn, meant we missed our flight to from LAX to Brazil.
We had made the rookie Amazing Race
mistake. Instead of taking a later in the day SW SLC-LAX direct flight
with a short layover to catch our AA LAX-GRU (São Paulo) flight, we booked an earlier in the
day flight with a required plane change in another city. Hence the
mistake: If using different airlines to make it to a destination, always fly
direct.
So here we were, stuck in Las Vegas,
already knowing we had missed our flight to Brazil. We never even made it
to Los Angeles because our new flight from LAS to LAX was delayed as
well. I spent hours on the phone trying to find an alternate flight out
of the country. American Airlines reps were not very helpful – lots of
time on Hold and every flight they found would get us in to São Paulo too late for the
mission reunion. Enter sister Lisa, travel agent extraordinaire.
She found us new flights out of Las Vegas that would get up to São Paulo early enough for
the mission reunion on Saturday morning. We had to purchase brand new
tickets, but we could leave the airport and get some sleep at a hotel, then
start again tomorrow, flying out from from Las Vegas. We were exhausted
and by this time we could have just driven to Las Vegas in the 1st place, because all of the delays had
taken so long.
Tyson went up to the SW desk and asked
tem to release our luggage since we wouldn’t be flying to LAX in a few hours
after all. You want the irony? Even though SW couldn’t get us to
LAX airplane on time, our luggage was had made it. So there we were,
stuck in Las Vegas, no luggage and no idea if we would get it back in time to
fly to Brazil. I would have had a more adventurous attitude – it’s okay,
we can buy toothpaste and pajamas in Brazil - but my suitcase full of gifts for
my Brazilian friends was lost!
So, we arrived at our hotel very late,
slept in our clothes, and prayed for the return of our suitcases.
Meanwhile, Kristen, who lives in California, had taken our original flight to
Brazil. Since she was going to be stuck in the country for about 20
hours, not speaking the language, she booked an English-speaking Marriott hotel
near the airport to wait for us.
Friday morning dawned. You would
think we could have slept in, since our flight didn’t leave til after 1pm, but
we were traveling with 2 kids who wake up with the roosters, plus we needed to
get to the airport early to try to get our luggage sent back to us. The
best part of our whole trip so far was when we walked over to the baggage office
and there was our set of beautiful light blue rolly suitcases, waiting for
us. Fresh from their flight back from California that very morning.
Prayers answered!
We boarded our long flight from LAS-Miami
and flew across the country without incident. The kids had their new
books and tablets so they were entertained and happy. At last, we were on
our way to Brazil!
Guess what happened in Miami? Our
flight to São Paulo
was…you guessed it, delayed! Our plane couldn’t park at the gate because
another plane was late in departing thus blocking the gate. We kept our
spirits up and finally boarded. I figured we would only miss the
breakfast portion of the mission reunion. At this point I was texting
back and forth with my mission friends, giving them the heads up. Well,
we no sooner got settled in our seats - the kids super excited about the free
earphones and TVs in the back of each plane seat - when it was announced that
everyone had to get back off the plane. A security check (what???) needed
to be performed and we’d better take all of our carry ons with us or they would
be gone when we got back on. Scary. Tyson questioned if we should
even get back on. But an hour later we did. By now it was midnight
and We. Were. Very. Late. :: sigh :: Oh well, you do the best you
can. Tyson and I talked about the disappointment of arriving so late to
my mission reunion for which we had planned and prepared for so long, not to
mention buying 2 full sets of expensive plane tickets. We talked about
how many prayers and even fasting had gone into pleading that our family would
be safe and we would get back to Kathryn safely. In the end we concluded
that maybe there was a reason we arrived when we did. Maybe something
unsafe would have happened had we arrived a day earlier and spent some time in
the city. São Paulo
is not exactly the safest city in the world. Far from it actually.
Our flight from Miami to São Paulo was as comfortable as a plane
can be (I’m pretending I don’t know what First and Business class are like from
my Delta Airline days) and entertaining with the TVs in front of us. We
did get a bit of sleep too. Tyler stretched full out on me and Lydia
snuggled with Tyson behind us. We even flew over Uberaba, one of the
cities I served in! That’s as close as I got to re-visiting my actual
mission, but you can bet I waved!
Upon arrival, Saturday morning, there was
a lot of airport walking, luggage gathering, Customs clearing, and hurrying to
change clothes in the bathroom. It took a long time to get out, but when
we did, there was Kristen waiting for us! I hurried and found us a taxi,
breaking out my rusty Portuguese. I told our taxi driver we were late for
a meeting so to drive fast, but safe! He assured me he would – and then
proceeded to scare the daylights out of us and he weaved in and out of traffic
for the next 45 minutes, using his blinker only once in awhile and changing
lanes just inches from other cars. We are all very grateful that his
brakes worked.
An hour and a half late to the mission reunion,
we pulled up to the church located a few minutes away from the temple. I
saw a young girl outside with the face of Sister Regina, one of my dear mission
companions, and I knew right away it was her 11-year-old daughter,
Lorrayne. Her face lit up too as she ran to give us hugs. Then we
all tip toed into the chapel with our suitcases rumbling extra loud as we
wheeled them over the tile floor. I had missed the breakfast, the mission
theme and song, and President Casado’s talk, much to my sadness, but arrived in
time to hear President Barbour.
I was jet lagged and struggling to
readjust to Portuguese, the whole mission reunion kind of felt like a
dream. Hugging Sister Regina (so tight, just how we planned our reunion,
all those years ago), Sister Elias, and Sister Brandão, my companions, was wonderful, but how do you catch up after
14 years? You just hug again. And meet their children.
Hugging the Elders was odd, but it was so good to see them too. Speaking
face to face with President and Sister Casado and President and Sister Barbour
– there was so much I wanted to say, by way of thanking them for heir service,
for being there for me, for all of us, but I just didn’t have the words.
I felt like I was 6 months into the mission again, understanding about 2/3 of
what people were saying. It was hard on my pride, but everyone, of
course, was kind. I forgot what it was like to decipher rapid speech and
different accents. My companions were by far the easiest to understand –
I remember it being the same in the field as I was learning the language.
By the end of our trip, I had my Portuguese sing-song rhythm (that’s the best
way I can describe it) back and was speaking much better. We should have
done Rio first so I could be rusty in my language there and more fluent by the
time I arrived in São Paulo!
The reunion was scheduled to go until
3pm. There were speakers (mostly the Presidents and their wives), but
mostly mingling and photo taking. I was worried about how Tyson, Kristen,
and the kids would entertain themselves. I was so pleased to see Tyson
surrounded by English-speakers, whether spouses or former Elders, everyone was
so inclusive. I was floored to notice 8 year old Tyler and 5 year old
Lydia running around with huge smiles on their faces, chattering away in
English to the Brazilian children, who were chattering right back in
Portuguese. They didn’t understand each other at all, but were having the
time of their lives together! I thought Tyler and Lydia would be clingy
or stay shyly in a corner playing with toys and books that they brought.
Instead, they rarely even checked in, they were so busy with their new
friends. It made my heart happy to see my children with the children of
Sister Elias and Sister Regina. Kristen mingled with the English speakers
and a camera, so she was fine too.
We had a little room upstairs in the
chapel where we took all of our stuff during a break. I assembled
packages for my friends and brought them up with their families to give out the
gifts I had brought from the United States. Shipping items from the U.S.
is so expensive so I was grateful for an entire heavy suitcase packed full of
stuff!
It felt like Christmas with the family of
Sister Elias. The thing I was most excited to give her was a Canon Rebel
T1i. That’s the DSLR camera I started out on and I loved it. She’s
really interested in photographing nature and I have wanted to give her a
camera for a long time, but I couldn’t ever afford the camera plus the shipping
(that alone would be around $100). Since the reunion, she has posted a
bunch of pictures on facebook for me to see. Elder Pasti, who visited the
U.S last summer, had a bunch of requests for things he missed, which I was
happy to find for him. He was so supportive and helpful in helping us
figure things out to get to the reunion. He’s a good friend. I had
little bags of treats (like Pop Rocks, heehee) and things for Sister Brandão and Elder Moncada too. And for the mission
presidents and their wives. Sister Elias surprised us with grifts she had
handmade for each of us.
As the reunion wound down, we were among
the last to leave. I said goodbye to Sister Elias and took her family’s
photo in front of the chapel. Her family is darling. I wish I could
have had more time with them. Sister Elias still cracks me up.
Earlier when we were grouped together for a pictures of the Sister
Missionaries, she smiled for the photo and then said, with her dry wit, “Oh,
wait, let me put on perfume first!” I was one of the few that caught her
joke. She always had me laughing in the mission.
The temple was about 5 minutes away and I
wanted to go take pictures, but instead of letting us call a taxi, several
people offered our family a ride over – all 5 of us and all of our
luggage. It took more than one car, so we were grateful!
We ended up staying on the grounds of the
São Paulo temple for a couple of
hours. No one would allow us take a taxi again the whole time we were in
São Paulo, so we were able to wait at the
temple for our ride to Maua, where we would spend the night. Sister
Regina’s husband, Fernando, has a brother who was at the temple (tag teaming
his wife to do a session because they had their small child with them).
He had finished and was waiting for her to come out. Ricardo insisted on
helping Fernando drive us to Maua, and then turn around and come back to his
home, by the temple – that’s a 3 hour round trip. Brazilians are not only
kind, but so very generous too!
Staying on the temple grounds was
probably my most favorite part of the São
Paulo portion of our trip. It was beautiful and peaceful. The pressure
was off from the whirlwind of greeting and speaking with so many people from my
mission, one right after another. I took family photos for Elder Pasti,
Sister Regina, and Fernando’s brother’s family, as a thank you. We took
our own photos and we sat on the benches and on the grass and relaxed and
talked. I watched my children arm in arm with Sister Regina’s
children. Elder Kasimerczak, who had been an AP during the mission, and
his wife came over and chatted and chatted. I could picture him and his
wife being very good friends with Tyson and me, if we all lived in the same
ward (and country). People would come out of the temple and come over to
chat. It was fun to see mini-reunions of Church members who knew each
other in some way or another and just happened to be at the temple that day.
After the sun set, we loaded the cars,
Lydia on my lap, and drove an hour and a half through the streets of São Paulo to the suburb of Maua where Sister
Regina and her family live. To show our appreciation we asked if we could
treat everyone to dinner at a real Brazilian Churrascaria (high on Tyson’s
Brazil To Do list). It was late and everyone was tired, but the food was
so delicious. If we weren’t so tired, I could have stayed another hour
just to let my stomach settle and eat some more!
At last we arrived at our hotel, the
Travel Diamond Inn. It was nicer than I had expected (because of the
Google Maps Street View portraying lots of graffiti decorating the wall across
the street). Exhausted, everyone quickly went to sleep, except for me – I
was still working on a talk for church tomorrow.
Sunday morning was Easter. Aunt
Kristen made sure the Easter Bunny knew where to find Tyler and Lydia, much to
their delight. They each received a small basket with a few treats.
Fernando picked us up for church after breakfast. They meet at 8:30 in
the morning in a beautiful tall building about 5 minutes away, by car, from the
hotel. Relief Society was first. Followed by Sunday School and then
Sacrament meeting. Everyone was taken care of. Tyler and Lydia had
a Sister missionary from the U.S. and also a Brazilian former Sister Missionary
(who served in the states) to translate. Tyson had Fernando, who speaks
English really well, actually. And Kristen had a young man in the ward
who adores English and was happy to translate.
Relief Society was first. It was so
good to be back among the Brazilian R.S. Sisters. They are such good
people. Strong and just doing their best. Sister Regina teaches
Sunday School to a group of a dozen youth and I joined them because I had such
a limited time with her. The teenagers were all there at church so early
in the morning, with eyes shining. I was so impressed with their dedication and
knowledge!
Fernando is the bishop so guess whom he
called on to speak in Sacrament Meeting? He asked me to speak on the
topics of Faith and Jesus Christ and thankfully he gave me a week notice, but
it's been over a decade since I've given a talk in Portuguese and I was pretty
nervous! Despite my tiredness, I was up til 1 in the morning making sure
my translations were correct. Thank goodness for the Spirit! To whom I
give all the credit that my talk seemed to go well – and be understood.
The Maua ward is a pretty decent size and
I already feel homesick for it and the members that I met so briefly. One
of my favorite moments was walking down the hall and peaking into a classroom,
seeing Tyson surrounded by people talking with him (or trying to) and making
him feel welcome.
Like I said, today is Easter
Sunday. What a special day (and place) to be at church. We were
also well taken care of, chocolate-wise, at church. After Relief Society,
not one, but two women passed out treats. More was passed out in Gospel
Doctrine. Then, at the end of Sacrament Meeting, the kids were given
these huge chocolate eggs. They were like Kinder eggs with a prize inside,
except they were homemade (and did I mention – huge)!
After church, we went to the Trindade
home. I’ve been imagining where Sister Regina has been living for years
and now I got to see the real thing. It took Fernando 3 trips to get us
and our luggage home. He is so service-oriented and kind. I’m grateful
my favorite mission companion chose such a good guy for her eternal
companion. Sister Regina described her city as ugly, but what I saw was
beautiful. The buildings on her street are colorful and the sidewalk has
patterns and designs. The front of the house where she lives is a
pretty red brick with an even prettier wrought iron gate. The family
lives down the side stairs in a 2 bedroom basement apartment, with a small
kitchen, bathroom, and living room. Colorful houses and greenery are the
view from the back patio and we saw even more greenery on the outskirts of the
city as Fernando drove us to the airport later.
We spent the afternoon chatting and
relaxing at their home with a yummy traditional lunch lovingly prepared by
Sister Regina. My love language is Giving Gifts, so you can imagine how
excited I was to pass out presents to everyone! One whole suitcase was
full of dresses and candy and anything I could think of that would be unique to
them or church-related, but hard to get in their city. Lorrayne, Emilly,
and Luana were adorable. Luana (3) was a tough nut to crack but we did
our best by bringing out bubbles, Pop Rocks, and Jelly Bellys. Sister
Regina took me into her bedroom and showed me the 8x10 framed picture on the
wall. It was a Greg Olsen picture of Jesus and the sparrows that I had
given her on the mission. I had completely forgotten about that, but
reading the note 23 year old Sister Hillier wrote on the back brought tears to
my eyes. These people are so good and humble and faithful. I am a
better person for having served in Brazil and for knowing them. My kids
and husband are better people for having met them.
No one wanted to say goodbye a few hours
later, but it was time to move on. We had a flight to catch to Rio so we
wouldn’t arrive too late at night. You know how you hear horror stories
of Americans in foreign countries getting stopped by the police for no reason
and then having to bribe their way free? Well, imagine my concern when a
police barricade on the highway pulled over Fernando for no reason (he was not
speeding), but there he was explaining his car full of American tourists all
squished in the back, Lydia on my lap. They had Fernando get out and
talked with him and looked at paperwork for the longest time. Finally
they let us go (phew!) and it was a mad dash at the airport, but we made our
flight just in time!
Domestic flights in Brazil are far
superior to those in the US. I was impressed! The flight from Sao
Paulo to Rio de Janeiro was cheap, but it wasn’t a budget airline at all.
If you book early enough, you can get a flight for around $60. And even
though it was only a 45 minute flight, the flight attendants right away
starting serving drinks – and a meal. Good sandwiches, a side, and a
dessert. Why, thank you!
Flying into Rio, seeing all the lights
was so beautiful. Even though I speak the language, and I could get us
around just fine using public transportation, Rio is still considered a very
dangerous city and it was nighttime. Because of that, we took every
precaution. I paid to have a driver meet us when we landed. First
time I’ve ever had someone at the airport with my name on a placard, waiting to
escort us to a vehicle! Fancy. He drove us to the outskirts of the
city (safer than staying downtown) in the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood (fun
fact – that’s where the LDS temple is being built!), as far as he could, which
happened to be a dock. You see, our lodging was a Bed & Breakfast
on an island (Ilha Primeira) up the river! We loved how secluded it
was. The only people on the property were our family, the owner, and an
older British couple. Our super friendly, English speaking hostess, Silvia, met
us at the Utrópico Guest
House dock and adored the children right from the start. We had to take a
water taxi every time we wanted to leave or come back, but we were no hurry and
it was a fun water tour every time. I might have been a little more
nervous if I would have known beforehand that there are alligators hidden in
the murky water.
It was late when we got settled and our
stomachs were rumbling again, so we took a water taxi over to a nearby island
that Silvia recommended. The kids were on their 2nd (or 3rd or 4th?) wind so they
happily chattered away with the British couple, while waiting for our
food. And then Lydia noticed the empty stage. With Brazilian music
playing through speakers somewhere, she got up there and danced her heart out
for us. The video footage is priceless.
Monday morning we woke up to the sun
peaking through the curtains in our large B&B apartment. Kristen
and Tyler slept on the main floor that also had a kitchen, bathroom, and
sitting area. Tyson, Lydia, and I had beds and a bathroom (do NOT touch
the showerhead unless you like to be jolted by electricity) in the loft.
Breakfast was every morning on the front veranda, watching the boats pass by in
the river, and trying to find Mickey, the resident cat. Fresh fruit,
grilled cheese sandwiches, pão de queijo, and orange juice.
Yum!
One of our Rio precautions was to hire
tour guides to take us to all the sites. It was so worth the money to
have the safety of a local to escort us and to not have to waste time finding
taxis (especially one that would fit all 5 of us). We had an English
speaking driver who knew how to navigate the Rio streets/traffic, knew the ins
and outs of the tourist sites and ticketing, and had plenty of knowledge to
share when we asked questions. Plus it was awesome to have someone to
take pictures of all of us together!
Daniel Cabral (top rated tour guide on
Trip Advisor) picked us up right at the dock and off we went! First stop
– the city’s rain forest (no monkey’s spotted, unfortunately) with time to
splash in a waterfall, followed by the Chinese View. This city does not
lack for views. Rich and poor alike have properties with beautiful
panoramic ocean views. Back in the city, while waiting for Daniel to find
a parking spot (see, another benefit to hiring a driver?), the kids found a
small Brazilian playground, where we swung on the plank board swings and
teetered on the wooden teeter totter. Lunch was at a perfect hole in the
wall local restaurant (with rice and beans = happy Carrie!) close to the
entrance for the Cristo Redentor/Christ the Redeemer.
We’ve all seen pictures of Cristo
Redentor; the Savior, on top of a mountain, with His arms outstretched to the
world. The train ride to Corcovado Mountain
was so steep, my ears popped. It was pretty hot, but this stop was one of
my favorites of our trip. The significance of the famous statue, the
incredible view, the best juice bar (any fruit you could want!), and being able
to be there with my family (miss you Kate!), was just unforgettable.
Quintessential Rio de Janeiro.
Daniel
then took us to his friend's jewelry shop, Moreno's, in Copacabana. Tyson
wanted to get me a gemstone native to Brazil to keep as an heirloom of our
trip. As we looked at Aquamarines, the store lady took Tyler and Lydia all
around the store looking at items (reassuring me that she was having a great
time with them). Tyler was all like, "Now I'd like to see the
diamonds, please." And she would pull out a tray of diamonds, while
he sipped his complimentary Guarana drink. It was pretty funny. They treated us
very well there! And I ended up with beautiful blue stone in a necklace
setting.
There
was no time to stop for dinner, in order to make it to Pão de Açúcar/Sugarloaf
Mountain in time to watch the sun set. That’s okay, there was pão de
queijo everywhere (including at the gas station right next to our dock – a
staple for us) so whenever we were hungry, we would buy a handful for each of
us. Anyway, we rode two gondolas up to the top and, despite the hoards of
people, it was nice to just sit and relax and watch the sun dip into the ocean
and the lights of Rio turn on.
One
of the things I miss most about Brazil is the food. I miss the rice and
beans, pão de queijo, doce de leite, Diamante Negro, chicken stroganoff, fresh
fruit, the juices, açai, and churros. These aren’t just any
churros. No, with these, you watch as the churro cart vendor squeezes the
churro full of ooey gooey yummy doce de leite, right in front of you. I
told Daniel that was one treat I hadn’t found yet. What did we pass on
the way home from Pão de Açucar? A churro cart! He pulled right
over, much to my sweet tooth’s delight!
We
all slept well that night. The next morning I reeeeaaalllly wanted to go
hang gliding off a mountain onto the beach (Bucket List item), but I couldn’t
talk Tyson or Kristen into going with me. And I couldn’t shake the
feeling that it would be a bad idea to venture out alone. Plus I didn’t
want to miss Beach Day!
The
Barra da Tijuca beach was walking distance (about 15-20 minutes) from our water
taxi pier through a quiet neighborhood. The beach was uncrowded, quiet,
and beautiful, with sugar soft sand. It was a wonderful blue-skied day to
go to the beach! Actually, we really didn't experience any rain while in
Brazil. Rare. There were people up and down the beach selling
whatever we needed or wanted. For about $15, we rented 4 beach chairs and
3 big umbrellas for the whole day. The vendor boys set everything up and
tore everything down when we were finished. I bought a bucket of sand
toys for the kids to play with for $3 from someone else. Kristen bought
frozen açai for all of us from another vendor walking along the beach.
Poor Tyson stepped on a bee right as we got there and nursed a sore big toe for
awhile, until he said bee sting or no, he couldn’t come all the way to Rio and
not play with his kids on the beach!
When
we were wet, sandy, and tired, we sloshed our way home, stopping at a
neighborhood supermarket for Brazilian pizza and stroganoff take out. And
the requisite pão de queijo from the gas station. I know that sounds odd,
but the gas station had a whole little sandwich shop and bakery in there.
Back on a boat and back to our place we went. Tyler and Lydia jumped into
the B&B’s pool to wash the sand off while I enjoyed the peaceful
outdoors. It was seriously such a cool place to stay! After dinner,
it was still early, but we were tired, so Kristen had the genius idea to watch
the new cartoon movie called “Rio.” While we were in Rio.
Perfect! The kids loved it and spent the next day looking for blue macaw
souvenirs.
On
our last morning in Brazil, we ate our yummy breakfast once more, bid a fond
farewell to Silvia, and loaded our luggage onto a rickety water taxi.
They’re all different, as they are individually owned. This one was
literally a wooden raft held up with tires and with a shade cover of plywood
with decorations on it. Regardless, it had a motor and worked just fine!
After
some miscommunication, we met up with our tour guide for the day, an eccentric
Carioca (native to Rio - and proud of it) named Martha. Her job was to
take us to any other places we wanted to see before we went home later that
day. Another smart reason to hire a tour guide is that her vehicle hauled
our luggage around safely all day. I minored in Portuguese at BYU and one
of my teachers spent a whole class period teaching us the song “Garota de
Ipanema”/”The Girl From Ipanema” – so we stepped into the café where it was
written. Then we took pictures on Ipanema beach. Then we walked on
the famous Copacabana sidewalk and beach. We went back to Moreno’s to
pick up my Aquamarine and do some souvenir shopping there and in the nearby
stores. Senior Moreno was kind enough to gift Lydia a beautiful wooden
elephant she had been eyeing. Everyone purchased some Havaiana flip flops
next door (even some for Kate) and we continued on. Martha had arranged a
fruit tasting for us at a street market. For about $4 each, the man gave
us sample after sample of so many different kinds of fruit until we were full
too full for any other kind of lunch.
Oh!
I just remembered one other reason why I recommend hiring a tour guide.
Both Daniel and Martha did an excellent job finding bathrooms all over the city
for our kids.
Our
last stop was my favorite touristy stop. The Escadaria Selarón, also known as
the 'Selaron Steps' was beautifully tiled by an artist, Jorge Selarón, who
wanted to leave his artistic mark in the city. He spent years adding tiles.
When people heard about his project, he started receiving tiles from all over
the world. We searched up and down the 215 step staircase until we
triumphantly found not 1, but 2 Utah tiles!
We
had a wonderful trip and made it home without a hitch. Well, except for
me losing half of our souvenirs (and a bucket of tears - mine), because I
sleepily left a bag shoved under an airplane seat. I felt so bad!
But I was able to make it right by getting the lost items all replaced by
emailing Sr. Moreno (who didn’t charge us a dime!) and Martha, who went back to
the tourist shops for us. We ate our last pão de queijo and brigadeiro in
the airports. And arrived home, SO excited to see Kathryn again!
I’m
so glad we took Tyler and Lydia with us. It was an incredible trip for
them to see how real Brazilians live and worship, as well as visit an
international tourist destination. If I could do it again, the only thing
I would change would be to visit Rio first to brush up on my Portuguese, then
go see my friends in São Paulo.
Soon
after we came back, we were able to watch the 2016 Olympics that took place in
Rio. It was amazing to watch the bicyclists on TV pedal up the same
rainforest road we had driven on and see the volley ball players spike the ball
on the same beaches we went too. As the cameras would pan around and zoom
in on the city for the Games, our recently turned 6 and 9 year olds would
shout, “We’ve been there! And there!”
Yes,
we have. What a memorable trip!
