http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/ACruciano/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from ACruciano en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:20:02 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 04:20:02 +0000 I just arrived back in So Paulo after spending this past Friday thru Wednesday back in Caraguatatuba. This trip was a bit different than my last trip. On Friday I actually took a bus to the international airport to meet the American missionaries from Caragu AJ and Barbara as well as a group of 10 adults from Virginia Beach who were coming to visit for a week. These adults were from another c http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-312108.html Today is my last day at work.I have to admit I am not entirely sad that today is my last day of work for my internship but please do not misinterpret I have loved my experience here in Brazil just the project was a bit of a headache. This project although I knew it would a lot of tedious work there were many more speed bumps that I ran into than I expected. For those of you who do not kno http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-309841.html This past week I made an amazing discovery. On Wednesday while in the car on the way to visit a hospital my coworker and I drove by a Starbucks This may seem insignificant to you guys in the U.S. who pass 4 or 5 Starbucks on your way to work in the morninghellipbut here in So Paulo I had only heard rumors of their existence but have never met anyone who actually had seen one. If you are http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-305242.html This past weekend I took my first excursion and traveled to a sleepy little beach town called Caragutatuba. I went because we have family friends that are American missionaries there who I wanted to visit. So Friday after work I hopped on a bus and headed out to Caragu about a 3 hour bus ride from So Paulo. At the bus station waiting were our missionary friends AJ and Barb as well as another http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-303198.html I know this is a bit of a random entry but I just thought it was funny.I have already introduced you all to Joo Pedro Petrusco the 3 year old son of the family I am staying with. Well he had started the habit of yelling my name any time he feels like it. Whether it be when I am in my room reading or he will just blurt out when we are all at the table eating dinner. We all think it is very http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-299278.html This past Wednesday was a holiday in So Paulo and I asked about a half dozen different people what the holiday was for and no one could tell me for sure. All I could gather is about 7 years ago the government in So Paulo decided to make July 9th a holiday for something honoring when the state was founded. Anyways because everyone had a day off my coworker Ricardo told me he would take me aro http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-299183.html Happy 4th of July everyone I hope that all of yrsquoall had a great holiday and were able to spend it outside watching fireworks.4th of July just isnrsquot quite the same when you are in a foreign country. My day started out getting on my bus in the morning and having it break down half way to my work. Everyone on the bus had to get off and get on another bus which we rode for about 10 minu http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-295688.html So I can officially say I have experienced ldquo25 de Marordquo in So Paulo. 25 de Maro is a street in downtown So Paulo that is filled with vendors selling cheap Prada knock offs illegally copied DVDs and about every useless electronic you can ever want. We got there early about 900am and I had heard it is a crowded place but at 9am it was actually quite enjoyable with only a few p http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-292952.html Today I was able to get off of work early because we the family and myself wanted to spend the afternoon at a nearby orphanage. Neil is good friends with the man that runs the orphanage so we drove about an hour outside Sao Paulo to just spend the afternoon playing with the kids and allow let me have ldquoEnglishrdquo time with some American who also live there. It was a nice afternoon and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-292951.html So it was Petruscorsquos 3rd birthday on Monday so a family from the church wanted to take everyone out on Sunday to celebrate. We all went to the Brazilian equivalent of Chuckie Cheese except instead of Chuckie Cheese it was called Habibrsquos instead of cheese pizza there was falafel and humus and instead of a mouse there was a genie with a mustache. The best part was that the menu did n http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-291764.html I work on the 11th floor of Adolfo Lutz and have a spectaular view of the city.Here is a panoramic of my view. When I flew in on Sunday night for as far as I could see in any direction were lights. The city is so big that even by air I could not see where the city stopped. Pretty amazing. http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-289402.html Here are some pictures of the family that I am staying with. The mother is Marlida and the father is Neil and they have two kids a son Juan Pedro who they call ldquoPetruscordquo about to turn 3 and a daughter Maria Isabelle age 6. Neil is a pastor at a church near their home and Marlida stays home with Petrusco during the day. Each morning when I wake up Marlida has set out coffee and b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-289398.html So I made it After 1 flight cancelation on Saturday and a rather long flying day on Sunday filled with mishaps I finally arrived in Sao Paulo at 915pm on Sunday night. When i exited the customs area I was immediately greeted by Marlida the women I will be staying with and her three year old son Juan Pedro. During the car ride home we did our best to communicate through her broken English a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-288454.html Visited Countries Map http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Sao-Paulo/S-o-Paulo/blog-278506.html