Araraquara- the sun's house.

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To sum it up - long, long 10 hour flight from Atlanta and São Paulo. Hint if your airline offers something like Delta's Economy Comfort it is worth the extra bucks...more leg room, better service, no one's seat back in your face. Enough said. After we connected with all the folks from Friendship Force MI we were on a lovely very comfy bus for a 5 hour ride to Araraquara a small city of about 200,000 in Southwest Brazil.

Even though we were 3 hours late in arriving all the hosts families were waiting for us with welcome signs and smiles. We were welcomed at a small ' chacara' or farm which had a huge, no really HUGE terrace with a pool, two bars, an outdoor kitchen, covered porches, many tables and chairs. Picture the most luxurious movie set you can imagine and that was this place. Although exhausted we somehow managed to 'party'.

My hosts are William and Magda Paiva. They are in their mid 50's with 2 married kids in their 30's and a 6 year old grandson. He is tall and big with a booming voice but full of kindness. He speaks English about as well as I speak Spanish - which is not all that good. We use 3 languages- Portuguese, English, and Spanish and it is working pretty well. They have been hosting for about 20 years and clearly enjoy doing it. Magda is quiet and sweet and speaks almost no English. We manage quite well when William is not around.

Araraquera is about a 5 hour west of São Paulo. It is hot but thankfully they have been having a cool spell which means temperatures in the 90's instead of 100's. Evenings are full of the sounds of millions of cicadas which makes a battalion of ambulances in full emergency mode sound quiet. There is an overriding odor in the air from a local orange juice factory. Actually it makes pulp which it then exports back to the US. Isn't that a bit sad? I guess you can't pave FL with condos and expect to still have fresh squeezed juice. The other big industries are coffee(duh, it is Brazil), alcohol, and sugar came mills. It is a very prosperous area.

The big news is that next Sunday is Election Day. It is always on a Sunday and is a national holiday. No signs for candidates are allowed. It is compulsory to vote. No excuses. Even if you are outside the country if you are still a citizen you must go to an embassy to vote. Voting age is 16 and older. Those 18 to 70 MUST vote. There are serious consequences- you may be refused a passport, unable to open a bank account, or get a mortgage. Serious stuff. My hosts are taking me with them to the polling place on Sunday.

The experience so far has been wonderful. It will be hard to say goodby.

More later,

Carolyn( Gunga)

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