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Published: September 12th 2009
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John & Tom
Thanks John for getting into the lounge. Hey, remember the Dorsey's?
Well, we are coming back to prime time. Yes, you heard it right. I'm at it again for your entertainment and my satisfaction.
As many of you know, after our last trip we took advantage of the "Blog to Book" feature of this website and printed our European Vacation in 2008. Having the book has made that trip even more enjoyable. So, to get the book you must do the blog.
We are currently in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. We arrived on Wednesday, 9th September. So, I am a few days late getting started. To make matters worse, I have a very slow internet connection which is testing my patience. But I have decided to bear the pain and get back in the blogging business.
So, now for the first edition.
Tuesday-Wednesday
Jackie and I have planned a return trip to Belo for a long time. Our great friend, Mara Peixoto Matta Machado... better known as just Maria, has a birthday on September 12th. She and I worked together at the local power company, CEMIG during my time in Brazil. The last time we joined her on her birthday was in
Leaving Atlanta
Sunset over Georgia 1999!
We lived in Belo from mid-1997 until early 2000. It was one of the most rewarding few years of our lives. We learned not only about Brazil but a lot about ourselves. While there are great rewards living abroad there are also many challenges that are not anticipated by most Americans.
This blog will highlight the cultural differences. I will try to record sites and events that we learned during our years here. Plus, we hope to see and do a few new things.
We started this trip on Tuesday, 8th Sept with a drive to the airport by son-in-law, Derek. He had a flight out a couple of hours earlier than ours but we decided to catch a ride with him to avoid the train ride.
Of course, our standard departure routine is to call my brother-in-law, John Gilbreath, and ask for an invite to the Delta Skylounge. He is so generous to grant us this privilege. After that nice start we took a flight to Miami then directly to Belo. I flew in Business Class and Jackie agreed to fly Coach. We had expiring travel miles but only enough for one seat in
Belo Horizonte
I forgot how bad the traffic could be. This is on drive from airport. Business.
We made it to Belo without incident and both claimed good sleep. We took a taxi to our hotel and checked in. It was fun to have this flash back to our days here.
Maria met us for a lunch reunion. It was so fun to see her again. Her husband, Gilberto, was in Brasilia and unable to join us.
After lunch we returned to the hotel to rest and then we took a taxi to Maria's house to see her and her step-daughter, Ester Maria. She was eight years old when we left and is now 17! Wow, she is a beautiful teenager with so much grace and poise. She has learned English and spoke with us with great ease.
Together we walked a couple of blocks from Maria's to have dinner at a local restaurant. As with most, the restaurant had outside seating and we had a nice dinner. Afterwards, Maria drove us back to our hotel.
That's it for now. Tomorrow I'll try to do two days to get caught up.
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Dianne
non-member comment
Great to have your travel blogs each morning again!
I'm so happy you decided to log your trip again. It's so much fun to read about your journey while sipping my coffee each morning. your blogs and photos make my day. I hope you get to use your new skill of drawing with some of the wonderful sights you have there in Brazil and then share with us. Have fun and keep em coming! love ya, dianne