Brasil - SP&Pantanal - Day 4
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"LeGep Minerals"
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Lunch at Consulado Mineiro

Bob at LeGep

Amethyst Geodes

Flower in São Paulo

Dinner at Tia’s
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Day 04 - Friday, July 31, 2009 - Family – Aldeia da Serra and the City of São Paulo, Brasil

After our late night of pizza and fun family connections, we slept well and did not wake up until after 8:00. Tia’s home is so well built; you do not hear others in the house.

We had breakfast with Tia Isa, Bob, and Renata. Renata had stopped at the bakery to bring the fresh bread – we could get used to this life!

Lia arrived on her way to work and we enjoyed talking to her. The market is improving so she is very busy as an investment consultant.

Bob and Renata called TAM and found out that his luggage had arrived, but it would not be delivered until later in the day. He is wearing my cousin Victor’s clothes – we understand, more that you need or want to know!

The internet in the house is not working; the computer seems to not have enough power. Perhaps that is because of the immense draw on electricity because of the cold.

No one has central heating here in Brazil, so everyone is running their electric heaters. Isa made a fire in the fireplace to take the chill out of the air and reduce the humidity a bit.

While Isa went to the bank and picked up Paula and Patricia, Renata, Bob, Thomas, Patricia, Duda, Gennie and I piled into Renata’s car and headed to the city of Sao Paulo.

We all discussed the traffic – we know that in our travels we have seen bad traffic but São Paulo seems to be really BAD! At least there are no ox carts or horse drawn carriages as we saw in Cairo!

We arrived at Dominic and Renata’s new flat, a three bedroom condominium in the city. They will use this as a second home because so much of their time is spent in the city.

Renata has WiFi in her home but none of us were able to connect. While Bob tried to connect with his new i-Phone, Gennie and I found we could “see” the system, but could not connect.

It was interesting to try to work out the bugs in the system. Renata was very frustrated but we tried everything with no luck! So we gave up and went to lunch!

While Renata and the children chose to go to McDonald’s, Tia, Bob, Gennie and I walked several blocks to a typical Brazilian restaurant, Consulado Mineiro. We each had a plate from a specific region of the country, but we all had rice and beans, the staple food of the country.

As we walked back to the condo, we stopped to window shop at several unique stores along the way. Gennie looked at a few hammocks, but she did not buy one today.

When we arrived back to the rest of the family, Renata had solved the internet problem and we were able to check our mail and send a few messages.

Bob called Susan and Noelle and we all were able to speak to them. They are following our trip on our GarciaTrips site so they will know where we are and what we are doing.

Our next adventure was a trip to LeGep Mineração, a very well known and respected exportation and importation company that deals in precious and semi precious minerals.

We spent a few hours looking at the gemstones, minerals, agates, and geodes. The huge, amethyst formations are world renown.

The manager announced that the store would close in 15 minutes or I am sure we could have stayed longer. The children had never seen such crystals and were very interested in the powers that these crystals are supposed to have.

The Friday afternoon traffic leaving the city was bumper to bumper at 6:00 when we left and started for home. By the time we reached the turnoff to the Aldeia, we were greeted by a heavy fog again.

When we arrived at the house, Bob & Tia made a fire; we enjoyed a drink and then had a light supper. Every one seems to gravitate to Tia’s home, so every meal is a family reunion for all of us.

We finished writing, sorting pictures, and then were able to post the journal. The internet seems to be in a good mood so we can keep all of you posted on the Family Leg of our journey.
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