With Death Flu Over, Laziness Contributes to Blog with no Clear Thesis

After partying the first few days in Rio and being sick for a while after that, I didn’t get much up on the blog. So now I am going to cram everything I wanted to say into one post. Of course, I have forgotten most of it by now, but here goes…

I almost missed my flight out of Denver after the gate attendant informed everyone that there was a delay and it would be a good time to “check out the local eateries.” I got a sandwich and a beer at the restaurant right next to the gate and fifteen minutes later, upon the urging of Stef’s sister Denise, went to check the status of my flight. After rounding the corner out of the restaurant, I heard last call for boarding. I was not happy about the gate attendant’s advice of getting some food, but I made it and after what seemed like an eternity later, I was in Rio.

We’ve been very fortunate to have a nice place to stay and great hosts in Rio. Rodrigo and Mara have gone out of their way to see to it that we have had a great time. Everything would be at least ten times as difficult without someone to cart us around and translate between Portuguese and English. Portuguese looks a lot like Spanish, but the pronunciation doesn’t seem anywhere close to me. Combine that with the Carioca accent and the fact that I don’t even speak Spanish and I’m clueless as soon as the Portuguese starts flowing.

All in all Brazil has been great so far. There are many beautiful people, although I think proportionally, there are just as many in Hawaii, maybe more so. The beach is great. You can buy beer, snacks, all kinds of other useless crap and rent chairs and umbrellas for pretty cheap. You don’t have to look too far to see people having a good time and you don’t have to try too hard to have one yourself.