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I recently had the opportunity to travel to Sao Paulo Brazil.  For those of you that know me will remember my last trip to Brazil.  The short story includes these things:

  • Stolen Laptop, Passport, IPad, and laptop bag
  • 10 hours in a Brazilian police station
  • Visit to the US Consulate
  • Walking down a scary street to get a picture
  • Finally getting out of the country

So I decided to make the trip back to FutureCom again this year.  Problem is that the Brazilian economy is in the toilet and for the most part the show was a bit more subdued.

Meanwhile I spent some time taking in the Brazilian culture and here are my random musings.

1 – The country/city is actually very artistic.  I enjoyed the fact that they paint a lot of the concrete structures which cuts down on the graffiti.

2 – Traffic Sucks!  I decided that the reason that the economy is in the toilet is because it takes people FOREVER to get anywhere.  Really – it could take an hour to go 5 miles. Productivity is poor because you are always in a CAR!   I swear a guy in a rascal could make it faster than riding in a car, which leads me to point 3

3 – Motorcycle riders are absolutely nuts.  I watched them run 40 to 50 MPH through traffic between cars.  They even have the audacity to honk at you if two cars are too close together.

4 – The people are amazing.  Even though I speak no Portuguese, people were amazingly kind.  Probably much more kind that we Americans are to those non-english speaking that travel to the US.

5 – The food…well they really like their beef.  While visiting the report comes out from the WHO about beef and how it is going to kill us all.  To celebrate I had not one but two fillets at dinner (that is the only way they served them). Take that WHO!

While visiting I got to experience a real Brazilian apartment only to hear what sounded like gunfire outside…which was really fireworks when they scored a recent football goal.  I got to meet one of my co-workers family and his wife prepared a meal for us – it was mucho bom – which is Brazilian for very good.  In total, it was a good trip, but I am happy to head back home to the family a day earlier than expected.

Good times and great friends.  I am blessed in many ways and this week reminded me again of just how lucky I am.

Have a happy day!

 

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