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!