Our trip to WashingtonDC was pretty uneventful. Everyone managed to sleep including me (thanks to the miracle of sleeping pills). In the morning we were given breakfast and arrived to the Washington airport. WE all heaved a sigh of relief to be on American soil thinking that from now on we were in full control of our destinies. That thought was a bit premature. Masha sat in front of all of us by about 10 rows so she left with most of the passengers. The rest of us were in the second to last rows of the plane and were almost the last people to disembark. When we got out of the plane, the crowd of passengers already left but we followed the signs for transfers and arrived at a shuttle.
Olya asked the attendant if we could get to customs and baggage claim on the shuttle since we just got in from Argentina. The attendant told us to get in to the shuttle and she will take us to the right terminal. She even called someone to double-check her information. As soon as we arrived to terminal C the United Staff told us to go back. We took the Shuttle again and the attendant walked us to the Customer Service area of United. She kept telling us to walk faster, which was a problem for me since my foot really hurt. Once we got to the counter and the attendant told the staff that we were from Argentina and didn’t go through customs yet they flipped out. One started frantically paging her supervisor to come to the service desk “immediately” which I guess translates into 20 minutes. She was also angry with us and asked how we managed to make it through without going through customs. Olya inquired about our luggage and was told that our bags were “the least of [our] problems”.
Finally the supervisor came and escorted us through the entire terminal to a different shuttle. She was also freaking out and talking on her cell phone the whole time. She must have asked us if we were the last passengers about 3 times and we kept telling her no. She must not have been paying attention though because when someone else asked her she told them that we WERE the last people. Olya didn’t let that slide though because by that time she was pretty pissed, as were all of us.
We took the shuttle and found our bags. My bag’s tag had a red substance that looked like blood on it. I was trying to figure out what it was when the baggage people started hurrying me up again. I told them that I will not touch blood. Thankfully the substance turned out to be something else, so I was able to continue and check my bags in. After going through customs we had to check in again and they made us all take our shoes of and made us feel right at home. They stopped Ilyusha (because carrying 2 pairs of women’s tango shoes is a little suspect) finally after getting 2 different gate numbers from 2 different employees we proceeded to take yet another shuttle (our 4th) to the gate. It was smooth sailing all the way from there :)
We’re in the last hours of Argentina, it was a lot of fun but I think we are all pretty tired and beat up from the trip. On Thursday we ended up eating at a nearby cafe/diner type of an establishment and then going right to sleep since we knew that Friday was going to be a long hard day(of shopping) The morning was gloomy and guess what? It rained again. I swear I do not remember seeing this much rain on any other vacation.
We decided that we will hit the leather district instead of sight seeing since the weather was not on our side. The shopping here is nothing short of wonderful. Between all of us we bought 5 pairs of shoes/boots, 3 purses, 3 coats, 2 wallets, and a belt. The boys thought that they were in the last circle of hell since we got to the leather shops at around and left at around . Before you get horrified and feel sorry for them I will add that we had to spend about 1.5 hours for lunch due to the fact that a soup we ordered wasn't ready and had to be cooked from scratch. Also let me add that Sereja got a wallet and Ilyusha got himself some shoes and a nice winter leather jacket, so it wasn’t just us girls shopping.
After we finally got back to the hotel all we had time for was to change and catch a quick breath before catching another cab and going to our last dinner in Argentina. We went to Las Lillas, which was an insanely posh restaurant recommended by Shar. We all had fillet mignon and it was amazing. Our dinner lasted for about 2.5 hours. And we had a great time. Might I add that we could call it FND since the Chicago FND was canceled due to lack of participants? :-).
After the dinner we went to Cafe Torttoni - another recommendation by Shar. We had a table that was touching the stage. It was amazing. The show consisted of intervals of Tango dancing, and singing. Not everyone liked the singer, but I thought she was ok. At one point the dancers went into the audience to dance with them and the woman picked Ilyusha. He did the right steps and looked amazing. We cheered him on and took lots of pictures of course. The singer also went into the crowd and started asking people where they were from. Most patrons seemed to be tourists from other South American countries. When she got to us and we said that we were from the US the room had very sparse applause. We figured that as long as they didn't boo us we were doing fine. Our original plan was to go out for drinks after the show, but we were so tired that we just caught a cab back to the hotel and fell into blissful oblivion.
This morning we dragged ourselves out of bed, ate breakfast and packed. After we dropped off our suitcases by the front desk we went to the tango district, because Ilyusha needed to buy some tango shoes as presents. There were other people in the store and when they found out we were from the US they actually acted excited and started jumping up and down. One of them actually came up to me and Olya and asked if we knew any celebrities like Richard Gere. We told him that we didn’t but it still felt nice to not be hated by the locals.
Feeling celebrity like ourselves we made our way to Palermo Soho (the final recommendation of Shar). It was a great little neighborhood. There was an art/craft fair and little shops with really different fashionable clothes. It was very pleasant to walk around there and we were very sorry we didn’t have more time to spend there. This is the part of Buenos Aires I found to be nice and friendly. It had a really good vibe. Unfortunately we had to go because we reserved a tour of the Teatro Colon.
The tour spanned about 7 floors. The theater is amazing and we got to see the ballet practice for Romeo and Juliet. We also saw the prop workshop, shoe makers, costume rooms and sat in box seats. Everything was beautiful. I was really glad that we saved the tour for last. Now we are just waiting by the hotel to be picked up and taken to the airport. We will have coffee with Shar and that will be the end of our wonderful trip. WE are really not looking forward to the plane ride. Unless we have something happen to us at the airport, this is the last of our vacation emails. I apologize for not answering your emails individually, but then I would be at the INTERNET cafe all day and would have nothing to write about. Thanks for your emails and I appreciate the patience it must take to even skim my long novel like letters. See you all back home!
I am kind of sorry I waited this long to write but we had a very hectic schedule. Our last night in Chile was wonderful. We had a wonderful meal at the Isla Negra that our guide recommended, and we can’t get over how cheap everything is. If I was a student again, I would do study abroad in Chile and could probably live for 20 or 30 dollars a day including a place to stay. Ok, so everyone decided to do some last minute shopping in the morning except me (I slept in) and surprisingly we all made our flight at everything was smooth.
Argentina started off great. There were no airport adventures of any kind. We have a better arrangement here. Instead of Masha, me and Ilyusha sharing a triple, Masha and I are rooming, and Ilyusha has a single. The first day we decided to walk around right after we got in, and we did, to the point that I couldn’t feel my legs!! We were absolutely exhausted when we made it into what turned out to be a very high end restaurant.
They served us complementary champagne and hors d'oeuvres, and offered us chocolates after our meal. I have to say that the whole meal ended up costing us about 10 dollars, so again pretty amazing. We had the restaurant call us a cab, but the cabbie wouldn’t take the five of us. We decided to walk. First of all, the restaurant was VERY far from our hotel, and second we started out on our insane journey after . I have to say, we were all scarred. The only people on the streets were the homeless picking through garbage and all sorts of shady characters which I have named ´tenistye´. Also, earlier in the day we saw a lot of anti-US graffiti the funnies of which translates as such: ¨for USA :( picture of a penis) ¨ even though that particular one is funny, the knowledge that we are not liked added to our fears. It took us 35 minutes of intense walking where to reach our hotel. We walked so fast that we took all unnecessary clothing such as jackets and sweaters. It was definitely an experience!
Unfortunately our next day here wasn’t quite as eventful. We had a city tour, but our bus was filled to the brim. It took us about 2 hours to pick up all of the tourists from different hotels and the tour was in 2 languages. Most people in our group fell asleep. I left the tour in the middle because I had a stomachache, but the guys said that the rest of it was about the same. (I was sad that I missed the La Boca neighborhood but we can’t go back because it is VERY shady and tourists do not go there without guides).
I was also trying to get in touch with a friend of a friend whose name is Shar Khan every time I say that name Sereja erupts in maniacal laughter. Actually one time we were waiting in line in a store and Sereja started laughing for no reason, but very loudly. When we asked him what was so funny, all he could say as he was wiping tears from his eyes was ¨Shar goluboi¨.
Anyways the guys called me when they were done with the tour and I met them in downtown. We shopped around for a while and then went to a Brahms concert in the famous Colon Opera house. The piece was ¨German Requiem¨, and it wasn’t just good, it was absolutely amazing. I almost had tears in my eyes. However there is a funny thing that happened. First of all, every time there was a break in the music between parts everyone in the whole building coughed. It almost seemed like they were saving all of their coughs for that period of time and restraining themselves during the music. But the funny part is that the first time the music stopped someone started clapping. The whole room turned and said ¨SHHHH¨ since the acoustics in the theater are unbeatable it was the loudest ¨shhhhh¨ I have ever heard.
After the concert we met up with SHAR at the hotel. He was incredible. He typed up and printed out a sheet filled with different tango shows, restaurants and attractions we should see and attached business cards and directions. He went over everything with us and answered all of our questions. He was the perfect gentleman and he spent about an hour and a half with us. We all really enjoyed meeting him.
Today we went to Montevideo. Honestly we all hated the trip. It was a giant waste of time. 3 hours by boat in each direction was bad enough, but then we were carted off to a store for 20 minutes, then we ate lunch together and then picket up tourists from hotels in the city. Our actual tour started at about 2 but we had to wake up for it at .
The tour was in 2 languages again and we didn’t get out of the bus at all - not counting 5 minutes here and there to take a picture. We saw people with horses and carriages on roads, little kids smoking and carrying cement. It was very depressing all around. We were finally deposited at a mall and given an hour.
Here my little group of friends and I decided to separate from the group an meet them at the port. After walking around a very expensive mall, we decided to walk around the streets, and the first building we see is Hillel. So we went in to check it out. It was a highly organized building with a gym, a library, conference rooms and a cafe. The people were very friendly and a woman named Deborah (the director of Hillel) showed us around the whole building. There are about 20,000 Jews in Montevideo. They are Zionists and Uruguay had a huge percentage of Jews making aliah to Israel after their economic crisis. It was very interesting to meet these Uruguayan Jews. It seems that Hillel members from northwestern and U of I visited them in the spring for alternative spring break.
We ran out of time and had to go back, so we grabbed a taxi. On our way to the port we actually drove through a rich, beautiful waterfront neighborhood, which changed some of our impressions about Uruguay. This was like being in Miami. We got on our boat and came back. Now we are starving so I have to stop before everyone has me for dinner. I will write more later.
I am leaving room here for olya to tell you more about Igassu...
Olya:
OK, so we went on this boat ride into the falls. The guide warned us that we would get wet, and we brought a change of clothes which we left in our van. However, while I thought we would get wet from the mist from the waterfall, it actually ended up being more of an amusement park ride because we went into the waterfall, so it was more like buckets of water pouring down from all sides and from above. Since it’s generally not very warm here, this was not pleasant for me personally. Sereja, however, loved every minute of it. Since Katya´s emails are very detailed, I will also mention that upon disembarkation, all the European women that were on the boat proceeded to change right on the dock in front of everyone. It went something like this: take of pants, take off underwear, reach into the bag, find new underwear, sit down, put a towel in your lap, then slowly put on the underwear, then take off the top (and bra), reach into the bag again, put on a new bra, then pants, then shirt.
The second story I have is about the sauna. Katya probably mentioned that it was very cold in our hotel in Iguassu, so we decided to warm up by going to the sauna. Of course they neglected to tell us that the sauna needs reservations, and is also not free. However, you do get it all to yourself with a key for the door. Well, it sounds like a nice experience, but it was super cold in the sauna. I know that sounds ridiculous, and to be fully honest it was nice and hot toward the ceiling (yes, I know heat rises) where our faces were, but our feet literally felt like icicles on the cold marble floor. The only way for us to stay in there was to sit on a bunch of towels on the benches (cold, marble benches) and hold our legs up over our heads.
And now back to our regular programming....
OK,
I guess I will have to pace myself for this story. We left from Iguassu and went back to Sao Paulo - we have been in that airport 3 times already. We got on to our flight to Santiago with no problems and all of us got our luggage at the airport. Then we started to look for our guide who was supposed to pick us up. We stood around for a half an hour and started to get worried when finally we saw a man with a sign that said "Shafran" We greeted him and breathed a little easier but only for a second. The reason he had "Shafran" written on the sign was because he was only expecting Olga and Sergey Shafran and had no idea who the rest of us were. It took us a little while but we finally convinced him that the rest of us were also on this trip. Luckily he came in a van so all of us fit in with our luggage and we drove to the hotel. When we got in, we found out that the hotel reservations were also made for one double room since they were only expecting the Shafrans. Masha ended up giving them her credit card number in order for us to be able to stay in the same hotel. Our guide also told us that until he receives confirmation from his company that Masha, Ilyusha, and I paid for our city tour we can’t go. Since we have a time difference of 3 hours between us and LA our tour was moved until .
After all of the unpleasantness was taken care of, we decided to walk around the city. I’ve got to say that I love the city and I think everyone else feels the same way. We took the subway to the downtown area (which was the cleanest subway I have ever seen) and ended up at a castle (we later found out that the castle is the original Santiago site. we climbed all the way up and had a great view of the whole city. There were little gardens and squares on our ascent and we stopped and chilled for a little while. I also have to mention that the amount of PDA here is insane. Everywhere we look there are people making out - mostly in parks and squares. After we spent some time on top of the castle we came down and saw a big market where we drove the boys absolutely insane. I seriously think that by the end of our shopping they couldn’t think straight. We have broken their spirits. When they finally dragged us away we decided to walk around and look for a place to eat dinner. On our way we saw a store with a huge sale... yeah they wanted to kill us :-) When we were dragged kicking and screaming from the store we took the metro to the university area which was slightly shady and had a really nice dinner in one of the restaurants. A good time was had by all. Then we went back to our hotel to rest up for the battle with the travel agencies.
This morning we woke up and had breakfast as usual, and then Olya and Masha spent some time on the phone with the Chilean agency that was handling our reservations. Everything was cleared up and we were told to be ready at . Since we had a few hours to spare we walked around the city for awhile. It has a very European feel to it. Also everyone is very nicely dressed and groomed. It’s just nice to see people to well taken care of. The only shady areas seem to be the parks. We really enjoyed ourselves and took a bunch of pictures. We made it to the hotel 10 minutes before our tour was supposed to start. Our guide was about 15 minutes late when we called the company again. There was another miscommunication so the guide didn’t even know he was giving us a tour. The company sent him and the driver over. To make a long story short we started our tour at 3 not 2.
Once the tour started it was great. Our guide was very knowledgeable and he told us a lot of interesting things. For example, when there’s a lot of traffic the president takes the metro to work. We stood about 5 feet from an ex minister of justice. We didn’t even know this until our guide pointed out and then we saw all of the camera crews rushing to talk to him. Chile is very safe and laid back about security, but they do have a large police presence, especially in areas where crime could potentially be committed like markets and the metro. The guide was really hungry and so were we so he took us to "el rapido" that served us the fastest food I have ever seen. We all had empanadas and they were great. After lunch we walked around the Plaza de Armas and went into a beautiful cathedral. The confessionals in Chile have chairs that face each other. The Chileans believe that the religion and the people should not have walls separating them. So far they are the only country that has such confessional booths but our guide told us that Mexico is also converting to this method.
Once out of the cathedral we drove to the top of the mountain where the Virgin Mary statue was. Chile was incredible to look at while we were driving up. We saw 2 ski resorts in the distance. This country is amazing. They are 1.5 hours form the beach; they have skiing and wine along with really cheap food and a good economy. I think a ski trip here is a must in the future. We climbed about 150 steps and ended up with another gorgeous view of the city. Did I mention I love this place? Our final stop of the tour was the modern district’s wine store where we all bought a lot of Chilean wine. We already drank a bottle and are now on our way back to the district to walk around and eat dinner. Stay tuned for Argentina, we fly out tomorrow morning - this time hopefully without incident (THIS PROGRAM HAS BEEN INTERRUPTED BY MARIA: KATYA QUIT JINXING US. EVERY TIME YOU MAKE YOUR WISH WE HAVE MISHAPS, SO STOP IT!) OK. I gotta go. I will write more from different country.
So... picking up where I left off. At the market Olya, Masha, and I did some great bargaining. One of the people who ended up selling us stuff even inquired if we were from Israel :-). You will all see what we bought when we come back so there is no point in describing it here. I have to say that the club was amazing. (Although kind of a rip off) Let me say that the club culture and etiquette is very different here. The guys come on strong but move on if you are not immediately interested. When we got home it was around , so we didn’t really get much sleep.
The next day was mostly spent flying, and as you can imagine, no flight here is without adventures. When we got to the airport, the flight attendants told us that we should take an earlier flight, one that was leaving 20 minutes later. We agreed and Masha, Ilyusha and I went directly to the plane, while the Shafrans went to get their cash from having their bag lost. We weren’t really worried until the plane started moving and the Shafrans weren’t on it!!! We started making plans on what we would do with their luggage if they didn’t make it to Sao Paulo in time to make the flight to Iguassu. Thankfully they got there with 40 minutes to spare. Also imagine our surprise when we all got our bags upon arrival to Iguassu!!!
Our guide turned out to be a really laid back middle aged man named Fernando. Fernando told us that he could take us to the Brazilian side of Iguassu falls right away so that we would have more time on our last day here for the Argentinean side of the falls and Itaipu. We gladly agreed to start our adventures as soon as possible. The bus took us to the national park and we walked through the trail to the falls. I can not describe the beauty of this place. It was relatively warm and sunny and there were rainbows everywhere because of the sun hitting the mist that was coming off the falls. We couldn’t stop taking pictures. At the end of the trail Fernando led us to a bridge that was catching all of the mist. It was incredible to stand on it and watch the insane amount of water rushing all around us. We also noticed that the birds liked to fly in to the fall, not quite sure why. When we left the park the sun was just setting and it made everything a little better, especially the fact that I was freezing and soaked to the bone.
Our hotel was not as nice as the previous one, but still relatively good. We had dinner and then the guys checked out the local area (there is NOTHING here) while I fell asleep wondering how we manage to get wet and cold every single day of this trip.
This morning we woke up kind of early and made our way to Itaipu - which is an Indian phrase meaning ´rock that sings´. In reality Itaipu is a dam that is shared by Paraguay and Brazil. The first thing we had to do is watch a propaganda communist type movie about the joys of water and the camaraderie of the countries that share the dam (In reality Argentina, Chile and Brazil attacked Paraguay to get access to the Parana river and killed 99 percent of the white population in the 1800s and then restricted |Paraguay’s use of their own oil so Paraguay had no choice but to be in on the whole Itaipu thing). After we were sufficiently brainwashed and our pupils have dilated to twice their normal size, we were put on busses and had a tour of the dam. The tour guide let us out to take pictures - they are pretty funny because all of us girls were freezing and huddling to keep warm, we kind of didn’t care about the dam at that point. When they let us back on the bus we traveled to the Paraguayan side of the dam and back - so technically we have been in Paraguay on this trip as well.
After Itaipu Fernando took us to the Argentinean side of Iguassu. I didn’t think that I could ever see anything more impressive than the Brazilian side, I was wrong. The weather was sunny and warm and the falls were incredibly beautiful. We walked around all morning and took an insane amount of pictures again. Fernando suggested that we take the boat ride to the falls. Everyone else took the opportunity and will tell you about it later. All they told me was that it was fun and amusement park like. I opted of a nice uphill hike and Fernando kept pointing out some animals and birds to me. I would say we all had a great time. When the guys came back we went to our hotel and rested for a few hours, and then Fernando took us to dinner and an international show. The show started off a little cheesy, but picked up momentum towards the end. They had really nice Argentinean tango and capoera - that’s right hushband eat your hearts out. There was also a half naked guy dancing with fire that we really liked and of course the half naked Brazilian girls with the giant feathers on their heads. I say it was the perfect last night of Brazil.
Tomorrow we will leave the hotel at the crack of dawn and travel to Sao Paulo so that we can fly to Chile. Let us all pray for the airplane trip to be uneventful. More to come! Also thank you all for your support of these emails. I write them as kind of a diary to help me remember the trip and it’s nice that you enjoy reading them :-)
The dinner at the Brazilian meat place was beyond any description. It was the most delicious meat that I have ever had. Everyone's favorite was the fillet mignon. All of the meat was medium rare, but even I, who likes her food burned to a crisp didn't mind. We had a great time and great conversation. We ended up staying at the restaurant for two and a half hours. After the meal our plan was to go to a club, but everyone was so tired from the day that we decided to postpone the club for the 7th. When we hot to our hotel room THE MISSING SUITCASE WAS THERE!
This morning we woke up and surprise surprise it was raining again. All the Brazilians seem very apologetic about the rain and keep telling us that July is the driest month of the season and that this type of weather is atypical, but hey that's our Jewish luck.
At breakfast we decided that instead of Sugar Loaf Mountain, we would go to the NationalMuseum. I am just sorry that we didn't have more time to spend there. The actual building of the museum looks like it was beautiful at one time, but the mold and chipping paint have added a layer of gloom to the place. We were practically the only people there and both Olya and I felt like we were walking through a dream. Olya kept saying that this place reminded her of something but she wasn't sure exactly of what. The museum itself is a combination of the Science and History Museums with a bit of the Smithsonian mixed in. We really enjoyed ourselves there. The inside is tragically beautiful and unkempt. The glass from the exhibits is so old that the glass is rippled and there is a layer of dust everywhere. We looked at Brazilian artifacts, as well as Egyptian mummies, shrunken heads, prehistoric thongs (tangas) made out of clay, and fertility amulets with tiny penises that you have to look at through a magnifying glass. There was even an exhibit of how many people have visited the museum over the years. In 1960 (the peak of Brazilian culture and civilization) 250,000 people visited the museum. On our way out we finally figured out what the museum reminded us of - soviet structures - at one time beautiful, but not taken care of at all and ruined slightly in a sad way. When we got out of there we found a cab and went back to the hotel to eat at another "kilo" place.
Let me take this moment to share with you the driving habits of Brazilian cab drivers. We all felt like we were going to die every time we took a ride in the cab. First of all, we have noticed that such minor rules as traffic lights and right of way are more like suggestions than laws. No one should cross the street without a crosswalk, because if they do they will die. Also there are no actual lanes that are being followed. Every car makes its own lane and there is sometimes an inch or two between two cars. We were scared, oh yes we were. Here is a quote from a tourist book located at the INTERNET cafe bookshop: "Since most Brazilians bought their license, or forgot most of the rules and regulations, everyone drives like they were on drugs. Interestingly, every year there is one traffic law which is fashionable to follow. This year it is not to stop at pedestrian crossing stripes" I am not joking this is an actual quote and it is TRUE.
When we got to our hotel (fell to our knees and wept with joy that we were still alive) we had 15 minutes to eat and then we were off on our tour of Corcovado, the beaches and the H. Stein museum. Our tram ride was through the largest urban forest in the world and it was beautiful. When we got to the top we had our first piece of luck with the weather. It wasn't raining and it was not foggy. We elected to run up 250 steps rather than ride the elevator, and enjoyed some nice views. The view from the top of Corcovado is breath taking. You can see all of Rio and it is breathtaking. We will have lots of pictures to show everyone when we return. It started pouring as soon as we got down so the tour of the beaches wasn't as good as it could have been. An interesting fact: the waves here sometimes go in different directions and crash into each other. It's very neat to look at.
Our tour of the H. Stern museum was pretty short. It was kind of neat to see how jewelry gets made and designed, but it wasn’t anything that blew me away. No one really tried to sell us anything since we didn’t really look rich, and we were very happy to not be harassed. We tried to walk around Ipanema for a bit but it was still raining. I have to say that Ipanema is like the Gold Coast of Rio. Everyone is well dressed and neat. We bought some wine so that we could pre-drink before the club and went back to the hotel. After we changed we went to another "kilo" place for dinner and then here to write you all how we are doing. Our plan of action is to go to the market and buy some souvenirs/presents/general crap and then finally GO TO THE CLUB. Tomorrow we are leaving Rio and flying to Iguassu. Overall I would say that I liked Rio for the atmosphere that it invokes, rather than the city itself, but I am not sure how the rest of the people felt.
I added more people to the list so that you guys could follow our travels if you chose to do so. The first day was pretty boring but feel free to read about it below. I will continue where I left off last. We went and got coffee at a really cute place that was located by our hotel. Afterwards we went back to be welcomed officially by our guide. He offered a few tours that we could buy and we told him that we would think about it (riiiiiiiiiiiight) it was total rape so just between you and me it's never gonna happen. We planned out our next few days here. On the 6th we were going to go to Sugar Loaf on our own in the morning, and then do the included Corcovado+Beaches+H. Stern Jewelry Museum tour in the afternoon. On the 7th we were going to explore downtown. The guide also told us that the Shafrans suitcase was "arriving" soon.
We then went to our complimentary dinner, which I might add was surprisingly delicious. After dinner - since we weren't tired enough we went to the mall to do some quality shopping, however found the stores to be too expensive. The Brazilians like to post about a fourth of the actual price in large print and then add a tiny 4X on the upper left hand side. Those tricky Brazilians, we have a math teacher with us ha ha ha so we were able to multiply correctly.
Today we woke up and had our breakfast at the hotel. It was amazing, the variety of food was very nice (don't worry mom and dad).It was raining and foggy so we figured that we should reverse our planned days and walk around downtown today since we wouldn't be able to see anything from the mountains anyway. We must have walked through ALL of downtown. It's a cute city and the architecture is pretty interesting, but not much else to see. Olya bought a dress and a sweater at one of the stores and then it started raining even harder. My poncho soaked all the way through!! (Also mom, your purse colors my clothing black, just an FYI)
We managed to find a café that came highly recommended and had lunch. The cafe is called Cafe Colombo and it was very European style. Since I was soaked through to the bone Olya gave me the sweater she just bought and then told me to keep it (so I did buy something after all) the rain didn't stop, but we didn't care. The Shafrans called our guide to see if their suitcase was here, but it was still "arriving soon". We walked around downtown a little bit more and then decided to go to the "sambadome" where the carnival floats get built. Our cab driver took us there with no problems and then when we got there let us know that there was nothing there (which we could see for ourselves since the carnival is in February). We had him take us to the NaifMuseum instead.
The Naif museum has art that reflects the history and culture of the country rather than the skill of the artist. There was a huge international exhibition in the basement. Only Brazilian art occupied the first and second floor. I would have to say that the most impressive piece of art was a painting with 19 scenes, which was 24 meters long. The painting told the history of Brazil from 1500 to present day. Another interesting little tidbit is that the Brazilians seem fond of Jews. There was one painting in the museum called the Israelis Live! and a few more where you can see Stars of David. Masha and I also saw a woman wearing hoop earrings with the Star of David on them today.
After the museum we went home and surprisingly the Shafran's suitcase arrived! (To the airport) it should be in their room by Olya said she doesn’t believe anyone and will not be sure of the suitcase until she sees it. I don't blame her. We went to a Kilo Buffet because Olya was starving and couldn't make it to dinner. It was the best option for us since they charge per 100 grams and since we had only tiny amounts of food it turned out to be really cheap. I paid 2.39 for my meal (exactly a dollar) After the INTERNET cafe our plan is to go to a Meat buffet (a Brazilian specialty) and go to an "International" dance club tonight. I will tell you all how it went in my next installment
So I have actually been on a REAL vacation for a few hours but a lot has happened. Our flight was a bit delayed right at OHare and we left about an hour after we were originally supposed to. The flight itself was a bit hard on me since I can't sleep sitting up. Ilyusha and I had one seat between us that was empty and so I tried to contort myself into all (and I mean all) types of positions to fit. They had to check everyone’s seat belts every time the seat belt sign was turned on (and that was very often because our flight was very bumpy) and the sleep did not come easily. All in all, I would say that I got about an hour. They also kind of starved us. I didn't have their dinner (I bought a much healthier alternative in O’Hare, but their breakfast was all carby and tiny. Thanks for the beef jerky :-).
We finally got to Sao Paulo and were put on the next flight. We didn't really have to wait so it was pretty nice. I sat with a Lebanese guy who was from South Africa. He was pretty interesting to talk to. He speaks no Lebanese but knows the alphabet. The flight from Sao Paulo to Rio was about 35 minutes, but bad things awaited us when we arrived. Olya's bag did not make it. Thankfully Olya and Sereja packed both suitcases with both of their stuff so that they both still have clothing and everything they need. The bag is supposed to arrive tonight from Sao Paulo. Our guide waited for us since (we got there around ) and I caught him right before he gave up on us and left (don't ask me why he just couldn't look up the flight online).
Our hotel is very nice and we just had sandwiches for lunch. Also we now know why you said that I couldn't get money out. It is a very complicated process that took us 2 banks and 20 minutes between us to figure out. If you look on the back of your ATM card you will either see Cirrus, Star, or Plus. On the cash station your options are:
American express
24 hour banking
Cirrus/maestro/master card
Visa/plus.
Since on the back of Bank One's ATM it says Plus, I had to choose the Visa/Plus and not the 24 hour banking option. Yeah, I know pretty counter intuitive. Olya is actually the one who figured that one out, so much for analytical programming skills. Well, that's about all for now. We are going to a cafe to get me some coffee since I am a zombie by now.
