The rest of the trip
Halloween in San Ramon: Duck (J) and Cat (C)
Inhotim: a terrific destination art park 2 hours south of Bela Horizonte: 5 stars, a must visit
Rio
Where the 2016 O Torch was placed
THB in 2016 O's t-shirt
Niteroi Contemporary Museum designed by Oscar Niemeyer
slope of museum mirrors Sugar Loaf
Rodrigo Pedrosa
no attribution captured
no attribution captured
Apartment building where DA and THB stayed in 2016, a few blocks from the Fairmount Hotel between Copacabana and Ipanema beaches
a backstage tour of Carnaval floats and costumes; scenes from the last version
tour learns to samba
Raoul on left, Carlos co-leader on right
men's room
women's room
Raouls work outside studio
marmoset monkey on Sugar Loaf
nearing sunset on Sugar Loaf
Ilha Grande
dining room
leftover fruit
THB's brand new mask leaked, needs to go back to the shop for repairs
Snorkeling was not tropical: less than 10 varieties of fish, a few turtles, a bit of colorful polyps, very clear water, mostly overcast skies with hints of drizzle, and well worth the effort to get to Ilha Grande to chill out after the hot and humid mainland
we treated our local snorkeling guide to lunch each day, this was his choice both days
THB shared his local brewski
three trees in one spot in the local village
Ell-ahh-zeer gives us a tour of his town, the local village, culminating with self-serve ice cream (scoop your own)
Brazil 2023 Observations
·
Other
than eyestrain during blogging, THB’s health held up: no overheating
(did not take blood pressure meds during the trip so the offset was shakier
hands…can I have a spoon, please)
·
Overall,
the food was unremarkable. The exceptions were lunch at Mani and Jun
Sakamoto for a sushi dinner, both in Sao Paulo. It was hard to get our drinks
served before food started arriving
·
Not
as many studio visits nor was the local art particularly memorable. The
museums were generally very interesting and Inhotim unbelievable. THB and DB
did not buy any art on the trip, which was never a goal anyway.
·
The
tour group was generally very pleasant and easy to talk to. We knew
about half the members, they had also been on our Colombia trip last year.
·
The
snorkeling extension was a great idea even when it turned out there
wasn’t a lot to see under the water. The fact that THB’s mask leaked was easily
overcome when our guide pulled out a mask that worked fine.
·
We
got a great tip from one of the tour members: we could renew our Global
Entry cards in Houston, one of the five US airports that held you didn’t
need an appointment for an interview. What we learned: the issuing agency is
way overloaded and it could be another two years before we can renew. Not a
problem, per the agent in Houston, since our cards are good even without being
renewed. You don’t even have to show your card, your face scan is sufficient.
·
Masks
to prevent Covid were pretty much nonexistent. THB and DB wore our masks
when in elevators with other non-tour members and in airports (Sao Paulo
extremely crowded). So far, no symptoms upon return.
·
Brazilians
for the most part do not speak Spanish, many in tourist industry spoke some
English, and THB and DB rarely had problems with language. It is a lot
easier to read Portuguese than to speak it. We found out on day 2 of our
extension that our snorkeling guide spoke some Spanish and he and DB used their
phones for translation when all else failed.
·
In
each of our three large city stops, the traffic was horrendous. That
just allowed the tour to appreciate how pretty the cities we visited were.
Lush, leafy, some wide streets, the beaches, the lagoons, the small lakes.
·
Scariest moment
on the trip: on Ilha Grande at our second dinner (last night of trip), our
request for water was very slow in coming (that was the absolute norm) and when
it arrived it was a large pitcher with ice. Every single other time we
ordered water (pretty much at every meal), it came in plastic bottles. We
stared at the pitcher in horror! Terrifying…
·
Overall: Very
glad we came and definitely would sign up for another adventure with ArtQuest.
Unfortunately, THB is fully booked for 2024. Maybe 2025. Maybe. When THB
visited his rheumatologist just before the trip, THB told her he felt that he
was slowing down a bit (a major symptom of Necrotizing Myositis 7 years ago).
She replied: you are strong! Your labs are great! You are just getting old. And
she ain’t THB’s primary physician, the retina doc, the audiologist, the
cardiologist, the neurologist, the dermatologist, or any of the others docs
waiting in line to give THB the health report…he’s old, this is what being old
is like.
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