Brazil: last days and Observations

 

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.