This summer has been filled with a few kids for reading, programs for VE, a few things for Domingo Savio and my personal vacation – Brazil.
I went to Brazil for 10 days to visit my friend Gi who I had not seen for 5 ½ years! We were JC’s together in the Philippines at a
CISV Village. Staying in touch with people is great, but seeing them after years is always better. It’s amazing what camp, email, friendships and airfare promotions can really do for a person. Now we all just need to write the US Government to stop making it so hard for people from other countries to visit the US, then maybe other countries will stop retaliating with visas (Brazil) and entrance fees (Chile). But I can’t say I don’t blame the other countries for retaliating. It’s money.
Brazil is beautiful! It’s green which Chile is not, colorful flowers, hills, beaches, huge cities, amazing people (at least in my experience). Also it was just great to get a change for the polluted
heat of Santiago and walk into humid heat. If you eat there, fruit and meat are the way to go, bathing suits are a must, and bring the sunscreen. Wait, maybe that’s just me.
So what did we do? Gi lives in Campinas so we were of course there visiting most of the time which involved hanging out with the family, a visit to the public clinic as well as the private hospital (everyone is fine and neither time was for me), going to one of her classes at university, going to the largest mall in Latin America and swimming at the club and then again at the farm, which is really not in Campinas but 40 minutes away.
Excursions included celebrating Carnaval at the beach, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Gauruja, the beach we went to for 3 days consisted of bikinis, speedos, surfers, foam, a concert and relaxing. We went to Sao Paulo for a day, visited the main avenue and went to the top of the tallest building to see a SPECTACTULAR view of the city at night. The lights never ended. I
mean the city does have 17 million people. Rio was the crazy yet wonderful idea of Gi’s dad. It’s a 5 hour drive from Campinas and we did it in a day. Gi had not done any touristy things their either so it was the perfect excursion. We ate near Copacabana, went to the statue of Christ over the city and then took a little excursion to some family members from her dad’s side. 17 hours later, we were back at the house.
As for life in Santiago, we are preparing Domingo Savio this week to start on Monday and new volunteer orientation for VE is this week. This past weekend was an amazing carnival for the kids that participated in the summer reading program. It went so well and the kids had a blast. Hope all is well with everyone else.
beijos, tchau
started tomorrow, last week was for homework and playing so the kids could get to know one another. Basketballs went flying, bracelets were made and my name once again is Tia. And that was all over the noise of a wall being torn down and rebuilt. It's good to be back.
