Return to Brazil - Fewer Words, More Pictures!

I have wished to go back to Brazil ever since I got home from my mission 14 years ago. So when a joint mission president reunion was announced, we worked hard to make this trip happen.  I was able to take Tyson, Tyler, Lydia, (Kate was much happier staying with her grandparents), and my sister, Kristen.

The day of departure arrived, Thursday, March 24, 2016.  There were so many airplane delays and therefore missed flights, that it took us 2 days and 2 nights to get to Brazil.  Our kids were troopers.  And at one point, our luggage even got lost.  And found the next morning - hooray!

An hour and a half late to the mission reunion, hot and sweaty, and one scary taxi ride later, we pulled up to the church located a few minutes away from the São Paulo temple.  I had missed the breakfast, the mission theme and song, and President Casado’s talk, much to my sadness, but arrived in time to hear President Barbour.

 

What a great turnout!

I was jet lagged and struggling to readjust to Portuguese, so the whole mission reunion kind of felt like a dream.  Hugging Sister Regina, Sister Elias, and Sister Brandão, my companions, was wonderful, but how do you catch up after 14 years?  You just hug again.  And meet their children.  Speaking face to face with President and Sister Casado and President and Sister Barbour – there was just so much I wanted to say, by way of thanking them for their service, for being there for me, for all of us, but I just didn’t have the words.  I felt like I was 6 months into the mission again, understanding about 2/3 of what people were saying.  I forgot what it was like to decipher rapid speech and different accents.  It was humbling, but everyone, of course, was kind.    

Presidente and Sister Barbour, us, and Sister and Presidente Casado

With Sister Regina and Elder Moncada (and cute wife and baby girl) - Caldas Novas District.

With Elder Pasti (Uberaba) and Sister Elias (Goiânia).

With Sister Brandão (Uberaba).

There were spiritual talks, singing, mingling, food, and photo taking. I was so pleased to see Tyson and Kristen surrounded by anyone who could speak or attempt English.  Everyone was so inclusive.  I was floored to notice 8 year old Tyler and 5 year old Lydia running around with huge smiles on their faces, chattering away in English to the Brazilian children, who were chattering right back in Portuguese.  They didn’t understand each other at all, verbally, but were having the time of their lives together!  

 

As the reunion wound down, we were among the last to leave.  I said goodbye to Sister Elias and took her family’s photo in front of the chapel.  Her family is darling.  I wish I could have had more time with them.  Sister Elias still cracks me up.  She always had me laughing in the mission! 

The temple was about 5 minutes away and I wanted to go take pictures.  We ended up staying on the grounds of the São Paulo temple for a couple of hours, which was probably my most favorite part of the São Paulo portion of our trip.  It was beautiful and so peaceful. The pressure was off from the whirlwind of greeting and speaking with so many people from my mission, one right after another.  I took pictures, we all chatted with old friends and new friends coming out of the temple.  I watched my children arm in arm with Sister Regina’s children.  

I had warned Tyler (who doesn't love physical affection) that Brazilians love to hug and kiss. Our 1st day was almost over and he asked me when someone would kiss him.  Sister Regina made his whole face light up. :-)

My Brazilian sister.

Remember what I said above about Tyler?  Imagine my shock at seeing him willingly hug Emilly!  They can't communicate in the same language, but those kids sure could nonverbally.

Lorrayne, so patiently listening to Lydia talk and talk in English.

Even Kristen found a way to communicate.  Smart phone/smart girl.

After the sun set, we loaded the cars, Lydia on my lap, and drove an hour and a half through the streets of São Paulo to the suburb of Maua where Sister Regina and her family live.  To show our appreciation we asked if we could treat everyone to dinner at a real Brazilian Churrascaria.  It was late and everyone was tired, but the food was so delicious. 

Sunday morning was Easter.  Aunt Kristen made sure the Easter Bunny knew where to find Tyler and Lydia, much to their delight.  They each received a small basket with a few treats.  Fernando picked us up for church after breakfast.  They meet at 8:30 in the morning in a beautiful tall building about 5 minutes away, by car, from the hotel.  Relief Society was first.  Followed by Sunday School and then Sacrament meeting.  Everyone was taken care of.  Tyler and Lydia had a Sister missionary from the U.S. and also a Brazilian former Sister Missionary (who served in the states) to translate.  Tyson had Fernando, who speaks English really well, actually.  And Kristen had a young man in the ward who adores English and was happy to translate.

It was so good to be back among the Brazilian Relief Society Sisters.  They are such good people.  Strong and just doing their best.  Sister Regina teaches Sunday School to a group of a dozen youth and I joined them because I had such a limited time with her.  The teenagers were all there at church so early in the morning, with eyes shining. I was so impressed with their dedication and knowledge!  

Fernando is the bishop so guess who he called on to speak in Sacrament Meeting?  He asked me to speak on the topics of Faith and Jesus Christ and thankfully he gave me a week notice, but it's been over a decade since I've given a talk in Portuguese and I was pretty nervous!  Thank goodness for the Spirit, to whom I give all the credit that my talk seemed to go well – and be understood. 

Like I said, today is Easter Sunday.  What a special day (and place) to be at church.  We were also well taken care of, chocolate-wise, at church.  After Relief Society, not one, but two women passed out treats.  More was passed out in Gospel Doctrine.  Then, at the end of Sacrament Meeting, the kids were given these huge chocolate eggs. They were like Kinder eggs with a prize inside, except they were homemade (and did I mention – huge)!

After church, we went to the Trindade home.  I’ve been imagining where Sister Regina has been living for years and now I got to see the real thing.  I loved being there!

 

 

We spent the afternoon chatting and relaxing at their home with a yummy traditional lunch lovingly prepared by Sister Regina.  Our whole family loves Brazilian food!  My Brazilian friends are so good and humble and faithful.  I am a better person for having served in Brazil and for knowing them.  My kids and husband are better people for having met them. 

No one wanted to say goodbye a few hours later, but it was time to move on.  We had a flight to catch to Rio so we wouldn’t arrive too late at night.  
You know how you hear horror stories of Americans in foreign countries getting stopped by the police for no reason and then having to bribe their way free?  Well, imagine my concern when a police barricade on the highway pulled over Fernando for no apparent reason (he was not speeding), but there he was explaining his car full of American tourists all squished in the back, Lydia on my lap.  They had Fernando get out and talked with him and looked at paperwork for the longest time.  Finally they let us go (phew!) and it was a mad dash at the airport, but we made our flight just in time!

Good bye, São Paulo!

Flying into Rio, seeing all the lights was so beautiful.  

Our hired driver picked us up and drove us to the outskirts of the city (safer than staying downtown) to the Barra da Tijuca neighborhood (fun fact – that’s where the LDS temple is being built), as far as he could, which happened to be a dock.  Our lodging was a secluded B&B, the Utrópico Guest House, on an island up the river!  We had to take a water taxi every time we wanted to leave or come back, but we were no hurry and it was a fun water tour every time.

 

It was late when we got settled and our stomachs were rumbling again, so we took a water taxi over to a nearby island that Silvia recommended.  The kids were on their 2^nd (or 3^rd or 4^th?) wind so they happily chattered away with a British couple also staying at the B&B, while waiting for our food.  
And then Lydia noticed the empty stage.  
With Brazilian music playing through speakers somewhere, she got up there and danced her heart out for us.  The video footage is priceless.

Monday morning we woke up to the sun peaking through the curtains in our large 2 floor apartment.  Breakfast was every morning on the veranda, watching the boats pass by in the river, and trying to find Mickey, the resident cat.  Fresh fruit, grilled cheese sandwiches, pão de queijo, and orange juice.  Yum!

One of our Rio precautions was to hire tour guides to take us to all the sites.  It was so worth it to have an English speaking driver who knew how to navigate the Rio streets/traffic, knew the ins and outs of the tourist sites and ticketing, and had plenty of knowledge to share when we asked questions.  Plus it was awesome to have someone to take pictures of all of us together!

Daniel picked us up right at the dock and off we went into the city’s rain forest (no monkey’s spotted, unfortunately) with time to splash in a waterfall, followed by the Chinese View.  This city does not lack for views.  Rich and poor alike have properties with beautiful panoramic ocean views.  

Back in the city, while waiting for Daniel to find a parking spot (see, another benefit to hiring a driver!), the kids found a small Brazilian playground.  Lunch was at a perfect hole in the wall local restaurant (rice and beans = happy Carrie) close to the entrance for the Cristo Redentor/Christ the Redeemer statue.

We’ve all seen pictures of Cristo Redentor; the Savior, on top of a mountain, with His arms outstretched to the world.  Quintessential Rio de Janeiro.  The train ride to Corcovado Mountain was so steep, my ears popped.  It was pretty hot, but this stop was one of my favorites of our trip.  The statue, the view, the best juice bar (any fruit you could want!), and being there with my family (miss you Kate!), was just unforgettable.  

 

Daniel then took us to his friend's jewelry shop, Moreno's, in Copacabana. Tyson wanted to get me a gemstone native to Brazil to keep as an heirloom of our trip. As we looked at Aquamarines, the store lady took Tyler and Lydia all around the store looking at items (reassuring me that she was having a great time with them).  Tyler was all like, "Now I'd like to see the diamonds, please."  And she would pull out a tray of diamonds, while he sipped his complimentary Guarana drink. It was pretty funny. They treated us very well there.  And I ended up with beautiful blue stone in a necklace setting.

There was no time to stop for dinner, in order to make it to Pão de Açúcar/Sugarloaf Mountain in time to watch the sun set.  That’s okay, there was pão de queijo everywhere so whenever we were hungry, we would buy a handful for each of us.  Anyway, we rode two gondolas up to the top and, despite the hoards of people, it was nice to just sit and relax and watch the sun dip into the ocean and the lights of Rio turn on.

Daniel, our tour guide.

We all slept well that night.  The next morning I reeeeaaalllly wanted to go hang gliding off a mountain onto the beach, but I couldn't talk anyone in to going with me and I also didn’t want to miss Beach Day! 

The Barra da Tijuca beach was uncrowded, quiet, and beautiful, with sugar soft sand.  There were people up and down the beach selling whatever we needed or wanted.  For about $15, we rented 4 beach chairs and 3 big umbrellas for the whole day.  The vendor boys set everything up and tore everything down when we were finished.  I bought a bucket of sand toys for the kids to play with for $3 from someone else.  Kristen bought frozen açai for all of us from another vendor walking along the beach.  Poor Tyson stepped on a bee right as we got there and nursed a sore big toe for awhile, until he said bee sting or no, he couldn’t come all the way to Rio and not play with his kids on the beach!

 

 See, I'm here too.

When we were wet, sandy, and tired, we sloshed our way home, stopping at a neighborhood supermarket for Brazilian pizza and stroganoff take out.  And the requisite pão de queijo from the gas station by the water taxi dock.  Tyler and Lydia jumped into the B&B’s pool to wash the sand off while I enjoyed the peaceful outdoors.  It was seriously such a cool place to stay!  After dinner, it was still early, but we were tired, so Kristen had the genius idea to watch the new cartoon movie called “Rio.”  While we were in Rio.  Perfect!  The kids loved it and spent the next day looking for blue macaw souvenirs.

 

Look at this place!

On our last morning in Brazil, we ate our yummy breakfast once more, bid a fond farewell to Silvia, and loaded our luggage onto a rickety water taxi.  They’re all different, as they are individually owned.  This one was literally a wooden raft held up with tires and with a shade cover of plywood with decorations on it.  Regardless, it had a motor and worked just fine!

We met up with our tour guide for our last day, an eccentric Carioca (native to Rio - and proud of it) named Martha.  Her job was to take us to any other places we wanted to see before we went home later that day.  Another smart reason to hire a tour guide is that her vehicle hauled our luggage around safely all day.  
I minored in Portuguese at BYU and one of my teachers spent an entire class period teaching us the song “Garota de Ipanema”/”The Girl From Ipanema” – so we stepped into the café where it was written.

Then we took pictures on Ipanema beach.

 

Then we walked on the famous Copacabana sidewalk and beach and watched for pick pocketers.

 

 

We went back to Moreno’s to pick up my Aquamarine and do some souvenir shopping there and in the nearby stores.  Senior Moreno was kind enough to gift Lydia a beautiful wooden elephant she had been eyeing.

Martha had arranged a fruit tasting for us at a street market.  For about $4 each, the man gave us sample after sample of so many different kinds of fruit until we were full too full for any other kind of lunch.

Our last stop was my favorite touristy stop. The Escadaria Selarón, also known as the 'Selaron Steps' was beautifully tiled by an artist, Jorge Selarón, who wanted to leave his artistic mark in the city. He spent years adding tiles. When people heard about his project, he started receiving tiles from all over the world.  We searched up and down the 215 step staircase until we triumphantly found not 1, but 2 Utah tiles!

I lost track of how many cats Kristen petted on this trip.  I don't blame her!

I’m so glad we took Tyler and Lydia with us.  It was an incredible trip for them to see how real Brazilians live and worship, as well as visit an international tourist destination.  If I could do it again, the only thing I would change would be to visit Rio first to brush up on my Portuguese, then go see my friends in São Paulo. 

Soon after we came back, we were able to watch the 2016 Olympics that took place in Rio.  It was amazing to watch the bicyclists on TV pedal up the same rainforest road we had driven on and see the volley ball players spike the ball on the same beaches we went too.  As the cameras would pan around and zoom in on the city for the Games, our recently turned 6 and 9 year olds would shout, “We’ve been there!  And there!”

Yes, we have.  What a memorable trip!