São Paulo, Day 1-2

São Paulo!!

Sampa- nickname for São Paulo

Paulista- São Paulo native


This trip was 4 years in the making. I've wanted to visit São Paulo to see where L grew up, and to experience all the amazing places and things he talks about when he returns from business trips. I really had no idea what São Paulo was about before meeting him. The only things I knew of Brasil were Rio and the amazon before L.


(Our home for almost 11 hours, Cozy)



The only true way to kick off an 11 hour flight- with 1600mg of sodium!! Gingerfoxxx, I know you're proud. :)


The flight was long- like 10 hours and my legs were feeling achy within an hour of takeoff. I wore my compression socks and considered numerous times to remove them. I was convinced by the time we landed that my ankles would be swollen as hell. (Good news; they weren't)
I drank a liter of water and got up 4 times to stretch. It was a freaking long flight on a huge freaking plane.


Upon landing we had to go through immigration. It took me over 40 minutes because our plane landed behind a full Korean Air plane, and luckily before the Air France flight. Brasil does not use Federal Police for immigration but instead seems to hire out the jobs to people more interested in their cell phones. If our plane arrived 10 minutes later, I would have been in line over 2 hours!


GRU!

Once L got our bags, and I got through immigration the rest was a breeze. We met our friend at the airport who was super nice to drive us to our hotel. We are the "padrinhos" for his wedding- the main reason for our trip.


I was hoping to wake up from the long flight fluent in Portuguese, but that didn't happen :(

The 60-mid 70 degree humid weather is awesome! So happy to escape old man winter.


View of São Paulo


First meal in SP. Ice cold beer, linguisa sausage with tomatoes and onions, and a pastel de Santa Clara- a yummy egg filled pastry. It was at a Portuguese restaurant, And absolutely delicious!


I also can't forget the pastels- which are like fried wontons filled with ground seasoned beef or molten cheese. Heaven.


Papagaio Bem-Vindo!


Finished The night at the famous Bar Aurora with friends.


I really couldn't have been anymore Brasilian than sitting in this bar, watching UFC and drinking a passion fruit (maracuja) caipirinha. Unless I could actually speak Portuguese...

Day 2



Took a nice run in Parque Ibirapuera.


Then had breakfast with friends at "Pe de Parque" (foot of the park). It is an open air buffet next to the park which had a nice assortment of small pastries,fresh juices, scrambled eggs and pão de queijo. (Ooey gooey Cheese bread)


Also had a coffee.


This is a typical Brasilian coffee. Basically espresso in a 2.5" high cup. People here don't drink the huge coffees found at our local Starbucks, but instead small potent ones.

I also met L's parents for the first time. They were just as sweet as I had imagined. Even with our language barrier (I speak Portuguese at the level of a 2 year old) we got along great. We had an amazingly delicious lunch cooked by his mom and spent the afternoon with them.

I love this place!


- xaar

Happy Birthday!

Approximately* 8 years ago today, my precious little man came into this world. 10 weeks later I walked into the Greenville, SC humane society and saw his bright blue eyes in the puppy room, and instantly fell deeply in love.


We've lived in South Carolina, Mexico, San Francisco, CA, and now Chicago. He has taken 3 flights in his life, and has driven across the country along Route 66.


We've been through bad times and good times. This little man has been there for me when many of my friends** were not.























He is my running buddy, a furry shoulder to cry on, frisbee dog extraordinaire, and a never ending bundle of happiness.
I love you Churro Bear!


Tonight he will get a couple of chicken tacos for dinner. :)

Happy Birthday, Feliz Aniversário!

*because I got him at 10 weeks old and counted back on the calendar. January 15, 2005 is his presumed birthday.

**ill save my friends rant for another day.



- xaar

Zzzz

So maybe I'm just going to stop thinking about running goals for a while because every time I start feeling good (no ITB or ankle crap) I begin to obsess over spring races. Then without fail a few days later my ankle gets a little cranky and my dreams are dashed- and i back off of running for a few days. (imma smart runner and staying healthy is #1!)

Maybe there is added pressure seeing my other bloggy runner friends starting to train for Boston, and wishing that I had run 5 minutes faster in Fox Valley so I could be joining them. Oh well, Boston 2014 or 2020 here I come.


This weekend we got to enjoy some 50 degree temps and went for a nice run.


Churro dog was super happy to run with us.


I couldn't believe how nice it was, especially considering as I write this Monday morning it's around 12 degrees with a feels like of 4. Awesome!


We saw the Polar Dash race going on too


Saturday night we went to the United center to see the Bulls take on the Phoenix Suns. It was my first NBA game ever.


Jordan statue outside the arena, Scottie Pippen statue inside, and one of their championship trophies.


I'm no NBA fan, but I can appreciate the teamwork/hard work to attain 6 titles.


Our seats were fantastic, and I especially loved the inflatable "Benny the bull" flying around during the time outs.


We had a great time, even though the bulls lost.

Now comes the time to start gathering up my stuff for my trip to Brasil which is happening very soon. I hate packing because I always want to have options for what to wear- thus making me over pack. The past 2 years I've managed to get this under control (and fit it all in a carry on) but those trips at the most were only half the length of this one.


(Most important items to pack: my colorful summery dresses, my long formal gown for the wedding, and most important- Zzzz Quil for sleeping on the 10 hour flight)

Figuring out my running clothes- and what to wear for the race is also killing me. I've decided against my "USA" race outfit in favor of a more country neutral neon Lulu top which I've worn several times in races. (I'm mildly concerned about safety now after the repeated warnings from L- I always retort "But I lived in Mexico" and he gently reminds me that crime was invented in Brasil.) Fitting "in" and looking like a "Paulista"(native from São Paulo) in Brasil is not a problem until I open up my Gringa mouth because the population is a mix of white, black, European, middle eastern and Japanese people (the largest population outside of Japan!)

What does a Brasilian look like? Everybody.


I wish I could take this foot eating cutie with me... But he will be boarded and will probably not miss us at all.

I'm super excited to fly south and trade 14 degree Chicagoan winter for 80 degree São Paulo, Brasil summer. (Except I'm not excited about the flying part)

What do you bring on the plane for long flights?

-I'm bringing sleeping pills, my iPod, and a few magazines as a cary on. (The less stuff the better so i can just sleep) I plan on taking the Zzz Quil as soon as we are "wheels up" so hopefully I just wake up in Brasil.

- xaar