Day 14 – Rio to São Paulo

On our last morning in Rio, Djanira came to have coffee with us and see us off. It was so sweet of her to do that, and it was also very sad to say goodbye to her. We really hope she comes to visit us in the states some day soon.

We made it a point to find a “big” taxi and even so, we were off to the airport with suitcases on our laps. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. The sun was shining brilliantly and by time we were leaving at 9:30am, it was already registering 26°C (80°F) and we knew we’d be missing another great day at the beach, but we were excited to see Celso & Marcelle and their kids.

Catching up with Celso & Marcelle
We flew out of Santos Dumont airport on the Ponte Aérea (shuttle) and arrived at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport 45 minutes later. Celso met us there and I told the kids to look for the tallest man around (he's 6'8" and used to be a professional basketball player). Maybe it’s a good thing, but the weather in SP was rainy and 15°C (59°F) so we all felt like taking a nap. The Dorias had just gotten back from their vacation in Maranhão so we were all in the mood to relax and get caught up.

The Dorias have 3 kids – Alex and Lucas are twin boys aged 12 and Juliana is age 10, so the close proximity in age made it nice for our Alex and Lilly. Plus, they are fully bilingual so it was a nice break for our kids to be able to hear English being spoken. We were all very comfortable in their roomy apartment, which takes up the entire 4th floor of their building. We were able to do some laundry, which for some reason was very comforting.

Because of the cold weather, we had fondue for dinner (yum!) and chocolate fondue with strawberries for dessert. Celso and I had to run out to get baguettes and we went to this over-the-top gourmet "food emporium" (along the lines of Southern Season or Dean & Deluca) that only has valet parking. Pretty schwanky. It made me feel all good and smug again about using "Snob" brand paper towels at our apartment in Rio. LOL!