Ave Paulista as told by Jack Snyder

      New Year’s Eve, Eric and I adventured into downtown Sao Paulo to check on the set up for the New Year’s celebration. We drove to Eric’s work in the “Robo Cop” building and then rode the subway starting with the Emerald line getting on at the Berrini Station. At the Pinherios Station we transfer to the yellow line which means descending into the bowels of the earth to catch  the Yellow Line to Paulista Ave. which is billed as the 5th Avenue of Sao Paulo. A comparison to 5^th Ave. in NYC. I was most impressed with the Subway. It is relatively new. The Emerald  Line which we rode first starts above ground and runs along a major River which runs through Sao Paulo. We then transferred to the green line which was entirely underground under downtown.

    Sao Paulo was getting ready for a BIG celebration. We asked and they estimated 3-4 million people were expected on Paulista Ave.  Remember its summer and it doesn’t get dark until 9 PM. Plus it’s warm. Therefore, they were setting up pavilions for live music and beer concessions were numerous. I can’t believe people show up in Times Square in NYC in the cold and dark to watch a stupid ball drop. What’s up with that? Go to Brazil for NewYear’s..

   We retreated back to the Apartment on the 14^th floor to watch the show. I as usual went to bed before midnight but was told it was quite the show. They set off mortars from the tops of the buildings.

Campinas and the Caterpillar Tour as told by Jack Snyder

Monday, it was off on another adventure. Eric went to MBA School at BYU with a man named Trejano Lima. Trejano was recruited by Caterpillar to work for them upon graduation. He spent a year in Peoria, Illinois before returning home to Brazil. Caterpillar has a manufacturing facility about 1 and ½ hours outside of Sao Paulo. Trejano works in the purchasing Department. Eric had arranged for a plant tour. Unfortunately it wasn’t a kid friend operation, so Gretchen and the girls stayed at Trejano’s house with Trejano’s wife and children while Eric and I got a plant tour. It was great. We watched D6 and D8 Bulldozer go down the production line and Trejano schooled us on how Brazil treats domestic producers. They get a break on taxes. We also had a nice lunch at the employee’s dining room. A great number of Trejano’s colleagues spoke excellent English as they communicate with Peoria on different issues.

    After the tour we picked up the Girls and drove off to Americana, Brazil. Here’s the quick story of how Americana got its name. There’s also a huge statue of Liberty replica on the road outside of town. It’s about 80 ft. tall.

    At the end of the Civil War (the US Civil War) the emperor of Brazil send agents to the confederate states to recruit disenfranchised southern Farmers to come to Brazil. Brazil was sorely in need of improved farming practices and they had land. Over 400 confederate families took Brazil up on the offer. I had heard of this story from a friend of mine who grew up in Rio. We found some signs that read,”Estrada dos Confederados”. Google translate confirms that to be “Road of the Confederates”. We drove two miles down at best described a dirt road. It had rained and there were potholes and debris on the road. Take this to mean it wasn’t very heavily traveled.

We found a fenced in compound that we viewed through a chain link fence. We could see a few building, what I’d describe as a picnic shelter and head stones. About then a car comes driving down the road and the care taker arrives. There was a small house on one side of the compound.

   Eric acting as interrupter got the car taker to open the gate and he allowed us to look around. We explained we were Americans and had heard some of the history of the confederate families that immigrated to Brazil. There was a stars and bars monument that had the names of some of the families and in front of the picnic shelter there was a concrete pad painted with the confederate flag. I guess Brazil doesn’t subscribe to political correctness. We wandered over to the cemetery and looked at the grave stones. All contained history. One stated … a Confederate Soldier born 1820 Mississippi, died Sao Paulo State Brazil 1895.

   I understand that every April the local families that are descendants of these families gather and hold a festival. I’ll try to find the youtube.com link to a short video of the April celebration. 

http://youtu.be/9l5ILYQAC1I 

     I hope you find it as fascinating as I did. We hear so much about immigration to the USA we never hear about people leaving. Brazil is even a more diverse country that the United States. Although slavery was outlawed in 1860 the slaves we’re freed until 1888. In researching this aspect of Brazil I came upon the fact that only the Unites States had a civil war over the issue of slavery. Every other county that had slaves simply negotiated for their freedom by paying off the owners.  Slaves first came to Brazil with the early Portuguese settlers and continued as tremendous manpower was required to “tame” the land. It’s estimated that 4 million slaves came to Brazil or 40% of the slaves that came to the Americas. Later I’ll cover Paraty an old colonial town dating to the 1500’s . It a seaport town where slaves arrived in Brazil.

    We then drove back to Sao Paulo.

Rio de Janeiro

We went to Rio de Janeiro (pronounced without the "R" by the locals) and it was an amazing experience! However, anyone you ask who lives in Brazil thought we were absolutely crazy to even go to Rio, let alone between Christmas and New Years, which happens to be the most crowded week of the year. 

Our first hurdle for the trip was finding a vehicle that could accommodate us all. Fortunately, Jacob Miller, a friend in our ward here in Brazil works for Hertz Rent-a-Car. He said that there were all of 50 minivans for rent in all of Sao Paulo. We searched all the websites and the pricing was ridiculous. He lined us up with a Fiat Freemont (same as a Dodge Journey). But, when I arrived the Freemont was in need of repair, so they gave us a Chevrolet Zafira, which is a smaller version of a Mazda 5, much smaller... So we piled the 5 of us and Jack in for the long drive. 

Google Maps estimates the drive up to Rio at 6 hours from Sao Paulo. We were packed into the Zafira with all our stuff and very little wiggle room. We set out on Dec. 27th and traffic was not that bad. Unfortunately, the car adapter didn't work in the Zafira so as we're driving in to Rio, Eric's cell phone battery and the GPS both died. So we were driving in to one of the craziest cities in the whole world, rolling down our windows, asking everyone "onde esta Praca Copacabana? / where is Copacabana Beach?" Amazingly, I think we made it in a relatively direct route. We got safely to our lovely hotel, the JW Marriott at Copacabana Beach, courtesy of Jack & Carolyn Snyder, as a Christmas gift to us. It was a wonderful hotel, right across the street from the beach. The most magnificent part of the hotel was the glorious air conditioning in our hotel room, which we don't currently enjoy in our condo in Sao Paulo. 

The hotel's pool is on the roof of the hotel. It gives some incredible views of Copacabana as well as the Christ the Redeemer statue. Though we weren't there over New Year's, which would be another "bucket list" event, I can only imagine how crazy that must be. 

The next day we started bright and early, hoping to beat the rush of all the other tourists. We fortunately were able to line up a local tour guide named Wolgrand who was recommended by some ladies in the Newcomer's Club. 

We first set out to the Christ the Redeemer Statue. It's an in-city national park. You drive up a very curvy road to a small parking lot. From their you purchase your tickets and hop in an official park minibus that takes you up to the monument. It has some breathtaking views of the beaches, bays and buildings. It's pretty spectacular that a country still will recognize Christ with such a prominent statue. 

We then went to the Pao do Azucar landmark. There was a cable tram to take you between the two different mountains. It was hotter than Hades this day.We got some ice cream and it nearly melted upon opening!

After doing all the site-seeing we wanted to enjoy the beach. The JW had beach tents set up. For the first time in my life, it was so hot at the beach that they had to hose down the sand where you walked from the promenade. Your feet would have definitely burned walking on the normal sand. With all the people, it was a sea of tents all along the beach. Unfortunately, with all those people the water was incredibly dirty. I would have compared it to hazardous water quality back in Los Angeles. But, it at least felt good to cool off from the scorching sun and humidity. 

• All in all, Rio is a must visit city for anyone making a trip to Brazil. We would have loved to stay longer. We've decided that Rio for New Year's is on our couple's bucket list. No kids allowed :)