Brazil...before I forget!

Thought I better post about my work trip to Brazil a few weeks ago, which was amazing in many ways, before I forget all about it....seriously, there are just so many exciting, yet memory-consuming things going on right now!

So, Brazil. Beautiful - It reminded me a lot of Hawaii. Lots of mountains covered in lucious greenery (stark contrast from the mountains we're used to here in CA or AZ). When you first land in Sao Paulo, you're struck by how huge the city is. I've been to large cities - LA, London, Oahu, Paris...but, Sao Paulo seems so much bigger, more populated. I've never been to New York, but I imagine it's very similar - sky scraper after sky scraper. In many ways, you feel you're in the US still.

That feeling disintegrates rapidly as you drive through Sao Paulo on your way to Campinas. To get there, you exit the city and drive through about an hour of these beautiful green mountains. You feel as if there's nothing but nature between the two cities, until you see a Favella - or what we know more commonly as a slum. The poor decide to stake out property that belongs to others, but isn't built on, and start building their own, very unstable, houses out of mud, sticks, scrap metal, and maybe bricks. Then more and more come and expand the Favella...and it isn't long before a "city" is created in the creavase of the mountain...a city of these tiny makeshift houses that are all connected and built upon each other...that we're told all too often comes tumbling down during storms, killing many that dwell there.

I didn't take any pictures, as I just didn't feel right about it. But I will tell you, after seeing Favella after Favella and hearing the stories of what life is like within there from some who escaped, you realize we here in US don't really know the true meaning of poor. Sure we have many people who are poor relative to the very advanced means of many of the rest of the US, but compare those to the poor of Brazil or many other countries, and they're actually rich....very rich. It gave me unique perspective that I think is often lost not traveling the world.

We arrived on a Sunday, and spent the day getting adjusted to the time zone. I wandered around the area where our hotel was located hoping to find a grocery store where I could buy water bottles...eventually I found one. What struck me instantly was how kind and gracious every person I met was - whether on the street, at the grocery store, at the local coffee shop - everyone had not only a smile, but wanted to know how you were, where you were from, why you were here, what you think of Brazil...wanted to know your life story - and I mean everyone! People were so incredibly nice. It was yet another stark contrast to our ways here in the US - how many times do people in public even make eye contact and smile at you, let alone ask about your day? Needless to say, I've decided to keep what I learned in Brazil and trying to bring back more friendliness to the US! :)

The work week consisted of just that - lots and lots and lots of work. 12-14 hour days evey day, taking full advantage of being face to face with our key team members. It didn't hit me until day 2, but at some moment I glanced around the large conference room, at all 15 or so faces sitting around the table, and realized I was the only woman. In fact, walking around the entire office building, there were very, very few women.

The coolest part of the week, aside from getting to know those I've been working virtually with over the last few months, was seeing the actual factory building our products. There's nothing quite like seeing your products come to life.

Here's the team at dinner

An equally cool part was celebrating all the work we had done during that week with the team. We went to an awesome restaurant/bar to celebrate. A St Bernard apparently lives at this restaurant...he was so sweet and soft...but I bet hot given it was 85 degrees and near 100% humidity it felt.

Another cool part - eating at an authentic Brazilian BBQ restaurant. I'm still full...

We had one day to sight-see before taking the red eye home late Saturday night. We went shopping for gifts at the local mall, which was enormous...here's one of the tree trunks that had to be dug up to build the mall...insane.

And we had lunch in the jungle, where I was ecstatic to see a spider monkey. They were so friendly they'd let you pet them (though I refrained :) ), and little kids would feed them bananas.

All in all, a great trip. Incredibly productive, and built relationships that will last forever. But, I am so happy to be home...in my own home, with my hubby that I missed so much...and my kitty who apparently missed me... :)