Brazil. We are here, finally

A minor hiccup at the beginning of our trip when a major snow storm caused the cancellation of our flight from JFK to Sao Paulo and we were rerouted for the next day via Dallas, so basically we arrived 24 hours late. No big deal really and small adjustments to the schedule can be made.
We spent the day in Sao Paulo with Candida's sister and niece and went out around 9pm for some food and "chops" which are basically draft beer bought to the table as quickly as you can drink it. We had some excellent picanha which is a particular cut of beef that is special to Brazil and also VERY tasty!. They bring a hot grill and set it on the table and you cook your own and eat it with other side dishes like cole slaw and tomatoes and rice. Very simple and very good. Home around 1.15 and a nights sleep. We left for Sao Jozse de Rio Preto in the morning by bus. It took about 8 hours with a bus change in Campinas and a couple of short stops for food etc along the way. It is about 400 km and is thru mostly rural farmland and LOTS of sugar cane. The roads are mostly toll roads (quite expensive) but good roads between major cities.
Sao Jozse De Rio Preto is a town of about 350,000 and has good air service to Rio and Sao Paulo.
Brazil is huge and cities we have not generally heard of have large populations. Brazil in total is about 200 million and cities like Belem in the north have 3 million. Sao Paulo has over 20 million!
I will try to come back and discuss how Brazil has been quite successful in becoming mostly self sufficient in oil and alternative fuels.

Candida has family friends there, Dad is retired and Mom is about to, and they have a “chacara” or small farm, maybe a hectare or so about 8 km out of town and a house in town that they are gradually moving out of.

I was immediately struck by the similarity between the chacara and the houses in Zambia and South Africa. Large airy rooms with high ceilings and covered porches with hardwood or tiled floors. Very relaxed and easy to live in.

Relaxing at the chacara

The chacara. They even have a football pitch!

View from the front gate

Zambia house for comparison

View from the front gate

The road could be Zambia too. Red dirt road. Amazing

  

Sr. Jose (Dad) had worked on the house for many years and is in the process of helping the youngest Diane and her husband to build a home on the property.

Sr. Jose’s reputation as a cook is legendary particularly for ribs, which are a combination of prime rib, and a pot roast cooked in a brick oven outside. It is SO good!

The brick oven for cooking "ribs"

It is all very social and family oriented and various family members and friends stop by for a beer or coffee and to eat and just visit. 

Sunday visitors

Daddy enjoys some time with Lara

They have a pool which was very welcome as it is hot (maybe 34C) at this time of year 

Cooling off

Diane and baby Lara with Aunt Juliana. All cooling off.

The view out over the adjoining fields complete with cows and monkeys

Monday was taken up looking around town and visiting the house in town where the kids grew up. We also visited a couple of housing developments. Brazil is not suffering the same problems with housing and have an expanding economy and gradually improving wealth overall.
I am planning some specific posts about housing, fuel and energy self sufficiency, business and public health. I have had the opportunity to observe some of this first hand.
On Tuesday we headed to Piracicaba about 250 km away. We had planned to go by bus but Sr. Jose & Bett had other plans. They drove us there and said it was a good opportunity to have a day out. In reality this was just amazing hospitality, and much appreciated.
More later.