Yesterday was another marathon day. We got up at 5 am to get to our plane from Buenos Aires to Sao Paulo. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy all the way so no photos from the trip. Sao Paulo is one of the worlds largest cities, and it is huge! And there are tall buildings everywhere, very few of what we (in the US) would call suburban areas. The offices are tall, most of the people live in large apartment buildings. The areas that do have houses are extremely crowded, every inch of land is house or street, no yards at all. Like the houses in San Francisco, just house, house, house. There are also the slums and the 'Famolas'. I don't know about the spelling of Famolas,that's just the way it sounded to me when the driver was explaining them. These are what we would call squatters. Anywhere there is public land, they will simply take wood pallets, pieces of metal roofing or siding and some bricks and make themselves a 'house'. They are tiny and have no running water. They are often on the strips of land next to freeway on ramps and off ramps. It is not a sight you would see in wealthier countries, but not an uncommon thing in South America.

Sao Paulo has the worst traffic I have ever encountered. After we arrived here at about noon, it took an hour to get from the airport to the hotel, a distance of about 25 km. And that was not rush hour. We changed clothes and went off to meetings, and when we left the offices at 5:15 pm it was full rush hour. It took us 2 hours to travel the 30 km from the plant to the hotel. And the drivers! Aye Yai Yai!!!! inches apart, moving from lane to lane, cutting incredibly close, and large trucks and tiny cars all merging and crossing together. There are hundreds of motorcyclists, many are messengers, and they will ride between the cars at very high speed to get through the traffic. We would be moving at just a couple of miles and hour and the motorcyclists would go by at 20 to 40 miles an hour. We saw a horrific accident where one motorcycle had pushed it a little to hard and hit a car changing lanes on the freeway. It was a long day - I got to bed at midnight. And up today at 6:30 am.

There are a lot of helicopters, flying very low. It turns out that many executives use a helicopter taxi service to avoid traffic. It would take about 10 minutes to travel the distance in helicopter that it took us 2 hours to travel. However, it costs them a couple of thousand dollars a day for that commute.

We have been advised to stick to the hotel at night, to take only cars arranged by the hotel, and during the day to only go on the main street in front of the hotel. There is a heavy police presence, plus there are many, many private security guards - armed - at the hotels and businesses.

Now, I don't want to discourage people from coming to Brazil. When I have been here on vacation, out in the country, it is just beautiful. Incredibly beautiful. But just don't plan on spending time in the big cities. Nothing to see and too much crime and traffic.

I have seen a few birds on the trip, but nothing exotic in the cities. Lots of South American Robins, sparrows, swallows, doves and pigeons... and a lovely little nectar eater outside the hotel here.

On a more humorous note, I was sitting outside the hotel this morning to get some 'air'. There is a small patio with a water feature. The water feature has some water in it, but it is not running (It's made to be a cascade). The maintenance man came around to clean off the chairs and tables. He took out his cleaning rag, dipped it into the water at the bottom of the little pond, wrung it out and began wiping off the tables and chairs. Then he went back and repeated the process. After he finished the cleaning, he took his bucket and dipped it into the water and went around watering the plants in the planters. And there was a water spigot just a couple feet from the pond!


Since it is spring here there are a lot of flowers in bloom, and amaryllis growing everywhere. They look so lovely blooming out of flower boxes and along roadside ditches. There are several species of amaryllis native to Brazil.

Well, maybe I will be able to get some pictures today. Tomorrow another long day and our flight leaves at 9:40 pm. We fly through DFW and arrive back in Los Angeles at 9:30 am Saturday - so 16 hours in transit. I can't wait to get home. My Salty Val was in bud - I sure hope it survived! I doubt the B. Charles Tyler buds made it through without care...