Arrival in Brazil

Belem, Brazil – 18 April 2010

I was driven to the airport by my friend Barbara. Since I didn’t know what the traffic would be like, I asked her to pick me up at about 5:00 PM. It turned out there was no major traffic issues and I wound up at the gate waiting for my 9:35 PM flight by about 6:30 PM. I had the aisle seat that I requested. The flight to Sao Paolo was about nine hours. I did get some sleep. When we disembarked in Sao Paolo it was about 9:00 AM local time. There is a one hour time difference between this part of Brazil and New York. I was disturbed at the Sao Paolo airport getting to my flight to Belem, which is pronounced “beh-lay” – apparently the M is silent. I had asked that my luggage be booked through to Belem, but I had to pick it up to go through customs. Once that formality was completed, I had to get my boarding pass for the flight to Belem. Heading to Sao Paolo, we had passed over Belem. I was told to go to the B section, which I did and got on a line. Then I was told that I was on the wrong line. I got on another line and when I got to the counter, I was told I had to go to a different counter. By this point I had asked for him and a nice young man handled things for me. I was planning to exchange $20 for local currency, BUT at the airport, there was a $5 fee for changing money, which I decided was outrageous so I didn’t bother. I needed a bottle of water and the cashier was willing to take dollars. I don’t know if I got ripped off or not, but I can afford the $2. I was sent to gate 5. When they started boarding, apparently the gate for the flight to Belem was switched to gate 1. I finally got on the plane and wound up sitting across from our “cruise” director. At this point I stopped worrying, because I knew that if I needed it, help was at hand. As we landed, it was pouring rain. Apparently, this is the rainy season, so I’m just going to have to get used to getting wet! After we got off the plane, I walked over to the area to pick up luggage. There were two men from the ship to handle the luggage. I immediately dropped my backpack on their luggage cart and went to the carousel to wait for my suitcase, which was one of the last ones to come off. It was better than one lady whose luggage never arrived. We were driven to the hotel and now I plan to take a shower and rest until the 6:30 cocktail hour.

The cocktail hour involved me drinking one drink, which practically knocked me over, since I’m not much of a drinker. Canapes were also served and there were some speeches about the next day’s activities. I headed up to my room where I checked e-mail and read a bit before I conked out at about 9:00 PM local time. I slept until just before seven which was the time I asked for the wake-up call.