sao paulo

Hellooo, everyone!* Hope all you all enjoyed your weekend.

We had a great one!  Seriously, we couldn’t have enjoyed ourselves more than we did.  Well, maybe if we had given in to the M’s suggestion of staying just one more night…of course, then I may have had to be rolled onto the plane! 

Our one and only reason for traveling to Sao Paulo was to see our dear Brazilian friends who left the company a year and a half ago.  We hadn’t seen them since February 2010, so as soon as we found out we were coming to Rio we starting talking dates.

It was so, so, so nice to see them again!  To eat, drink and be merry with friends- such a treat! It’s something we took for granted when we lived in Atlanta, but now it’s this rare little gem to be treasured and cherished.

Friday night we enjoyed the best meal we’ve had all year…

M is the master of the barbeque- the master. Jules was in awe of this Brazilian grill and our friends back home can bet they’ll be seeing one just like it when we move back. 

We ate and ate and drank and ate and talked and ate and drank and talked until the wee hours of the morning.  Great night.

We slept in and awoke to a huge breakfast spread.  You’re going to notice a big “eating/drinking” theme this weekend.  Hence, why one more day there and I would have had to have been rolled onto the plane back to Rio.

We spent the afternoon touring around the old city section of Sao Paulo…

Because I really only cared about seeing them, I did no research on Sao Paulo itself.  I had no idea Sao Paulo was such a huge city…11 million people.  That’s big.

After touring around we had a very late and very delicious lunch.  We had thought to have a feijoada (traditional Saturday Brazilian dish- we haven’t had one yet) but when So mentioned Mexican, well, for those who know my Wife- you know we were on a direct path to tacos and margaritas…

It was actually a Tex-Mex place and it was divinely authentic.  Or as I said to So- perfectly authentic non-authentic Mexican…just the way us Americans like it.

That night we were still stuffed from our late lunch so we stopped by So’s family’s house to say happy birthday to a niece and then off for drinks and snacks in a great little neighborhood packed to the gills with bars and restaurants. 

Sunday we met up with our other Brazilian friends and their ridiculously cute 1 year old (the guy is still in the department, but his family is now based in Sao Paulo) for a wonderful lunch in their neighborhood.

At one point during lunch Jules looked over at me and said “Here we are, in Brazil, having lunch on a Sunday afternoon with our Brazilian friends.”  We do that sometimes, just step back and comment on our life…how crazy our reality is and how freaking lucky we are to have the life we do. 

As I looked around the table, I too, just had to sit back and admire the view…

We seriously can’t thank M & So enough for their incredible hospitality and welcoming us with open arms into their beautiful home.  We’re thrilled they’re coming to Rio soon because we’re definitely not ready to say goodbye again. And we never did get a picture with all 4 of us!!

Pics from the weekend…

 

 

*All 12 of you!  Hellooo!  Seriously, I’m starting to wonder if anyone is still checking in here at 2GITW and need some serious motivation for continuing to chronicle this journey.  I think it’s pretty common to have dips when you blog full-time, but be a dear and drop a line, leave a comment, wave hello! Let me know you’re still out there!