We left the party with hugs and kisses like we were old friends, not only with our new friends from Brazil, but out own people. It is funny when you get with Friendship Force people the emotion of friendship just goes crazy wild. It took over an hour to get back to the city through winding mountain roads through areas reserved for natural areas. We have all heard about the squatters who populate the mountainsides of Rio, weel they have them here also. But there are rules - they are not allowed to cut any trees, something very important to the Brazilians. This is also different from what we hear up North about the denuding of the rain forests. That may be going on, but around Sao Paulo, trees must remain standing.
In the city there are winding streets with all kinds of development right next to each other. There are shacks next to large high rises. Iracema lives in one of these high rises of which there are thousands all over the city. This is a very hilly city so we go up and down steep hills and make sharp turns. The people here drive very fast and amazingly seem to no hit each other.
We arrive at her building and I crane my neck to see what it looks like, no I can only see the first two floors and the ramp going to the garage. In the garage the slots are so small that one has to close the mirrors to fit it in. Iracema negotiates this extremely well. We walk to her elevator and up we come to the 10th floor where there is a tiny entry hall to two doors. The building only has two apartments to a floor,and they are not large.She has two bedrooms two baths and a living/dining combination. She moved from a large house, but was bought out by a nearby condominium. So the condo has a lot of furniture init. Our bedroom is dominated by a comfortable bed, but it takes up much of the room. Here we are with two large bags and lots of extra bags. It is a challenge to store everything and still have a small path to enter and exit. We do the essentials like internet and passwords then sit down to light dinner. OK, we're tired. But Iracema and Luis are so nice. We talk and talk and then Iracema shares her family pictures and her Friendship Force experiences. Luis goes to his home not far away.
In the city there are winding streets with all kinds of development right next to each other. There are shacks next to large high rises. Iracema lives in one of these high rises of which there are thousands all over the city. This is a very hilly city so we go up and down steep hills and make sharp turns. The people here drive very fast and amazingly seem to no hit each other.
We arrive at her building and I crane my neck to see what it looks like, no I can only see the first two floors and the ramp going to the garage. In the garage the slots are so small that one has to close the mirrors to fit it in. Iracema negotiates this extremely well. We walk to her elevator and up we come to the 10th floor where there is a tiny entry hall to two doors. The building only has two apartments to a floor,and they are not large.She has two bedrooms two baths and a living/dining combination. She moved from a large house, but was bought out by a nearby condominium. So the condo has a lot of furniture init. Our bedroom is dominated by a comfortable bed, but it takes up much of the room. Here we are with two large bags and lots of extra bags. It is a challenge to store everything and still have a small path to enter and exit. We do the essentials like internet and passwords then sit down to light dinner. OK, we're tired. But Iracema and Luis are so nice. We talk and talk and then Iracema shares her family pictures and her Friendship Force experiences. Luis goes to his home not far away.
No comments:
Post a Comment