I can see by our very busy schedule that one of the
challenges will be to blog every day. We
arrived safely on Sunday after 22 hours of travel….from the time of entering
MSP airport to landing in Salvador. The
only hitch was when we arrived at MSP and the United ticket agent told us that
we had no booking from Chicago to Sao Paulo.
We thought 5 weeks in Chicago seemed a little too long for us….she dug a
little more and found our reservation! That
was the only hitch in the whole journey here.
We were welcomed by a warm and loving group of Rotarians….Durval,Sidinei,
Joaquim and many others! I loved it that
they were all wearing their Rotary polo shirts and were easily identifiable as I
would have been hugging everyone around!
From the airport we weren’t quite sure what our accommodations were, I
thought maybe a hotel or something…but, better than that we are at Joaquim and
Sonia’s beautiful “resort” just a short distance from the beach where we feel
the warm, salty breeze from the ocean.
In their beautiful resort they have their home with a large veranda
where we eat, visit and relax and greet a nice flow of new visitors….Rotarians
coming to welcome us. We are finding it
a challenge to remember everyone’s names though. Some speak some English and a few speak more
fluently, but we are learning to understand and we are trying to respond in
Portuguese….we keep saying, give us 30 days and then….
Around this beautiful home are extra accommodations for
guests like us…we are in a two story
building with three bedrooms and three bathrooms…air conditioned by remote
control so the AC is turned off and on several times in the night. We overlook an inviting swimming pool that
is cool enough to feel very refreshing when you enter. Joaquim is a retired judge and very much
enjoying his retirement, you can tell he really likes having guests and being
able to provide such wonderful accommodations for all. Yesterday he welcomed a
new grandson in the world…Miguel will be one special boy with a GRAND dad like
Joaquim! Sonia works in juvenile
corrections and is an energetic, delightful hostess. I can see that it is not uncommon at all for
spouses to both belong to Rotary…..
Yesterday we went to a Votech school that was very innovative
and forward thinking… Here is
an article that I thought reflected a bit of what they are about at
Senai. From there we went to a fun lunch place owned
by a Rotarian, Maggie’s Place…it was a buffet style dining in an open airy
building that provided us with all sorts of interesting and tasty food.
When lunch was over we switched Rotarian hosts and travelled
with a new group to an Industrial
complex that contains 90 different companies and employees 45,000 people
directly and indirectly. The concept
behind the complex is to share resources….water, sewer, transportation,
management and create a synergy for success and business development with a
high emphasis on protection of the environment and safety. We were very impressed….but then they took us
to the waste treatment plant, Cetrel,
that receives the waste from Comacari and showed us how they have a high emphasis
on the environment and goal of reuse of the waste. They
also seem to very cutting edge.
Last night we had a beautiful dinner beside the pool and
were later entertained by the stories of Morales, a big man with an even bigger
personality that told us stories of his world travels, mostly to Toronto. We laughed so much….. We designated him as our translator as we
give our first presentation to a Rotary meeting tonight. We gave him permission to say whatever he
wanted, he just needed to make us sound smart and fun! It will be a memorable evening for sure...
I need to sign off, we have turtles to discover and sights
to see…. We are going to sea turtle
refuge…..will be sure and put on the sunscreen.
The temp is supposed to be 85 today, but the sun is very intense.
Beijos, Obrigada Rotary for this amazing privilege!
Tchau….Vicki
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