Day 1

So my first impression of Recife, Brazil – HOT! Considering I left home at about 35 degrees, and arrived in Recife at a nice and balmy 77 degrees (at 8am in the morning), I knew I was in for paradise.  Those of you who don’t know me, I love hot weather – I pretty much live in sweatshirts, sweaters, or cardigans because I am always cold and I hate being cold. You could never quite take the Paraguay out of me even after all these years. 

The flight to Recife was uneventful (thank goodness), other than the fact that it took me 1 hour to get through Customs because I was sent to the wrong line by the Customs officer – it wasn’t because I did not read the signs correctly (I am just going to stick to that story)!   The drive from the airport to the hotel was uneventful as well until we made a turn on the Av Boa Viagem (Boa Viagem Avenue) - this is the equivalent of Rte 1 on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which is the road that parallels the ocean. As with many South American countries that I have been to, the roads are packed, busy, and chaotic with every person vying for room on the road – cars, motorcycles, bikes, pedestrians, and vendors selling their wares. Interestingly, this is really somewhat of organized chaos as everyone seems to be getting where they need to and not too bad of traffic.  I am told this usual for the weekends, but be prepared for the nightmare traffic on the weekdays. Um, I’m from DC – nightmare traffic is our life! So back to Boa Viagem – it’s one of those boulevard type roads that have all the hotels/condos/office buildings lined up on one side and then the beach and ocean to the other side. The water has this clean aqua color to it – none of the murky brown that we see in the Northeast Atlantic, but not transparent Caribbean blue either. Absolutely beautiful and breathtaking views, with clear blue skies and the occasional picturesque cloud here and there. Just stunning.

CSC team members trickled in throughout the day at the hotel and it was a game of "match the face with the name.” My team members and I had been doing weekly conference calls for 3 months as part of our prep work, so we knew each other from our work pictures and bios that we each did. But you know how it is – people look so different from their pictures! I’ll give you an idea – on my flight from Miami to Recife I sat next to a man who looked to be from Asia. At one point I thought maybe, maybe it could be my team member from Malaysia, but I dismissed it because he looked sooooo young! I found out it was my team member! So typical of me – I am just the absolute worst when it comes to recalling pictures/faces with names! As we met each other we each compared our flight experiences - some uneventful like mine, and others a total nightmare with 48 hours of travel times, a dozen layovers, and even missed connections.

The day has mostly been spent on getting to know each other through a group lunch and group dinner – all informal and relaxed and optional as the real deal actually starts tomorrow. The food has been absolutely amazing with all the fresh fruit, fresh fruit juices, and amazing seafood. The fruits could not be brighter, juicier, and sweeter – my favorites so far are the papaya, mango, and pineapples.  My only complaint so far is that internet is insanely spotty and slow, which we were warned about, and I can live with that considering I have a room with an amazing view :-) See the picture above for the view from my hotel room!

A few survival tips I have learned so far today about Recife:

1) Look both ways before you cross the street (you may think this is obvious, but those who know me also know I am #1 clutz)

2) A comma after a number in Brazilian Real (the currency) is the same as the decimal after a number in US dollars (so the cents part). I learned this when I saw my bill was $24,99 and I freaked out that it was 24 thousand - oops)

3) With the way the sun gets hot here, there is no such thing as too much sunblock - I missed one itsy spot on my nose and it is beat red

On the home front, I talked to the kids yesterday in my Miami layover to say goodnight and then tonight again through Skype. Imagine my surprise when I see the boys online with really, really, really short haircuts. Apparently my husband decided to take the boys for a haircut after dropping me off at the airport and as my husband said "they cut it a little shorter than he would have liked." The boys essentially have military cuts with fuzz on their heads! This is what happens with me being gone only a few hours into the trip. The good thing is that is grows back, but I am not so sure how this bodes for the next 30 days. Hahaha