This blog is going to be just a rambling of the adventures and the sights and other things I am having while on an extended visit to Brasil. I would like for children and grandchildren one day to read it and know what it`s like for a 61 year old who has never been out of the United States to pack up and take an extended visit to a different county. Read it and enjoy hopefully.
The first thing to learn is how to survive in Brasil with no Portuguese language skill It´s not easy. The first phrase you need is nao falo portuguese. When said with a strong southern accent you will either get some pretty weird stares or they just ignore you.
If your like me and you get lost in downtown San Jose Dos Campos, and all you can say is nao falo Portuguese, Centro, it earns you a twelve block ride in the Policia Civil car back to the park at Centro.
Centro is a lovely park in the middle of the downtown shopping area. It it also where you can catch a bus to anywhere in San Jose Dos Campos.
Centro Park is kept immaculately clean by civil works. Anytime of day you go you will find someone raking, sweeping, emptying the trash. It has a great play ground for children.
Oh yea!! couple of rules,
Never sit on a partially empty bench. Even if there is only one person on it. It´s considered rude. Plus the prostitutes have a tendency to think you are moving in on their territory.
Just ignore the transient sellers. They are everywhere.
Political season is on in Brasil. Just take the umpteenth flyers passed to you and say regarda and move along. After a while just let it float to the ground like everyone else and you can pass a brasilian easy enough.
When paying for an item, they always ask for your phone number {welcome to the world of capitalism. I find that if you start using an american area code they look at you really weird, so just give them the number of where you are staying. {You´ll be going home eventually, so it won`t matter anyway}
If you can ask how to find a bathroom and which bus to take home, you can survive.
OH!!! by the way, I`ll add pictures as soon as I figure it out.
