Sections - Rio Samba & Sugarloaf Mountain | Hotel, Beach & Christ Reedemer Statue | Rio Churches & S�o Paulo
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Not a bad rate for B&W copies at USD 0.0251 and USD 0.41 for color
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Somehow the smiling eye and colorful banner don't shine through the security spikes on top of this fence (although these are common
throughout Brazil's urban centers from what I've seen)
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The drawing outside the fence is nice
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The Candelaria is a nice large cathedral, but just outside it in 1993, 8
children were killed by police officers after throwing
rocks at police arresting another child who stole a box of glue. Annually between 500 and 1,000 children are murdered each year
many allgedly by police death squads some hired by shopkeepers against those that steal from stores. The children usually sleep
during the day to avoid such dangers. An interesting video on event the only surviving witness who was shot 3 times (twice in the
head) is here
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Again I visited Sao Bento Monastery, founded in 1590
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This time the rennovation of last January was complete and well worth a visit
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Our guide was the same as last time, a good bargain for two days tour for 4 people
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The car was rented and was natural gas but had a neat feature where it could be switched to gasoline for particularly
tough terrain (the steep road to Sao Bento was one place I saw this feature engaged) and of course the power of
Jesus never hurts either - this is one of the more expressive depictions of Jesus I've seen
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We decided we had enough time to also visit Candelaria Cathedral as well - not a huge crowd for Mass, but the priest
didn't seem too enthusiastic either so perhaps that's why. There was a kind of neat wave-like pattern in the seats.
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A door on the cathedral
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Then it was off to the San Dumont airport again, while waiting for our flight (which changed gates just before boarding) this
big cargo ship passed by
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Building an airport on the water...
Pros - Fewer complaints about the noise, if there's a crash nobody else is hurt
Cons - Really frightening to passengers and no extra runway if things go wrong
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Madonna was visiting S�o Paulo and Rio just after our trip and TAM airlines had a promotion in conjunction with that
(the candy is due to the theme of the tour being Sticky and Sweet)
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Goodbye Rio!
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Hello Obama - he had a feature in the TAM magazine, which said "The new president structured his election in the
United States on top of a funny name and an uncommon life story..."
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Talk about a skyscraper jungle - welcome back to S�o Paulo (isn't that funny, St. Paul Minneapolis is really small in comparison,
hopefully it has a sister city relationship or such with it's namesake in Brazil)
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This is the intersection near the hotel we stayed at last time, the Melia Jardim Europa
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And finally the plane approaches the airport in S�o Paulo which is even more frightening than the one in Rio since:
1. There was a flaming deadly crash there not too long ago
2. There's a BIG drop-off at the end of the runway and big buildings all around - one was built to like 17 stories along the flight
path for the airport when only 16 was allowed since they "didn't know" it was too high - oops
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Taking off and landing
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Back at the Raddison (pronounced had-eh-sohn by people in Brazil due to the difference in the R)
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Free water! Free chocolate! What more can a person ask for?
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Maybe a little plant with a Christmas decoration touch!
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Here's the test Epson dot-matrix printer newly purchased 1980s technology for use in the project since official
invoices (
Nota Fiscais) in Brazil are required to be printed on 3 or 4-copy carbon forms on dot matrix printers. You can
print on a laser printer but it requires a special permission, but now all businesses are being transitioned into electronic
invoicing
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A view from the roof of the hotel
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The hotel bathroom (and many other bathrooms) have free mouthwash for people to use - quite the culture of oral hygene in
Brazil
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Most bathrooms contain the brand Melhoramentos soap/toilet paper, which means Improvements
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It took me a while to realize this wasn't just St. Mary inside the rosary as a decal, but in the SHAPE of Brazil!
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I have no idea what this says since it was too dark and moving too fast but something about all God's children. However,
I'm not sure why it's on the back of a truck.
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Time for a great meal (gnocchi) and drink (caiphirinia) to prepare for the flight back to Chicago and then on to Milwaukee
Sections - Rio Samba & Sugarloaf Mountain | Hotel, Beach & Christ Reedemer Statue | Rio Churches & S�o Paulo
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