The Brazilian Invasion - Part I

ORLANDO

(hehehe... should I tell everything? Should I omit the spicy details? Oh, tough questions... ok, I'm not going to talk about Julie's lemon reamer here...)

After almost 9 hours (ok, I have to admit, it was a nice flight, no problems at all, only 25 people on board, lots of food that I don't like and good wine), I finally saw Orlando from the plane's window. There was another Brazilian woman on the plane (who talked almost every single minute of these 9 hours) who lives there and was showing me the places and stuff. Then we left the plane and I could finally see myself in the US. I really, really couldn't believe it! Orlando's airport is really big and nice, and all that imigration thing can be a little scary, but everything was ok. Next problem, find Julie. In fact, this was so easy. I was just walking out the "passenger's only part" and there she was pouncing on me. :) She said that it was not difficult to find me also, because there wasn't many *single* women coming out...

I have to say that Julie is really great. She is even better than we thought, folks! Really. And, if I may add, pretty charming... ;)

Ok, so the battle with the bags started. Poor me, didn't know that it was *just* the first round... *sigh* You see, I had 2 big heavy bags, 2 handbags and another small one with Julie's gifts (a bottle of cachaca and Brazilian coffee). It's *really* not easy to carry all that even with a cart... and then there was the elevator to go where Julie's car was... how long, Julie? 15, 20 minutes waiting for it? :) It was a long time for me, especially because it was hot there (even if she thought otherwise...). :) We finally made it to Julie's car and the second round started, how to put these bags in the car?? Thank God, she has a nice car with a big trunck...

We arrived at her house and I met one of the nicest dogs ever... Polly. She's soooo cute! I'm in love with her (Julie's words: "I can't wait to get that cult started. Polly is magical, Polly is
mystical. Repeat after me. Leave your money in the big yellow envelope"). I just left my begs in my room and, as we're both starving, we went to a Mexican restaurant. REALLY BIG Margueritas!! And great food! My first meal in the US (ok, ok, I know how silly this sounds...). :)

Saturday. Universal Studios. :))))
My God, it's amazing!! I just *loved* it, especially the Hanna Barbera and Back to the Future rides. We had lunch at Hard Rock Cafe. The day was sunny and the lines were big but not too bad. We had a wonderful day and everything was great. They're having a Mardi Grass thing there so we saw the parade before leaving at about 9pm.

One warning: be careful when you go shopping with Julie. She has *problems* with stores... :) And she loves hats. Maybe it's sort of *urge* to go and buy something, you know? :) I swear I can't understand things like that... ;) And we couldn't find the shark puppet, damn. Oh well, that "Psycho" robe would make me think twice before taking a shower anyway... ;)

Only God knows how we got home, because we couldn't walk anymore, I simply didn't feel my feet... but then I made an original caipirinha to her, and she made me a marguerita (the "Julie-pirinha"??). Great. :) We talked, watched TV, drank beer until 4:30am or something.

Sunday. 11am? I think. We woke up, but Julie was not feeling well (I told you, it's not easy to follow a Brazilian woman... :) ). She went to bed again and I decided to do something... you know, I can't stay quiet for a long time... Julie told me that Cecilia would need lots of free space that night to make the fondue and that she needed to clean the kitchen and the dining room. So I did it. As I was doing that, I decided to clean the living room also. For the shout of surprise and the big hug she gave me when she woke up, I think she liked it. :)

Sunday night. Cecilia and Les arrived with LOTS of bags! She kept pulling things out of them and I was already drooling... Five different cheeses for the fondue, I don't know how many kinds of bread, great wine, brocolli, Portabella mushrooms, and a lot of stuff for the best salad I've ever eaten in my life! We took a lot of pictures and filmed everything, it was a lot of fun! Hey Janis, we didn't foget you and the MCEB (how could we????), we had a toast in your honor, Generalissima! We watched the X-Files as dessert... :)

Monday morning. Time to say goodbye... :( And very early... I left Orlando at 8am and went to NYC.

I assure you all, I couldn't have had a better reception in the US. :)