Our Brazilian Vacation

This is a family picture that we took during our first few days in Brazil.

This was taken at the national museum in Sao Paulo. 

It was a small museum with a few interesting exhibits.

First things first! The background is a picture of the famous and beautiful Iguazú Falls.  You will see several pictures of these enormous falls later in this presentation. 

We arrived in Sao Paulo around 9:00 AM after having spent nearly 24 hours in airports and on planes.  It was a long Journey. After going through customs we were greeted by all of our relatives.  After the hugs and kisses we were ushered to their cars. 

It was a long drive from the airport to their houses.  We took the freeway, which runs along a very stinky and polluted river.  The smell was only part of the shock.  As we drove along we saw homes that were pieced together from rotting wood.  Small cement cubicles, no larger than many bathrooms, were homes to families. 

The first thoughts I had of Brazil were of poverty and pollution.

On the second day my wife and I were taken on a hike near Sao Paulo.  This hike was wonderful.  We scaled hillsides and wandered through a dense forest.  Once we reached the top we were rewarded with a great view of the forest and we got the chance to see several of the tiny monkeys that you see in the picture.