Feb 7, 2013 - Vitoria

Vitoria is a nice city of 300,000 people. It is a few miles in from the ocean and apparently quite a navigation challenge with a bridge to go under. We ending up staying later than planned because the Brazilian authorities said we had to wait until later to leave. Our Captain was not amused! We took a shore excursion that took us across the inlet to Vila Velha where we visited a 16C convent that gave us great views high over the town. We had a stop at a chocolate factory shop on the way back, but managed to resist the temptation and opted...

Feb 6, 2007 - Victoria

ok, so Rio was an absolute blast and we had to get our butts out of there stat! otherwise we would have stayed there a month. The last night we had there was a blast, we went to the Party central part of Rio, and went to this old skool samba club, reminded me of the wartime officers balls (yes from the many that i went to!), where you had to ask a lady to dance with you, and it was all so very propper, so needless to say it was an experience, after that we went out for pizza, then got a cab to watch the sun rise over cococabana beach, then...

Dec 4, 2006 - Mateus's Birthday

Last weekend, Alvinho and I went took an overnight bus to Victoria where his son, Mateus, lives to celebrate his 1st birthday. We traveled with Maria and Angelo, two people I work with at Ativo who also happen to be Mateus's aunt and uncle. Julie, Mateus's mom, is part of a HUGE family with about 10 kids and even more half-kids, step-kids, etc. (It's very confusing.) Their family is part of an international Christian missionary group called "The Family" and you never know who is related to who and how. I work with four people from "The...

May 28, 2006 - Vitoria - de novo - Rotary/Rotaract 4410 District Conference

So, at the last minute on Thursday night, at the invitation of Thompson, I decided I would catch a bus to Vitoria to take part in the combined Rotary/Rotaract 4410 district conference. This turned out to be a really fun trip where I met lots of fun people including the GSE team from Atlanta, about 50 Rotaractors, and several Rotarians. The bus trip took about 8 hours and Thompson was at the station to pick me up when I arrived. The bus was about an hour late so we had to hurry to get some of the last minute items completed that Thompson...

Apr 20, 2006 - Vitoria with Susan, Estephan, Karla, Thompson, and Michelle

And then Susan arrived! Timing was great for this - Grete's flight home coincided perfectly with Susans arrival from São Paulo. This time we spent the first couple of days in Rio. That night we went out for dinner before calling it a night. The first day (Wednesday) we went to Petropolis, a smaller town about an hour an a half from Rio. The bus ride was an adventure in itself. We saw the house of Santos Dumont (the disputed Brazilian inventor of the airplane), a palace, a church, an Easter party in a park, and lots of Fuscas (VW beetles)....