The 2023 Brazil Journals, Chapter Thirty-four

(I did not take any photos during this part of the trip home, so I will post some of my favorites taken earlier.   To view them best, click on one and scroll on through.)  

Chapter Thirty-Four

Above and Beyond

 

Humor is emotional chaos remembered in tranquility.

—James Thurber

 

 

After landing in Sao Paulo, Octavio and Larissa gather us up like the lost ducklings we are and start explaining what we do now.   Normally, this is the point where the guides have completed their obligations.

 

We are at the domestic airport.   Shelly leaves to catch the hotel shuttle as she is staying one more night.  I envy her;  I wish I’d thought to do that.   A good night’s rest in a bed would be welcome.   Instead, I will spend the night crammed into an airplane seat in steerage.

 

Octavio points down the sidewalk and tells us that is where we can catch the bus to the international terminal.   One look at our faces and he decides to lead the way.

 

He guides us to the bus stand for the  terminal.   The bus is full.   He motions us back, and at Larissa’s prompting, goes to a kiosk and purchases taxi coupons for us all.   You don’t pay the driver!

 

We pile, literally, into two cabs with all our gear.   It is not close but eventually we get there.

 

The terminal is crowded.  Still, he can’t get free of us.   

 

Inside, Laura Jane goes off to her airline counter and Octavio leads Virginia and me through crushing crowds to the American Airlines booth. It is not behind a counter where the agents are relatively separated from passengers, but something like a make-shift booth where the agents are surrounded by people and ropes and luggage.

 

There is some kind of kerfuffle checking us in and it goes on for some time.  Everyone is speaking Portuguese.   I am standing back a ways, staying out of it, but eventually we get our boarding passes and hand over our luggage.  From there, we go through security and passport control, leaving Octavio and Larissa with many hugs and thanks yous for getting us through this confusing airport.

 

We make our way to Gate 19 and find seats.   By this time, we are getting hungry.   There’s a sandwich shop right in front of where we’re sitting but when I ask, any order would take a half hour.   The other close-by shops are also mobbed.

 

We sit, people-watching.

 

Someone walks past with ice cream or gelato and Virginia goes to the kiosk and buys two large gelato for us.

Jacamar

 

We sit.   Virginia looks at her phone and sees that our gate has been changed from 19 to 42!!!   No PA announcement, just a message on her phone app.   I would never have thought to look at my phone.  I might have thought to check the reader board, but I didn’t see one around.

 

 I feel more out of the modern world than ever.

 

For the past few years, I have requested wheelchair service in airports.  In addition to saving my knees and back from walking on concrete, wheelchair service does two more very-appreciated things:  1)  gets me to the correct place, and 2) I don’t have to worry about not hearing and interpreting PA announcements.

 

I decide to walk the long distance to the gate, rather than wait for a wheelchair.   I am not happy, but Virginia is right there as my shepherd.

 

Eventually, we board the plane and from then on, I have no recollection of anything until I land in Seattle.

 

Somewhere, somehow, I landed at Dallas-Ft. Worth and changed planes.   Somehow, somewhere, I acquired two sandwiches for later consumption.

 

 

I don't even know what it is.   And why would it be in a shopping bag?