Brazil Days 0-3

As some of you may know I was invited to the University of Brazil to do research for them this summer. I will be gone until September 26th and will be working in a multitude of labs. I finally made it to Brazil after alot of trouble both getting my visa and while trying to get to Brasilia. I will be maintaining a video blog of what's going on while I'm down here. This is the video I made but didn't get time to put up before I left for Brazil(last parts I used pictures from when I got here).

After Leaving things got really crazy, the plane I was on to Atlanta could not get clearance to land because the weather was so bad. So we circled the airport until we ran out of gas and had to make an emergency landing in a small airport in Alabama. We got lucky, another plane that ran out of gas had to e-land in Atlanta and one of the landing gears did not go down. I took pics of it when we finally made it to Atlanta but the plane was to far away to see the missing wing on the plane.

(Seatac Airport, Flying away from seattle)

(Pic of our plane from Plane's tv screen from a realtime gps system and conditions around plane)

(Rocky Mountains)

Anyways, I missed my connection to Brazil(since my plane from SEA->ATL was 2.5 hours late) and there was none flying that night so they put me in a hotel until the next day(also gave me a food ticket but it was so late nothing was open lol). Unfortunately, my destination Manaus is a small airport and the Delta partner TAM only flys to Brasilia every other day so I would have to stay in Manaus an extra day and delay me another day from what I needed to get done in Brasilia. Thanks to my uncle, burger king, and 4+ hours on hold with orbitz, international flight and Delta they managed to find me a plane that took me to Brasilia straight from Manaus next day using another carrier.

(Out in the distance is the plane with the missing wing. Also a pic of one of Atlantas Fav eats!)

So the next day I took off from Atlanta to Manaus happy that things were finally ready to go and I would not be delayed in reaching Brasilia.

(Interesting hand dryer in Atlanta's Airport, supposedly the worlds fastest hand dryer)

( I put it to the Test!)

(Pic of our plane through planes TV screen using GPS, Guantanamo circled in Red)

When I got Manaus I grabbed my bag and even though I had a 4 hour layover until my flight to Brasilia(4 am flight) I decided to check in. Lucky that I did, because it turns out the plane I was suppose to take at 4 am was canceled and I would have to wait an extra day. So I talked to the airline people and told them I needed to get to Brasilia ASAP and if they could reroute me through another carrier it would be fine or even through another city as long as I got to Brasilia the next day.

(We got to Manaus at Mid night. Pic of the city as we are landing)

They had one flight that got me to Brasilia, First I would need to take a flight at 2 am to Rio and then another to Brasilia :/ but alas I'd be there on time.

All these travel issues were not to bad in the USA since I had cellphone and email access through my phone and tethered to my lappy however, in Brazil I had no connection. My pick up was going to be waiting for me at 7:45 am tomorrow and I would not be there until past noon. I had find a way to get the message to him. I tried the pay phones using collect calls and at first I got a phone that did not work. Then I tried another and once again no go. I got to the level of desperation were I started asking random people if I could use their cell phones to make a call to Brazil. They ask to where and I would say Brasilia and they would say "No!" :( since its long distance. I even asked this younger looking guy who wore a pink shirt if I could use his celly and he just stared at me blankly and shook his head.

Luckily, my confusion was noticed by a brazilian kid who was on the flight from Atlanta to Manaus with me and he approached me and let me use his cell phone. Much props to him.

So I left my ride a message hopped on the plane from Manaus to Rio and head to my seat. To my surprise my plane buddy was Mr. Pink Shirt himself. Holding back a smirk from the irony of the situation I said "olá!" and started chatting(not a grudge type person). Turns out he is an Electrical Engineer as well and studied at a Catholic College in Rio. He is going back to get a masters in Mechanical Engineering.

The rest of the trip went well, got to Rio had a 4 hour lay over and then took a plane to Brasilia. 2.5 days of traveling, and 1.5 days late but I made it :)

(First two is of the Rio Airport, Boarding and taking off to Brasilia)

(Second set is entering Brasilia and walking off the plane.)

Along with Dr. Carlos Gurgel (My pick up), there was Anna Paulo and Dr. Lourdes there to greet me :) they we all very nice, we all joked about the head ache of trying to figure out what plane I'd be in, and went to Carlo's and Anna's house for lunch. Food was great! Black beans, rice, chicken and a salad made in a Brazilian fashion by their maid along with these small sugar/egg desert treats. Yum :)

Aftwards, I met some other proffs, learned my schedule for the coming weeks, they showed me the place I would be staying in a few weeks (on campus, great apartment with balcony, meant for proffs), showed me a bit of Brazilia and then Carlos and Anna took me to go get some Acai (super good frozen banana and Acai puree) and some incredible brazilian Pizza for Dinner. They are great hosts, treated me like family and I feel at home already :)

Over all I'm tired from all the traveling but very content on being here and looking forward to tomorrow and Monday when I begin my research work :)

(first Pic is of Anna and Dr. Lourdes)

(Second is of Carlos and Anna, we drove by Brasilia's famous bridge and we stopped for a photo opp while on the way to Acai)

(Then the its the congress building we saw this when we left the airport)

(another Bridge Pic)

(Carlo's drawing of how Brasilia's city layout is like a plane. Followed by Anna's version of it)

(Anna and I taking a Photo Opp)

(urinal at the pizza place we ate at, Yowzers!)