Eu chegei!

There is so much to write already, so read on at your own risk!

07.11.07 (my journal date)
I arrived yesterday - last night - to São Paulo. Friends of Ô de Casa (a hostel) picked me up at the airport - Paulo e Sushi, irmã e irmão - then lovely André checked me in and I played cards with four men from Dublin - Jaime, Daniel, Ian & Red (I´ll have to think on his name...). I don´t know what they call their game, but it comes from Red´s family, involves a spiral of cards, and I think I will call it "John & Margret", after his parents. After that, a good sleep - a funny dream and then I find myself in line to Salvador.

Meeting two sets of travelers - a Polish couple just rounding up 6 months of travel and a Swedish man about to begin (not a big city person, just looking to trek South America) - the bug, the urge to travel, to have absolutely no idea what comes next...their nervous energy is infectious.

In the cab I knew immediately that I must come back to São Paulo - the driver makes me feel comfortable in português, and the buildings...large, beautiful houses of every architectural style and era pose as medical offices and small businesses - the atmosphere is different, but I am somehow reminded of the embassies in D.C. along Massachusetts Avenue (?).

It is crazy to step off of an airplane - the same rounded floor treads and accordian walls as I walked through in Atlanta, and yet the change is palpable - all I needed was one breath and I know I am back in Brasil.