We made it!

We made it to Porto Alegre late last night with no problems. Our hosts, Lu and Geert, were kindly waiting for us at the airport upon arrival to take us to our hotel. The weather here is amazing. I could really get used to what they call "winter" here. It is so cool and refreshing.

Today Ben went to Dell and I toured around our part of the city on my own. I will go visit Dell tomorrow. He says it is a smaller campus that Round Rock. They have free bus service to and from the office and free breakfast and lunch. How nice is that? Many of the offices are in portables, like many junior high school's in Texas. I will take some pictures tomorrow to show.



This is na pic of the park I had lunch in today. Very nice. I picked up some picnic items at a local market and spent some time wandering around the city. We are in a REALLY nice area with much shopping and cafes and pubs. I think we are gonna like it here. Ha!





Here is a pic of the city from out of our hotel window.



We went to A Lenha Pizzeria for dinner this evening. It was very good. We are both pretty tired still and drinking lots of water...and beer to stay hydrated! :)

The rocky road to Brazil....

Well the day started off early (hence the tired looks on our faces) at 5:30am heading to Houston to catch Ben's morning flight to Miami. I followed leaving Houston that evening at what was supposed to be a 6pm flight, but that ended up leaving 7:45pm due to a bad storm that hit while we were waiting to take off. That was going to make me miss my connect with Ben in Miami to Rio, but turns out that our flight was canceled entirely, so Ben was waiting at the gate for me when I arrived with hotel and food vouchers in hand.

So here we are in the airport hilton eating room service and trying figure out which flights we are going to try to book from Rio to Porto Alegre since we are now going to miss those connects tomorrow. Ugh!

Best case, we arrive in PA late, late Sunday night. Wish us luck!

It has been a rough start to our journey, but we are both happy to be together finally!! :)

Brazilian Energy Drink - Acai

We went to a Brazilian store here in Austin last night called Ana Brasil. We tried a a popular fruit smoothie drink made from the Acai berry. It was intersting I guess. Tasty perhaps- if it were fresh, which this was not, but too thick to be a jucie and too many berry seeds. When we unscrewed the cap off the bottle, there was a thick bit of the goop covering the mouth. It took some serious shaking to get it to a state that we would brave a swig.

Needless to say, outside of a few sips, we didn't finish it. I think we both agree to give it another try once we are in Brazil, but we won't be drinking this bottled version again here. Ha!

Ben & Michelle's Brazilian Vacation (July 18-28)

Only two more days until we leave for our trip to South America. It is winter in Brazil, so we will be leaving the 100+ degree temps of Austin and trading them in for 40 to 60 degree temps of the mild coastal winter. We will be in Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro. Check back for adventure updates as we travel.

-michelle

Ben's Dad Visits Austin - May 2009

Ben's Birthday Camping Trip - Bastrop State Park - June 2009

Happy 29th Birthday Ben. Some friends joined us at Bastrop State Park for some 100+ degree camping adventures. Click on the photo below for more pics of the trip.

Colorado Road Trip 2009

Click on the photo below to view our vacation photos when Ben, Michelle and the pups hit the open road for a trip to the mountains of Colorado.

Colorado Summer Road Trip 2009