15 years ago Caio came to Houston for a foreign exchange program during which time my parents hosted him for a couple weeks. 6 years ago, Caio and his parents opened their home to me and my parents. 3 years ago Caio traveled back through Houston to visit us with his newly-wed wife, Marinha. Now they opened their home for me to stay and I got the opportunity to meet their 6 month baby, Julha for the first time. As is typical for most households in Sao Paulo, Caio and Marinha have a housekeeper and a nanny, whom I also met. Maids generally wear a black dress with white stitching and a hat. They attend to tasks around the house, such as cleaning and cooking. Nannies wear all white clothes, generally pants and a long sleeve shirt and help attend to the needs of the baby. After breakfast I joined Marinha, accompanied by their nanny at Pinheiros Club to enjoy the outdoors with Julia. Caio is a Corithians fan but he allows this, haha! Many other nannies were there with babies and children while their parents are at work. I ran around the grounds for tour of the club, which is more than just a Futebol club as it has numerous athletic complexes and offers many services, such as an olympic size pool, tennis courts, squash gym, yoga, tai kwan do, school, camp, gymnasium, mini zoo of parrots and parokeets, restaurants and a lake. Come to find out the female winner of this year’s Ironman Brasil trains here and finished with a record time.

While Caio and Marinha took Julia in for her check up, I visited the Art museum, The temporary exhibit showcased surrealist art and modern art and a permanent exhibit was from the rennaisance period. Outside was a display of the Amazon in photographs that took 6 years to comple and showed the depths of the jungle from where my trip in Brasil began, http://youtu.be/4kuW8RmeEgk I took a stroll through Ibirapuera Park.

I enjoyed scenic views of the city from the lake and people enjoying the outdoors, including skate boarding, soccer and this rock throwing, http://youtu.be/Q4EYjZmbf3Q I visited the Afro musem, located inside the park, which displayed the history and culture brought by the African peoples and how they helped shape Brasil into what we know it today. After Julia checked out healthy by the doctor, Caio and Marinha piked me up t Unique Hotel, where I went up to see a panoramic view of Sao Paulo. This was where Cio first took Marinha on a date. I noticed this pedestrian signal followed the theme of the Monument of the Flag.

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Caio invited me to their family’s beach house in Guaruja. We did not know what to expect of the weather, but we made the most of the trip, taking relaxing walks drinking coco along the beach, eating good seafood, wathing movies and playing with Julia’s older cousins from Marinha’s sister. They invited us to their house for a BBQ, including picanha and finishing with a chocolate brigadero. Their house is located on the hillside nestled within Atlantic forest where beautful birds constantly fly by. We enjoyed a different view from the ferry on our return.trip to Sao Paulo.

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Caio showed me the Futebol Musem located in Corinthian’s old stadium and Sao Paulo’s largest and busiest fruit market. We visited Caio’s parents’ house for lunch and to say our farewells. I joined Caio at his office for the afternoon, where his dad gave a tour. The road is under construction to be widened, which is good for the freezer storage business as it allows more trucks to enter and leve each day. They are expanding their parking lot and have plans to add another 3 levels to the warehouse. After the tour, I enjoyed a final Rodizio with Ciao and his father to send me on my way. It was Caio’s first time visiting the new terminal, which since a private enterprise runs the airport, was built in an impressive 579 days to be ready for the World Cup.