Grateful for the assistance

Have I said this before? Our house cleaner (faxineira), who comes twice a month, goes through some serious cleaning products.

She´s a sweetheart. And she does a terrific job. AND she uses a serious amount of cleaning products.

Wood polishing fluid, window cleaner, floor cleaner, bathroom disinfectant, general hard-to-clean liquid -- she is determined to make our place sparkle.

Lucky us.

And I have to keep on top of what we have on hand, because she gets pretty frustrated when we don´t have what she needs. But she always makes do with landry detergent and bleach.

I do my fair share of cleaning and washing - but I am SO GRATEFUL for the added bonus of our faxineira.

On the road

These are traveling days for us.

We recently spent four days in Belo Horizontes with our friends Carlos and Dü for Carlinhos´ birthday and Easter. They are terrific guys and their puppies have since grown into dogs. They are inseparable siblings (the dogs) - SO CUTE!

Luiz just got back from Poços de Caldas with his mother after a long weekend there.

This Saturday we travel to Conservatoria, a cute little historical village.

Then in May Luiz and I make our big travel adventure to Machu Picchu in Peru.

Luiz will be 60 years old this May 16 (and I will be 52 years old on May 17) so we have planned to be at Machu Picchu on May 16th. We will be in Peru for two weeks.

Good travel days ahead. We are never so free as during the times when we are traveling...

Why we don´t own a car

When we lived in San Francisco we first had one car each, then later sold off one and just had our little wagon. Even that was a hassle, with no off-street parking. We got occasional tickets for parking during street cleaning times. But it was actually more car than we needed.

Luiz and I are city folk. We walk. We take the bus. We ask our friends for a lift. We occasionally take a taxi. We do not envy car owners.

When we travel we take busses or planes. No problem. Busses in Brazil are NOTHING like Greyhound in the US. Nothing. Very comfortable and safe.

Our apartment location is PERFECT for all our daily needs - AND we have about 15 bus lines that pass within three blocks that can take us to either our nearby friends´ or to numerous spots in Rio, or elsewhere.

Even better [sic] is Luiz´s free bus pass for him and a companion (that would be me) because of his chronic health situation. So we pay nothing to use the bus.

Buying a car in Brazil is not only fraught with peril - it is rediculously expensive (not to mention the price of parking, taxes, insurance -- and gas!) We prefer to put the $$ in our travel pig and make an adventure.

More details about the perils of buying a car in Brazil here.

Glad to be back

After a long time away, more than a month (rediculous technical complications brought on by - I think- the war between Microsoft and Google), I´m back in action. Let´s hope it stays that way. Thank you to everyone who offered help getting me back on my keyboard.

So I thought I would celebrate by calling out some of my favorite things about living here.

Let´s go --

- Coalhada (WAY better than yogurt)
- A bus goes anywhere you need to go
- Fresh seafood cooked in a clay pot
- 110% family support
- Free concerts on the beach
- 9 hour family/friend parties (with live music)
- Hiking in a rain forest in the middle of the city
- A Brazilian husband who loves me unconditionally
- Recharged printer ink cartridges for 30% of the price of a new one
- Fresh, hot empadinhas on the street

That´s just a few things... can you think of others?

I´m BACK!

Just got the assistance I needed to be back blogging -- THANK YOU to those who offered help! You will hear from me soon!

Who will help me!?