Travels and Work

Lately I have been on the move quite a lot. After returning from Chile I went to São Paulo for the weekend with my mom and Raul. We needed to renew our US Visas and do some shopping.

We had to stay for 3 hours queueing outside the consulate, under the tropical sun, than be shoved here and there. At the end they only collected our passports and got our digitals on the computer. We left happily to the mall!!!

Than two days ago I get a call from the consulate saying that my visa process is stuck because they need to ask me certain questions about my life. Why??? Well, who goes to Yemen for the weekend, travels for a birthday in Lebanon, says that he has an Italian passport but his Brazilian passport is filled with European stamps!!! That is me! And I aint no terrorist Mr Bush!!! So I will dress up as a rapper, prepare all my documents proving I love America and that I have no intention of moving to Kansas!!!

However, before this personal interview at the consulate in Sao Paulo, I am going with friends to Ilha Grande! It is an island off the coast of Rio! It is a long holiday here due to May day!!!

On the other hand, I have been working a lot! The new business is a great success! So in the next post I will write more about it. Now I have to go home and pack my swimsuit for the beach!

Bye!

pictures

Patagonia!

It has been over a week now since I got back from Patagonia. A tough week I have to say as I am still not used to getting back to Curitiba after an international trip. So I had to go thru a bit of drama during the week until things got settled again.

The trip was fantastic! It really feels like you are at the end of the world. We left on Thursday and had dinner at the Fasano Hotel Restaurant in São Paulo. An amazing restaurant, very sophisticated with the nice paulistanos. Than on to Santiago de Chile. We were lucky to be on the afternoon flight since all airports in Brazil closed down due to an air controler's strike from 6pm onwards! The country is in a bit of a turmoil.

Chile is a very organised country. Not that typical Latin America mess. But in a way it looks out of place, more like Canada, nice and boring. From Santiago it was a 3 hour flight down to Punta Arenas, at the southern tip of the continent. Than the hotel van was waiting for us (mom, dad, brother) and other guests for a 5 hour drive to the hotel. Quite a long day but the feeling of being so far away was exhilarating!!!

The hotel were we stayed is a great place. Called Explora, it is in the middle of the Torres del Paine National Park. It pampers the guests and from the hotel we can do lots of walks, see glaciers, ride horses or simply stay at the jacuzzi. We had 4 days in heaven.

On our way back to Brazil we stopped in Buenos Aires and it is booming!!! Feels like Barcelona! Of course I wanted to stay there and live in Argentina but I had to come back to Brazil!!! :-)

Hopefully in two weeks time I can move to my flat! It is almost ready!