It’s Thursday, I must be going…..

First, a big thank you to my brother, Jeff. He watches Bonnie for me during my monthly trips to Brasil. He’s a big help and a great guy. This Thursday, I left work and met my friend John at my house, and he took me to the airport for this month’s trip. Thanks to John, too.

I have been flying to Brasil every month for over two years now. It’s only possible because I have such great support. This month’s flight was better than last month’s flight – because I didn’t get stuck in Miami for a day. The 7:30 flight from Philadelphia to Miami left at 8pm, leaving me very little time to make my connection. I had to run from the D terminal to the E terminal in Miami. As i arrived at the gate, they were boarding, so I was able to get right on the plane. After the intra-terminal sprint, I was a little sweaty (not where you want to be at the beginning of a 9 hour plane ride).

Monica was at the airport to meet me (that’s so cool). We took a cab to the bus station and the onibus to Volta Redonda. It was nice to be home. Everything is the same here, nothing has changed. Vagabond dog is still living outside of our house.

This picture was taken on my last visit. Vagabond had disappeared for a week or so and returned with a shredded right ear, some bite marks on his rear and a limp. He’s a big dog and the undisputed boss dog of our neighborhood, but he’s also not immune to an ass kicking. Monica says he took off after a female. Figures.

Anyway, I was gone for three weeks, and he healed nicely during that time. I walked to the bank this afternoon and he went with me, walking in front and terrorizing the occasional motorcycle or bicycle driver – just like always. It was Saturday afternoon in Retiro – things were very busy. I’m willing to bet that walking downtown was faster than driving would have been.

I have noticed that the price of gasoline hasn’t changed in the two years that I have been coming here. It’s about 2.5 reais per liter. Converting liters into gallons and reais into dollars, it comes to $5.85 per gallon. It was that price in May of ’06 and remains that price today. I guess that’s one advantage of having the government control all petroleum. Sooner or later, I suppose we’ll see the price increase in Brasil too. It does make the $4 we’re paying at home seem like a bargain. Of course, here I can put compressed natural gas in my Fiat to save money. I can’t do that at home. Why not?

Greg