Adventures in Brazil: Part 11

Had to wake up at 3:40 in the morning for the second segment of my adventures in Brazil in order to get to the airport an hour early for a six o,clock flight. Faithful friend and brother in Christ Samir took me. May the Lord Jesus bless him abundantly for all his service and work of love for me. The first flight to Sao Paulo was uneventful except for the heavy set man in the seat in front of me who immediately reclined his seat all the way back, crushing my knees. Waited in S. P. for about two hours, boarded another crowded flight to the capital of Brasilia, and arrived about 11:30. This flight had many men in business suits whom I assume were government employees. Before finishing my account of my time in Porto Alegre, will offer a few miscellaneous observations. The sidewalks are normally broken and lumpy. Street cleaners and garbage men work mostly at night in gangs of ten or more, clad in uni color jumpsuits. Many streets have cobblestones. The word in Portuguese, spelled somehwat phonetically is pa,ra,lay, lay, peep, e doh. They are tough on tires. Virtually all homes and apartments have security measures with various combinations of high walls, fences, some electrified, guard dogs, doormen and even security services whom you call before entering or leaving your home. These wait in marked cars to insure that you have safety. In Brasilia met the two sons of Wagner, my new host. Lucas was on his way to Vitoria, which i will visit later, and Diego, whose "noivado" or betrothal ceremony I had attended the previous year took me to his dad's house. Met a new friend, Davi, a young man who lived in Jerusalem for almost a year. Later Davi, Wagner, Mayara, and I went to a symphony. One of the brothers in the church plays the trumpet. We heard "Clair de Lune" by Debussy, "The Idyll of Siegfried" by Richard Wagner, Beethoven's 5th Symphony, and Christmas music by Leroy Anderson. The orchestra did very well considering the venue, a Catholic church with the doors necessarily open to the street. At one point I heard several minutes of fireworks outside. One reality of Christian life in Brazil is that one does not go to bed before midnight. We went to a nice restaurant and had Brazilian pizza with turkey breast and veggies, followed by a sort of open crepe with strawberries and chocolate.