2 Weeks in Brazil

I headed to Sao Paulo, Brazil for 2 weeks...yes 13 days...on a work trip. It was a long trip (about 20hr in transit), but I have discovered a new favorite international carrier...KLM...great entertainment system (I watched 5 movies on the way there) and pretty good food.Sao Paulo is...in a word...HUGE! Talk about urban sprall! The city is 70km in diameter and when you look out the window it just goes on and on and on. We stayed in an area of town called Brooklin Nuevo. The bridge outside the office was really cool...At the office my days were filled with brown paper, post-its, affinity diagrams, root cause anaylsis, and the like.
Oh yeah...and the complimentary Friday massage at the office!

And my nights were filled with caipirinhas, churrascarias, a futbol game at Morumbi stadium, and samba dancing. We went to a great club called Rey Castro. It felt like Havanna...not that I have ever been to Havanna, but it is what I imagine it would be like :) Cigars, palm trees, exposed brick, like band, and lots of black and white photos of Castro....my favorite is ths one of Castro, Cuban flag at half mast, and a photo of Che Guevara in the background.For the weekend we headed to Brotas...a resort area about 3.5hr from Sao Paulo. We stayed at Posada Recanto Alvorada which was set in the country, on a lake, in an extreme sports capital of Brazil. We sat on over the lake eating our breakfast of the most amazing fresh fruits, went kayaking, went on "country" hikes to see all the animals on the farm, did yoga, did water aerobics, laid by the pool, went rapeling, and galloped through the sugar fields on horseback. Not a bad way to spend a weekend!I was in charge of organizing the team activity on Saturday night at at Rasmus and Susanne's suggestion, I got a murder mystery...Lei'd to Rest...that's right, Hawaii theme. Everyone got really into their parts...making leis, grass skirts, and studying their parts all throughout the day. We created quite a scene in the community dining hall with several little girls wanting to play too. After the murderer was revealed, we spent the rest of the night dancing and being "somewhat" entertained by the resort entertainers, at least they kept the music going all night!And back to CPH....
Overall it was a fantastic trip...great people, great weather, great food, lots accomplished at work, and many friendships made and strengthened. For all my photos, click here!