Birthday Trip! Sao Paulo

For Autumn's birthday, we left Kylie behind with friends and jetted off to Sao Paulo for an adults only weekend adventure of shopping and eating!

 First stop: Micheladas at Oba - A Thai / Mexican / Brazilian restaurant!

 Chips and salsa! How I've missed you!!

 Next stop:  O'Malley's Irish Pub for Guiness!!

 Third stop:  Farto!

Just kidding, but I guess Drogaria Farto must be expanding!

 Another hilarious store! 

It was so nice to stroll around Jardims in the cool spring weather and shop!

 All hail the king!

We had a fantastic sushi dinner at Nagayama, followed by drinks at the rooftop bar, The View! 

Happy Birthday Autumn!!

 The next morning, we got all bundled up to brave the "freezing cold" (60 degree) weather, and headed out to Starbucks for breakfast on our way to Liberdade for another day of eating and shopping!

 Should I walk or not!?!

 Spring roll delight at the street market

 Can't go anywhere in Brazil without getting meat on a stick!

 We spent the rest of the morning browsing through all the great stores and stocking up on Japanese kitchen ware, including Autumn's crowning glory - the 4 tier dumpling steamer!!

Goodbye Liberdade!

We spent the afternoon back in Jardims for one more visit to O'Malley's and a bit more wandering and shopping.

 The birthday girl!

 More birthday goodies from Chocolat du Jour

 One last look at the city

We had a freak accident with our in-room safe, and maintenance had to come up and drill the door open, so we could get our stuff!! Luckily, they got it open in time for our super-fancy Italian dinner at Fasano.

Our loot!

Grandma Cathy at Caruaru

On Tuesday, we drove two hours inland to the town of Caruaru to visit their huge outdoor market. It was a bit of a let down, but we still had fun. 

The next day the tide, Kylie's nap schedule, and the weather all came into perfect alignment for a bit of shark-free swimming in a coral pool at the beach in front of our house. Yay!

 Dick Park lived up to it's name...ugh!

Ready to shop

View into the market

 Yes! Swimming at last!

 Kick! Kick! Kick!

 Kylie's Kitchen

 May I take your order?

Let's get cookin'!

Salvador III

For our last day in Salvador, we boarded the "Regular Sightseeing Bahia Bus", which was just about as regular as a hop-on-hop-off sightseeing bus gets, as the name so clearly stated. It was actually a really great way to see some of the more far-flung sites and was a nice way to spend the day between checking out of the hotel and heading to the airport.

 Ready for some regular-old sightseeing!

#i'monabus

 A fine example of the regular power lines that were definitely NOT just a few inches from our faces during the whole trip!

 Picturesque beaches...and no sharks!

 Look swimming and boating! What?

 Barra Lighthouse

 Say "Regular"

 Yes, Kylie, you need to hold mom's hand when we're walking by cliffs!

 Lookout tower

 Pacifier popping fun with pop!

 Back to the Lacerda Elevator again!

We didn't ride it today as the bus driver warned us that the line could take more than the hour and a half time allotment for this stop!

Where's my lunch!?! #hangrymommaandbaby

...at Restaurante Maria Sao Pedro in Mercado Modelo

 This is your reminder bracelet. Not returning it is necessary!

 Words putting order in important not is.

 Cruise ship terminal

If the souvenier backpacks are included, 

I might be interested in buying a slightly used VW Jesus hatchback!

 We guessed that the "Hot Bull" special must be some kind of extra large hot dog-zão

 Unfortunately the boat cruise portion of our regular sightseeing tour was cancelled due to sinking!

Just kidding, but seriously, this "marina" was a stop on the tour.

 At last! Igreja de Nosso Senhor do Bomfim!

It's known for its mix Catholocism and Candomblé

 More Bomfim ribbons!

 Sunset over the Bay of All Saints

A quick drive by of Dique de Tororo park and its lagoon filled 

with statues of orixás (Candomblé gods!)

Our final stop was at Shopping Salvador...sister-mall to our very own RioMar! We grabbed a quick bite to eat, picked up our bags at the hotel and headed home!

Thanks for the memories Salvador!a

Thanksgiving in Salvador

We couldn't make it all the way home for Thanksgiving this year, so we took advantage of cheap flights on a non-Brazilian holiday, and flew to Salvador in the state of Bahia just a little over an hour south of Recife. Salvador is the 3rd largest city in Brazil, and had a ton to do! Unfortunately, the weather wasn't cooperating. But, we made the best of a rainy day, reorganized our tourism schedule and spent the day indoors (as much as possible).

 A soggy start to our vacation!

 Palacio Rio Branco

 The Lacerda Elevator connecting the upper city "Pelorinho" to the lower city marina.

Old stuff!

 View from the top...

 ...and down below.

 A soon to be remodeled shopping!

 Mercado Modelo

 Ready to shop!

We're in a junkeria-zão!

 Still raining...

 ...nothing a caipirinha (or three) can't fix!

 Sleepy lady

The rain turned into a torrential downpour that lasted for hours,
so we were left with the option of "sun meat wint milk pirão" or grilled chicken...

...we opted for the grilled chicken!

We braved traffic back to the hotel after lunch, and hunkered down for a quiet night in with an almost pizza. However, we made up for it on Sunday when we got back and cooked a full turkey dinner. YUM!