Ibirapuera Park

Or as they call it here Parque do Ibirapuera. Imagine. The spell checker says that is wrong. While on our two week break back in August Mike and I visited this park. It is Sao Paulo's version of Central Park in NYC. It is a large park with several museums, lots of traffic free roads, trees, lakes and of course lots of people. Here is a main road. The bicycle path is to the right and the walking/running path is to the left.

As the day wore on vendors set up their wares along the roads. We went on a Saturday and it was very busy. There are several lakes.

This is the same lake as above but from a different side. You can see buildings in the distance.

There were lots of trees. In this spot there was a walking/running path that wound around the trees, doubling back and forth. It made for a long trail but not in a lot of acreage.

This is bamboo growing on both sides of the road.  There were a couple of soccer fields that were filled with very competitive young men. Sorry, not picture.

There were black swans in the lake. These people are feeding them bread crumbs. I did not see any white swans but there were ducks.

This is looking back to where I took the first picture of the lake.

We spent a couple of hours walking around the park and people watching. Brazilians love their dogs. We saw a lot of fat dogs but the dogs and their owners seemed to be happy to be out and about on a warm clear day.

We have been told that during the Christmas season they have an impressive water fountain display in one of the lakes. I look forward to seeing that. Stay tuned.

Not an Enrichment meeting

A Brazilian friend from the MTC invited the American sisters to a Relief Society enrichment meeting, but we don't call it enrichment meeting anymore. This was the Sao Paulo Vila Sonia ward. It is not the ward  that meets next to the temple but about a mile away. The sisters were making things for Christmas.

They were making napkin rings and beaded netting that they place over pitchers of juice, salads, desserts, etc to keep the bugs off the food. (See previous post about bugs.)

We learned how to do the beading and it was really quite simple.

You can see there were quite a few people were there. The sister in the coral shirt had just returned from a three week trip to the U.S. The sister next to her speaks wonderful English. She helped us with our Portuguese and our beading.

We shared lots of laughs and great conversation. It was a very enjoyable evening. The next meeting is scheduled for the end of November and we are invited. I wonder what they will be doing at that one.

Visitor

The Brazilians comment that they have a lot of insects but they do not have screens on their windows. We have been battling mosquitoes lately. Our air conditioner is not hooked up yet so to cool off we must open the windows. Along with some cooler air coming in we get visitors.  I was sitting on the sofa this morning when Mike came in and pointed up to the ceiling. Oh my goodness. We had a visitor.

This moth was huge. Here is a shot with our fly swatter for reference. It's wing span was about 5 inches. My friend Ann would of loved it.

Bug lovers will be happy to know that we did not kill the beast...ur....bug. Mike gently coaxed it out the window. So much for the unexpected visitor.

Pineapple at the temple

The other day we were on line looking at images of the Sao Paulo temple and noticed someone had posted a recent picture of a pineapple. What? I didn't recall seeing a pineapple plant. When we went to the temple that day sure enough there was a pineapple growing right in front. I have walked by those plants twice a day and never noticed.

Can you see the little pineapple in the upper center-left? And yes, it really is that pink.

I wonder if is ornamental pineapple or the real deal. I am keeping my eye on this.

Election Time

Before I begin I must apologize for not writing. To be truthful I hate to write and I have been reading a lot plus I have won over 600 games in a row of free cell. (I said I would be truthful) Anyway someone asked if I was all right since I hadn't written for awhile. To that I say Sorrrrrrrry.

With the Presidential election campaigning going on in the United States I am glad I am not there. The news slant and campaign ads just make me angry. I do get to vote absentee by way of the internet. How cool is that?

Here is Brazil it is election time also. It is not national election time but the races are local. Sao Paulo is deciding on a mayor and some city council people. It is interesting because voting in Brazil is obligatory. When a person votes they are given a card that certifies that and many employers require proof of voting. From what I understand a voter must return to the place where they originally registered to vote. There is no absentee voting either. Election day is a Sunday and people make it a family day often returning to their original homes.

Look at the signs and notice anything different? Yup, those numbers are larger than the names. Something that I find interesting is that voting is done by numbers and not names. On the ballot the candidates are listed by number and not by name. I was told that here in the city voting is done on computers. You click on a number and a page opens up with a picture of the candidate and the name. If that is the one you want you choose to cast your vote for him or if not you close that window.

The primary was held two weeks ago and this Sunday is the general because no one received over 51%. Someone said there are lots and lots of different parties here. Not like the US's main two. When the primary was held the streets were littered with business card size flyers from the candidates with their number and picture. I guess they wanted something a voter could easily take along into the voting booth.