Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I’m at the tail end of a 12-hour trip to get to San Diego. And yes I have used every mode of transportation at my disposal… Trains are one of my favorite ways to travel… They allow for contemplation that I don’t always make time for… Even in undergrad, although the train was more expensive, it was so much better than the bus (ACK!!!) and I could study without getting nauseous or having an hour delay in Breezewood… FTR, I think AMTRAK conductors were nicer then than they are now… but that might just be another difference between Los Angeles and Pennsylvania… It can’t be easy to be a mousy blonde size 22 in the city of angels… Oh my… that WAS my outside voice…

This train ride allows me to gain some perspective (between reading business cases) on what family means and what is important about it… Family by the most traditional of definitions… It’s intergenerational… and multi-generational… At the end of the day, it’s not only about blood but who you love and who loves you…

In many ways, my grandparents are my parents… If you’ve read this blog before, you know this… I love that the generations are mixed and get a little thrill of pride when people say I am my “grandmother’s daughter”… This trip is for my grandfather who is ill again…

10+ years ago when they relocated from the East Coast to San Diego, I was forced to come to terms with the fact that when they became ill, they would no longer be only a 2 hour car ride away for me to get to them… (Yes I have made it from DC to Harrisburg in less than 2 hours but we don’t need to share how often that happened… shhhhhh) What I also did those many odd years ago was make a deal with myself that when they needed me for support, I would be there hence the trip this time…

A week ago we were not sure that he would survive this latest fall, but he has once again surprised the docs and us… He’s in rehab currently and showing good progress, but I have to wonder how many “miracle” recoveries a body can make… I am thankful for this one… It’s about quality and not quantity at this point so 3 days will be filled with love and moral support (I think that should be “morale” since I have no business dealing with morality at this point… nor mortality… Good lord but I am tired…) Monday will be a day of harder conversations with the social worker and other caregivers to determine how we can help ensure that both of them are getting the care they need...

Love your family and “family” as much as you can… Even when you don’t always like them, you can still love them… and never forget that you have the capacity to expand family well beyond the blood ties...

Days Go By...

Let me first say that I cannot believe I’ve been here almost a week… Am currently in airport in Brasilia which is so much like DC it’s almost frightening (more on that shortly)… A significant change from Salvador where we started… Let’s review, shall we?

Our trip started with a flight from DCA (which I still refuse to call Reagan Airport) to MIA where we had to RACE for our flight due to delays getting out of DC… With 22 of us, we were pretty sure they would hold the flight but we racewalked all the same… Even for flights, this body does not run… Another classmate was in first class and she had them call ahead to make sure we wouldn’t be left behind… Suffice to say we got on the plane… Overnight to Salvador… ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…

We awoke to breakfast and a little turbulence… but again all was well… and sleep deprived, we wandered into the heat and humidity of an early morning in what is essentially jungle… I was utterly unprepared for just how humid it was… So was my hair… Bus trip along the coast “highway” showed beautiful beaches and a lot of poverty as well as stray dogs…

Breakfast at the hotel was a remarkable buffet of fruit and a tower of bread which I should have photographed… And the café con leich is spectacular…

Salvador is one of the oldest cities in Brazil… It’s also one of the poorest regions in the country… The ratio of women to men is 7:1… Our guide is a 50 year old surfer who lived in San Francisco for either 7 or 17 years (I was never quite clear on that)… Born and raised in Salvador, he knew people all over the Old City, the historic section of town… Our city tour began with a trip to Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra which was much like the fort on Tybee Island in Savannah, GA… Beautiful views of the ocean and small rocky areas where people fish and trap local lobsters…

It was at the fort that I passed my first hurdle… The “memorabilia” vendors left me utterly alone… Apparently (once again) I blended which was much better than having to constantly say “no obligada” when they were offering up their wares… We drank coconut water to ward off dehydration and may I just say that it is so much better out of the fruit than out of the aseptic juice box…

The Old City area of Salvador – Pelhourino - reminded me of a combination of Malta and Puerto Rico… There are definite influences of Europe and the Caribbean… From the old cathedrals including Church of São Francisco that has 800kg of gold leaf adorning the ceiling to the central square surrounded by what were once homes of the affluent citizens, there is a good bit of history here… There is so much traffic through the major areas of the city however that we were plenty sick of the bus after 2 days…

During dinner we were serenaded by both all-female and all-male drum corps… The government has sponsored schools which teach the drumming as well as provide a basic education… It is how they are combating the gangs and teenage prostitution in the city… Paul Simon used a group of these drummers on an album several years ago and now there is significant competition to participate…

On Wednesday, we traveled to SEIB and Ford Motor Company… SEIB is a technical academy funded by a public/private partnership agreement which provides skills training to young men and women… What great ideas I have to take with me to the DR… And why isn’t Washington, DC doing something like this? At the Ford plant, we saw an extraordinarily large campus which employs more than 10K people per shift… All Ford vehicles sold in Brazil are apparently constructed in this facility which is very European in its model in terms of how it cares for the employees…

We finished our time in Salvador with an amazing dinner at Yemanja of mocqueca with shrimp and a fish stew done with tomatoes, olives and the best mashed potatoes I have had in a long time… Dessert was a requirement as quite a few classmates and I have developed a fondness for passion fruit mousse which we tell ourselves is better for us than other things… Heh! A walk on the beach where the water was amazingly warm… and a wild cab ride back to the hotel finished up our time in the city…

Next up… Brasilia D.F.