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Oh my. Is it really time to get up? The boys were already packed fortunately, since we had a 3:30 a.m. wakeup time for a 4:00 bus ride to Belo Horizonte. We got all the choir pieces to the bus and equipment van and were on our way to Belo Horizonte, a two-hour drive. I remember it being foggy, and I remember being tired, then I remember being woken up at the airport. Most everybody slept. Kerry, our Bus Manager, has done an amazing job keeping track of our things. Our luggage crew (Malcolm and Andres) were helped out by random members of today's Entourage. Christina, Page, and Joao checked us in at Gol Airlines. Joao found us those plastic handcuff things that we can use on the bigbins instead of the carabiners, which are hard to find, can be expensive, and tend to break anyway. Sadly, Herculano disappeared before we could give him a CD gift and say goodbye. We'll have to send him a CD. He was very enthusiastic and helpful.
Despite the limited amount of sleep, the boys were doing a great job. Food Dudes (Philip and Daniel) passed out juice, rolls, ham, and cheese for breakfast while we were being checked in. The boys are cheery, good about asking for permission to head to the bathroom in pairs, and finding their way with their tour jobs. David and Jonathan load the new hand truck with the Tower cases. They are special CD-carrying cases from Guitar Center in SF, but unfortunately don't have wheels. We brought a cart (from The Home Depot in Emeryville!) for the first time, and it's coming in very handy. It adjusts and the cotter pin got lost on a flight, but we've been able to keep it together with tape for subsequent flights.
The flight was sparsely populated, and most of us slept. I don't remember landing even, and it was one of those times where you wake up and one of the boys (Henry in thihs case) tells you what a funny picture they got of you sleeping on the plane and drooling on yourself or whatever. (see below)
The Sao Paulo airport reminded me or Orly in Paris, kind of past its prime, mismatched, worn-out flooring, lots of people in poorly organized lines, lots of litter, choas on the verge of organization. We paraded our things through the airport to outside, where I noticed we were suddenly in the city. Unlike SFO or OAK or Logan, built away from the city, here it seemed like the main airport is right in a neighborhood. I couldn't quite figure out how that worked. Anyway, our Entourage this time included David, our local guide, and random tour company employees who loaded our Mercedes bus, our Mercedes passenger van (the bus isn't big enough for the whole group, so some Continuum and guest singers go on the van), and our Mercedes equipment van.
Upon arrival at the hotel, a swarm of tour company and hotel employees unloaded the bus before we could get Kerry or the luggage crew off the bus. Whereas in the past I'd be checking us in and managing the unloading of the bus, Pam, Page, and Christina checked us in and the bus was already unloaded. I went into the lobby to catch up on website stuff.
Given that the boys were still tired and hadn't showered and we didn't have anywhere to be, we gave them 90 minutes to shower, change, and nap if desired before meeting for lunch. Turns out only one or two slept (just curious so we can plan our rest period this afternoon), and after a whistle check we went to the local mall for lunch. I can't say I'm real fond of this city so far. It seems like the Bronx with a hangover. I'm not even sure what that means, but it's what came to mind. This place sprawls like Tokyo, just fewer billboards. The architecture is a bit like tacky 60's Paris pr Barcelona apartment buildings mixed with Prage cement-block buildings. I miss the tile roofs of Ouro Preto. Nothing like a city of 20 million people to make you feel small. Our little parade wandered down the street, with Secret Service on alert, to the mall. We temporarily lost Hampton, who went back to the hotel to retrieve the med kit.
Our own Secret Service detail was redundant at the mall since there is security every 100 feet. The mall is spotless and the escalators arranged so it's easy to get upstairs, and very difficult to get back down. As it is, you need to travel to a different part of the mall to find the down escalator to the next floor. We split into chaperone groups for lunch. The food court included Subway and McDonald's, as well as Brasilian buffets (surprise!) and various other ethnic varieties. My group mostly wanted to go to the pasta place, though three wanted a burger from McDonald's. I try to avoid McDonald's, but I'm a sucker when tour is going well, and it seemed to be the only place to get a burger. At the pasta place, you get to choose your pasta and then up to eight ingredients to add to the sauce of your choice. Customized pasta! Sounds awesome until you realize you're picking 8 of about 40 little bowls of vegetables, meats, and spices, and you don't know the name of any of them in Portugese. I couldn't find Christina, who was with another group, so as we started to fend for ourselves, a young man behind us in line helped translate, and the boys made their concoctions. Muito obrigado, dude. Over at McD's, ordering was a bit of a trick as well, especially since David wanted his sandwich without mayonnaise. But again, the woman right next to us asked in perfect English if we needed help, and she ordered for us. I learned how to say "receipt" in Portugese, and we were off and running. Muito obrigado, ma'am. The woman said a lot of people in Sao Paulo speak English, and I was certainly convinced.
We did a little shopping on the way out, though I don't think anybody actually bought anything. Everybody looked at the futbal jerseys, but the official ones, which was what they had at this one sports store, are quite expensive. Pam and Christina bought some more bottled water from the supermarket.
The plan was to return to the hotel for a rest period then watch the Italy-France game at 4pm and find some ice cream, but when we got back to the hotel (after walking past the *other* Braston Hotel on the way back), we found out the game was starting at 3pm, which was right then. So we went to the bar in the hotel where there was a TV. Many of the boys wanted to sleep, so they went to their rooms to start their rest period early. I found the overtime too stagnant for my tired self and kept dozing off, but plenty of boys lasted until the end of the match. many ordered Guarana (Brasilian soda) to hang out at the bar and watch. At the end of the game, we had an official rest period until dinner.
We had dinner in the hotel (buffet!!), and afterwards went to a conference room to review last night's concert and look ahead to our upcoming concerts. We've got only one concert tomorrow, at St Benedict monastery as part of their noon concert series (http://www.artinvest.com.br/home.php), and then I think we're going to the park for some futbal and/or hackeysack, then probably an evening rehearsal. Our first concert with piano is Tuesday so we need to brush up on that music.
--Mr. Fox
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What we look like at 4am |
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Tims!!! |
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