Monday was a bit of a recovery day landing at 8 AM after 15 hours in an airplane, it was 2 flights both of which were sold out – not the easiest way to travel. We had a small break in the AM and had lunch by the pool (in doors due to heat) and then were off the meetings. For the Sao Paolo portion of the trip the dinners were the most interesting
Monday nights dinner was traditional Brazilian at Bargaco, we again avoided the many recommendations for Fogo de Chau, which is a big chain in Sao Paolo and the United States. (It would a bit like going to Italy and going to the Olive Garden). We told our hosts we wanted authentic food and they found it for us.
Dinner at Bargaco started at the traditional time of 9 PM (learned later this was early). We
thought the appetizers were the meal, they brought a Moquecas dish with spicy sauce and a mix of sea food – fish, shrimp, crab, octopus, squid, clams, etc. The Moquecas is intended to feed 3 people – the 5 of us barely ate half. I would probably most closely compare it to Cajun (which makes sense since this more often a meal eaten in the Northeast part of the country). Finishing dinner at 12 AM makes it tough to get up and work out the next day.Tuesday - I'll give you the highlights aside from a day packed with meetings.
Imagine if your family name was Apocalypse? Lunch was interesting – we shared a table with 
a number of other people – who were quite friendly, and helped Mike and I order our lunch. It turned out the woman sitting next to me had a last name, Apocalypse. That is the family name, she works at Oracle and her father has worked at IBM for the past 36 years and is quite well known here Sao Paolo.
More meetings in the afternoon, we ended the day in the Sun office. Traffic in Sao Paolo is not good during rush hour – it would be fast to walk (if they had sidewalks and cross walks). This city has jumped up to 11 Million people and is always on the go.
Dinner was Italian this evening. A very popular type of food – largest population in Sao Paolo (6 million Italians and Italian descendants) Again a late meal starting at 9 PM and ending around 12 AM. This week is going to be long.
Wednesday
Another normally long travel day with a couple of highlights including a session done in English by John on
my team – aside from talking fast (which took the translator 10 additional minutes at the end of his presentation to catch up - he did well. We learned the value of a raffle - we give out an iPod Nano. No one left early – it helps with attendance
We finished up the afternoon meetings and then took a little adventure trip. In the spirit of seeing Sao Paolo, we tried to use
the train system to see parts of the city. Our goal was to get to the historic district, but they have entire Metro lines that are closed. The cars are packed tight and it’s hot – not the most fun way to travel, but much cheaper than spending $100 to get across town and back.
We ended up in a Mall and Market area with clothing shops, fresh vegetables, fish, meats, etc.
We weren’t in a shopping mood, but wondered around and eventually found a place to get a beverage. I stick out – so we had 4 people come and ask for money. We eventually had a toothless guy sit down next to us with a plate of chicken – he proceeded to pour 2 cups of sugar over his chicken (guessing that’s why the teeth were missing). A couple of beers were just what was needed to get back on the train. (picture has toothless guy)
We had planned to eat early and get some rest. So when we left for
dinner around 10 PM, it was safe guess that it would not be an early night. We finally found a Brazilian BBQ at Baby Beef Rubaiyat. Not a great idea to eat tons of red meat, with wine so late at night. It was a fun night to break away from the stuctured dinners discussing work topics. We went out for a few drinks and called it a night.
Thursday - We started a bit later, packed up and did our last meetings here in Sao Paolo. It’s been a good trip to meet with
customers, the ever changing teams at Sun and Oracle and to meet with key executives to promote some of our programs. The 
trip to the airport always gives a bit of perspective in urban planning.
a number of other people – who were quite friendly, and helped Mike and I order our lunch. It turned out the woman sitting next to me had a last name, Apocalypse. That is the family name, she works at Oracle and her father has worked at IBM for the past 36 years and is quite well known here Sao Paolo.More meetings in the afternoon, we ended the day in the Sun office. Traffic in Sao Paolo is not good during rush hour – it would be fast to walk (if they had sidewalks and cross walks). This city has jumped up to 11 Million people and is always on the go.
Dinner was Italian this evening. A very popular type of food – largest population in Sao Paolo (6 million Italians and Italian descendants) Again a late meal starting at 9 PM and ending around 12 AM. This week is going to be long.
Wednesday
Another normally long travel day with a couple of highlights including a session done in English by John on
my team – aside from talking fast (which took the translator 10 additional minutes at the end of his presentation to catch up - he did well. We learned the value of a raffle - we give out an iPod Nano. No one left early – it helps with attendanceWe finished up the afternoon meetings and then took a little adventure trip. In the spirit of seeing Sao Paolo, we tried to use
the train system to see parts of the city. Our goal was to get to the historic district, but they have entire Metro lines that are closed. The cars are packed tight and it’s hot – not the most fun way to travel, but much cheaper than spending $100 to get across town and back.We ended up in a Mall and Market area with clothing shops, fresh vegetables, fish, meats, etc.
We weren’t in a shopping mood, but wondered around and eventually found a place to get a beverage. I stick out – so we had 4 people come and ask for money. We eventually had a toothless guy sit down next to us with a plate of chicken – he proceeded to pour 2 cups of sugar over his chicken (guessing that’s why the teeth were missing). A couple of beers were just what was needed to get back on the train. (picture has toothless guy)We had planned to eat early and get some rest. So when we left for
dinner around 10 PM, it was safe guess that it would not be an early night. We finally found a Brazilian BBQ at Baby Beef Rubaiyat. Not a great idea to eat tons of red meat, with wine so late at night. It was a fun night to break away from the stuctured dinners discussing work topics. We went out for a few drinks and called it a night.Thursday - We started a bit later, packed up and did our last meetings here in Sao Paolo. It’s been a good trip to meet with
customers, the ever changing teams at Sun and Oracle and to meet with key executives to promote some of our programs. The 
trip to the airport always gives a bit of perspective in urban planning.For a few more pictures of Sao Paolo go to my google picture site.
Stay tuned till next time and the update on travels around Rio.
Travel’n Jay
Travel’n Jay
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