Campinas.

I returned to Campinas, by bus, and with my limited Portuguese was able to get the bus driver to stop and let me off close to Karen and Alex’s apartment, at Shopping Campinas. It is about a 5mins round trip from their place, instead of the 40mins to the main bus station in the centre of town. MickyD sundaes taste really good when it is stinking hot. Just thought I would let you know that… I had one while I waited for Karen to collect me.
I stayed for a few days with them, helping out around the apartment, watching a little TV and doing a few other bits and pieces. It was a bit of a relaxing time. We went to the Movies, to the "The Simpsons", in English. Other members of the family went and saw it in Portuguese, and we had to explain a few things to them, such as when Homer is swinging between the Rock and the Hotel called “A Hard Place”. Makes perfect sense to the English speaker, but try explaining it in another language... it looses something in the translation.
Basically my time in Campinas was just chill out time. I went out to the movies, went for walks in the park, ate to much cake and sweet foods… just the usual sort of thing. I went to church where Alex translated for me, which was great or I would have understood only words here and there, as the pastors usually speak loudly and at a very fast rate, when they get excited about what they are talking about. We also went to Sao Paulo for the day, as it was a long weekend and the street markets were on. The main street was packed with people selling and people buying. You could buy all manner of toys, clothing, pirated games and DVD movies… anything you wanted. It was good fun, but I made sure I was in constant contact with my camera and wallet, I didn’t want them to go off walking without me…
I also went to ‘Wet and Wild’, a water theme park, which is similar to the one on Queensland. I think the Aussie one is better. That said, I had a great day in the sun and water. I went with Paulo and Lorena and the family, along with good family friend’s of theirs. All day I went without my T-shirt and surpissingly I didn’t get burnt, I did use a lot of sun-tan lotion, so I think that helped. It was a great day running from one water slide to the next and jumping into pools and eating overpriced food and drink… It was a very relaxing day and I was very tired in the end.
Danny (the cousin from Chile) and I rode the push bikes around town and even got into trouble for ridding the bikes around Taqarual Lake. The police didn’t like us. One guy was really going nuts at me, even after I said “Eu não falo Portuguese”. I don’t think he cared, he was power tripping. The other cop, who Danny was chatting to, was a lot nicer and once Danny told him about our situation, he explained that you could walk your bike but not ride it in the Park. It is just another little adventure in the life of Leigh in Brazil. During this time I also did a little research for my up-coming trip to The Iguassu Falls.