A Viagem

I'm in Brazil! But ohhh, what journey it's been--and I guess still is, since it's not actually over, and I don't think I can say that I've "arrived" yet. Right now, I'm sitting on a plane in Campinha [sp?] waiting and... well, just waiting. Apparently there was a lot of fog in Rio so we couldn't land there, and now we're in some sort of airport limbo. I don't know what's happening now. The plane's refueling, so if the fog clears, then we'll make the 40 minute flight to Rio. But if not... who knows?

Some interesting updates from the trip so far:

-There was a huge church group in the airport before we left, complete with hymns and prayers and proselytizing . They're going on a vacation that's basically a bizarre combination of an international soccer competition and a missionary trip. Their shirts are the most hideous shade of orange.

-A kindly old Brazilian lady sat next to me, but I couldn't work up the courage to ask, "A senhora é brasileira? Você mora no Rio?" And then she started drinking copious amounts of airplane wine, and I figured that it was probably for the best to let her just enjoy her buzz sans my shoddy attempts at Portuguese.

-My fear of flying came back in force. I think part of it is that we're flying to a totally unknown destination. Making the LA-NYC flight is second nature now, and I never get nervous then, but for some reason--maybe it was because we were flying in the dead of night, on a rickety old airbus, over, I assume, vast stretches of Amazon jungle or Atlantic ocean--I was pretty on edge. To calm my nerves I scarfed down bag of Ritz crackers. I felt very American: to combat my fears I turned to food, and not just any food, but processed cheese product. There's nothing more red, white, and blue than that.

-I totally didn't get enough sleep on this flight. I dozed off and then woke up in the middle of some pretty bad turbulence and had a low-level (read: high-level) panic attack. I was half-awake, freaked out, and full of adrenaline. Also, I woke up to the giant TV screen in front of our row showing The Fantastic Mr. Fox which, though a children's film, is actually quite disturbing (raising the questions, Why is the rat the same size as the fox? And why are they fighting? What is this madness? And if the plane really is going down, how freaking tragic would it be if the last things I saw were the animated animal versions of Meryl Streep and George Clooney?).

-A random 20-something behind me asked, "Are you from here?" When I told her no, she responded, "Oh, well you look like someone who'd be from here." Thank you, kind stranger. I don't know why (it's probably the sleep deprivation) but being told I look Brazilian really made my morning. Then again, this woman also thought that the guy with dreds sitting two rows over was Lil Wayne (or, "that rapper with the teeth!"). Again, who knows?