why I love TAM:: Can I just say that despite some luggage mishaps, I love TAM Airlines?
We leave Buenos Aires early Sunday afternoon, for a 2 hour flight to Rio. Again, there is much stamping of passports, immigration and customs checks, and much of me thinking I should really have smuggled something.
Aside: ok, yes - I'm new to international travel, but can I just say I was so ecstatic to get more stamps in my passport, I didn't know what to do. They blew out 4 pages between the trip to Uruguay, and going from Argentina to Brazil....*grins sheepishly*. I'll complain about having no pages MUCH MUCH later....
So, back to why I love TAM. About 10 minutes after takeoff, the stewardess come by bearing.....Lunch? No, on TAM you do not get a bag of peanuts during your 2 hour flight. You get beef bourginon, with risotto, a ceasar salad...and Malbec. And even though I'm not a big fan of Argentine wine (yet - I'm still working on it), I do appreciate that their "lunch" was about a kazillion times better than Delta's dinner. The stewardesses were very nice, even with my unbearable Spanish (and my even more horrible Portuguese). And the one steward - Marco - was to-die-for (although I think he was the legendary Boy from Ipanema). The luggage thing...well...let's just say that some candy, another classmate's outside zipper pocket, and a checked bag were casualties of this trip.
Another aside: yes, I am aware of the TAM flight that crashed...we discussed this while drinking the Malbec. The consensus was we were glad to not be flying near Sao Paulo. The Malbec didn't remove any fears we may have had about flight safety, but it did numb them a bit. The most eventful thing on our flight was lunch.
More after the jump...
And then - Brazil!
We have dinner at the Garota de Ipanema , which is the Portuguese translation of the Antonio Joabim song "Girl from Ipanema" that legend has it was written there. Over more wonderful bife - this perfectly seasoned, btw - and caiprinhas, we review our plans for the week, and I hatch out a plan to check out the beach.
Later, I take a moonlit stroll, with professor in tow (offtopic:: BOOOOOO). However, he gives me the scoop on some things to see, which beaches are better than others, and a short history lesson about the area. I really would like to have his job, for this week at least....lol. Click the pics for more pics.....
We hit the hay early - much to do this week, and only 5 days left. Coming up: Sugarloaf and a helicopter ride around Cristo Redentor, more company visits, two live capoiera shows, Ação Comunitária , televovellas and my boyfriend Gaulo ;-)
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