Arrival In Rio Branco

We woke up the next morning to our first taste of Brazilian cuisine, the breakfast in the hotel was loaded with frutas. Brazilian coffee is very strong, comes with pre-added sugar and lubricates the body like motor oil. Just add a little milk and Viola!, you have and instant jumpstart. John, our team leader gave us 4 mins and 37 seconds to finish our food. We sucked down as much fruits and coffee we could take and were zoomed off to the Sao Paulo airport by a Shuttle Van. Once again, we were processed quickly at the airport. John always points us in the right direction and with the proper advice. Team Savannah was on point, Team New York was not so lucky. One of their team members, A NEW YORK POLICE OFFICER, turned his attention away from his bags for a minute, and yep, you guessed it. Poof! His bag with his ID, PASSPORT and MONEY were gone without a clue. John always told us keep your things close to you in public. Sao Paulo is twice as needy as New York, more people with fewer jobs. Oh, well! We didn't have time to worry about Team New York, Team Savannah had a plane to catch. Chow, Chow! We boarded our plane and were off to Rio Branco. We had a stop in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. 70% of the people got off the plane during the stop and left each remaining passenger with their own row. A good majority of those passengers used the seats like beds, including me. It was nice. 5 hours later, we were finally landing. All we could say was "Get us off this plane", by the time our travels came near to the end. We made it to Rio Branco, pronounced Heo Brawncoo in portuguese. The airstrip was just that, a strip. The pilot had to make a U-Turn at the end of the runway cause he ran out of taxi room. It was a cute little airport but what was even more special was the warm reception we received from the Brazilian group that is soon to visit District 6920 in Georgia. They were all wearing their Rotary Tees and waiving from the viewing tower as we unboarded the TAM Airbus 320. They brought their sisters, brothers, cousins, moms, dads and I think I even saw a pet dog to meet us at the airport. We hugged, we kissed and we smiled with all 20 people who came to meet us. We were also honored to see the Brazilian District Governor and his wife and family. We took about 32 pics in various formats, almost like we were at a huge wedding. We met with our host families and took more pictures. They were so happy to see us, the airport lit up like a Christmas tree for all the smiling that was going on. I mean, thats what you do when you can't talk very well to each other, you smile and keep smiling until your cheeks can't take anymore. :) We jumped in different vehicles and off to see the city.