I went to my 3rd Brazilian wedding this past weekend. It was in a town called Sorocaba, which is in Sao Paulo state...only a mere 20 hours by bus --EACH WAY!
My first real friend in Brazil, Marcio, got married to this sweet and kind Brazilian woman. They are moving to the USA soon and I wanted to help them celebrate their special day! Well, not only did I travel 20 hours each way by bus, but I did it with total strangers. Of course, by the end of the trip, they were my new friends, but at the beginning, I didn't know any of them!
First, I almost got on the wrong bus. We were to meet in front of city hall at 7 pm on Friday night. I arrived at 6:45. There was a bus, so I stood in line to get my name checked off a list. None of the people looked like they were going to a wedding and gearing up for a long bus ride, then I realized the bus was going to Paraguay!!
I saw some people then with pillows, blankets, and big suitcases and I figured that was my group. I went over and introduced myself (in Portuguese remember!) and made some new friends. It was nice to travel with them and they were so kind and friendly! It took us 19 hours by bus to get to Sorocaba and arrived Saturday afternoon there.
It was really pretty to see the countryside between Horizontina (Rio Grande do Sul state) and Sao Paulo state. I crossed into three different states during this trip. In Parana state and Sao Paulo state, there are hundreds of miles of banana plantations! I had never seen so many banana trees in my life! It was spectacular!
The wedding itself was so fun! Brazilian weddings are predictably unpredictable!! They ALWAYS start late and end late! And there is always a lot of food and drink (all free!!). That is about the only predictable part! The rest is always a surprise for me and so different than American weddings. I truly must say that they are a ton of fun and so beautiful!!!
The bus ride home was 21 hours! We ran out of oil in the bus during the trip, drove through some major rainstorms and I listened to almost all the songs on my i-Pod! But, it was an adventure and something I will always remember!!!
Here are photos of the wedding.....
Abraco,
Mollie
Wedding Cake
Cake topper. She is pedaling and he is holding a Chimmaron!
Me and Enio - One of my first friends in Brazil!
New friends, Sandra and Liliana - niece & sister of my friend, Enio
2 comments:
I can not believe it took you 21 hrs to get there--but it looks like you had a great time; so it's worth it!!!!!! love
Long time no updates!!
-SN
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