Return from Brazil- out of the frying pan, into the refridgerator!

Along with my wife Harriet, son Andy, daughter Emily and son-in-law Shawn, I have returned from a wonderful 11-day trip to visit our friends Bob and Sandy Mangels and their son Alan and daughter Laura in Brazil. When we arrived in Rio de Janeiro On December 26th, the city was coincidentally experiencing the hottest day ever on record, at 43.2 degrees Celcius- that's more than 108 Fahrenheit! The only one who was excited about this was Andy, who has a Master's degree in meteorology. We were so tired from our 9 1/2 hour overnight flight from JFK that we hardly noticed, as we were picked up at the airport by our hired guide Manu Peclat's assistant, Eva. She and Manu gave us a first-class two-day tour of the city, including the favellas (self-regulated low-income neighborhoods) , Corcovado Mountain featuring the 132-foot-tall Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, Sugarloaf Mountain with it's spectacular views, Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, several beautiful churches, and many street scenes. We then flew to Sao Paulo and were met by drivers sent by Bob and Sandy who drove us to their beautiful beach house along the Atlantic coast where we spent a fantastic week swimming, body-surfing, hiking, feasting, boating, snorkelling, and celebrating New Years with our dear friends from our college days at Penn State. We had the time of our lives. Please check out my album of selected pictures from our trip in my Photo Album page.