Travel Report: LAPT8 Brazil, Arrival -- Obrigado-giving

Earlier today a steel winged tube floated down through the gray skies enveloping southeastern Brazil, bringing me to São Paulo where I’ll be settled through the Thanksgiving holiday and weekend for the Latin American Poker Tour Grand Final, the culminating stop of the tour’s eighth season.

The flights overnight were fine and I even managed to spend a few hours along the way in a restful state simulating sleep. Was still a bit lagged, though, for much of the hour-and-a-half ride from the GRU (the São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport) up at the northern top of the enormous, sprawling city down to my destination on the southern edge of SP.

We’re situated not far from the Rio Pinheiros, the tributary that winds through the city. I think the name means “Pine River,” which leads me to assume there are some pines somewhere to be seen if one were to follow the sucker long enough. But here in the heart of the city there’s nothing but concrete, metal, and glass all about.

Haven’t done much more so far than to get unpacked and cleaned up, secure some reais, and devour one tasty meat-potatoes-and-rice dish down in the food court. One thing I’ve realized already in the space of just a few hours -- I haven’t the first idea about Portuguese. That’s not entirely true. I do know obrigado, which has come in handy already after my stumbly, murmur-filled pointing somehow gets interpreted correctly.

Gonna rest a little more now, then hopefully reunite with some amigos for another meal in a while. More mañana. Or make that amanhã.