In the moments of frustration and despair this year I daydreamed about being able to spend time with friends and family back in the U.S. And talking with my parents for a while, we realized that it might be possible for them to come visit me during this year. So two weeks ago my parents, my sister, and my brother-in-law came to Brazil and we traveled around this great country.

We first went to São Paulo, the biggest metropolitan area in South America. We chose São Paulo not because we love sprawling urban areas, but because one of the 20 million inhabitants of this city had lived with our family 22 years ago. When I was three, we hosted MCC trainee Veronika, who now lives in São Paulo with her husband Alfred and two teenage children, Heidi and Cristopher.

The whole time in São Paulo was magnificent, if rather surreal. The air was cool, the city was large, and Veronika's family all spoke German, as well as Portuguese. I could have sworn I was in Europe at some points. My sister was able to communicate quite well with everyone in German, and I could do okay in Portuguese, so conversations slipped between German, Portuguese, and the occasional English. Another oddity of the time there was that we never ate out during our three days there. Veronika says that it is too expensive to eat out, but I believe she just liked to cook for us. And I can't complain about her cooking. We had marvelous pies, cinnamon rolls, jellies, pizza, steak, etc. What's more is that most of the ingredients came from Veronika's farm, about an hour from São Paulo. The milk came from her cows and the cheese was hand made.

We passed the time with a variety of activities. One day we went to visit their magnificent farm, where they had a wider variety of animals and plants than seen at any other single farm I'd been to. Cocoa plants, coffee beans, poinsettas, wild impatiens, and bamboo. Sheep, cattle, horses, pigs, and chickens. Old McDonald was outdone by this family farm. The next day we visited their church, a Mennonite Brethren congregation in São Paulo. Finally I heard some four-part singing. We attempted to go to the Indpendence Musuem, but the workers were (ironically) on strike. Instead we went to the aquarium.

We had a great time in São Paulo, even if we didn't see a single thing on Frommer's Must See List. We saw the people we wanted to, and were hosted very graciously.

Our hosts: Heidi, Cristopher, Veronika, and Alfred Bender.

A night-time view of the city from the family's house.

Krehbiel Family in Veronika's house: Perry, June, Melanie, and Joel Krehbiel, and Jason Miller.

After returning from Recife to São Paulo, we spent a day in Olinda visiting churches and doing other touristy things. We had a wonderful guide who showed us all the important Dutch and Portuguese churches in the area. There were some wonderful tiles inside these 300-year old sanctuaries. We ate at a nice place with a view of the ocean and Jason and I split a dish that consisted of lobster and crab rice with a shrimp/cashew/pistachio sauce. I wouldn't have ordered that at any other restaurant, but this place had a splendid menu, and I had to try something odd. It was spectacular. Perhaps the best restaurant food of the trip.

We then headed to Monteiro, with stops to change a flat tire, and to visit an area that is known for it's ceramic figures. Lunch here was barbequed goat on a skewer. Also very tasty.

I think Monteiro may have been the highlight for Mel, just because she loved my host family so much. Jason also bonded with my host-brothers, and he chased them all around the house as they screamed in delight. It was really strange seeing my family and my host-family interact. It was as if two of my worlds collided together, and I was stuck in the midst of the collision. I translated a lot, but my host dad Ricardo speaks English quite well, so he could communicate with everyone just fine. I knew he spoke English, but it was rather strange hearing him speak so much. He never spoke English with me at home, only Portuguese.

In Monteiro we visited two farms with biodigesters, one that also included a large organic farm. At this last farm we were given a great tour by Luzaneti, the owner of the farm. She encouraged us to pick acerolas, a small cherry-like fruit. That sounded like fun to us, and we started to pull the fruits from the tree. Soon, the ants began biting, the thorns began attacking, and the sun began sucking our energy away. What's more is that Luzaneti had an enormous bucket that she was determined to fill before we left. In the end, she filled about three-fourths of it, while we combined to fill the remaining fourth.

Luzaneti showing us the many plants in her garden.

Another day we went to climb Monte Peru, which I had climbed with Ricardo and Cristina's family a few months before. Fortunately they went with us again, as the roads were pretty bad. I was driving the Fiat Dolbó, a boxy-looking thing with low clearance. There were mudholes to drive through, rocks to drive over, and large crevaces to avoid falling into. If there was any doubt that I could drive a stick shift before heading up that mountain, they were vanquished as we arrived at the starting point of the hike.

The hike itself was another adventure. I knew that it would stretch Mom and Dad to the limit, and they were exhausted by the hike, but made it to the top. Mel and Jason really enjoyed themselves, and Ricardo, Cristina, and the boys also had fun. Continuing my streak of seeing poisonous animals on hikes, I saw a corral snake on this hike. Ricardo told me that this was the most poisonous snake in Brazil. Okay, we'll try to avoid getting bit by that then.

Mel and Jason on top of Monte Peru.

Also in Monteiro, the school where my host brothers go had a festival to celebrate São João (Saint John). This festival was kind of like the state fair, with lots of mysterious fried foods that sit really low in your stomach. But the highlight was the dancing. Each class gave a small presentation/dance and then other people or parents were asked to join in.

My host family and I prepare to go to the São João festival.

After Monteiro, we headed to João Pessoa. We stayed at a very ritzy hotel right on the beach. And since it is the off-season here, we felt like we were the only ones on the beach or in the hotel. We walked along the beach the first night before eating at a nice Italian restauant for supper. The next day we spend entirely on the beach. We rented an umbrella and chairs and swam in the ocean for a while. We mainly just relaxed the entire day, which was great. Jason and I made a sandcastle that eventually got swept away into the sea. Most of us returned with some small sunburnt area, enough to make us remember to use more sunscreen next time. João Pessoa was a very relaxing place and we weren't too eager to leave.

Joel and Jason making a sandcastle.

Fortunately for us, as we were leaving João Pessoa, I shifted the car into first making a U-turn, and heard a clunking noise. I was unable to shift into any gear, and was blocking two lanes of oncoming traffic. We quickly moved the vehicle to the side of the road and celebrated the fact that we were still in João Pessoa. Actually, we were just stuck on the side of the road, with nothing terribly interesting around. I called the MCC Country Representative and asked what to do. He arranged a tow truck to come take the vehicle back to Recife and taxis to take us there. After an hour the tow truck arrived, and loaded the Dolbó. We took our essential items from the vehicle, and waited for at least another hour for two taxis to take us to Recife. They arrived and we were on our way. However, Jason has problems with motion sickness, and he began reading in the car. His motion sickness quickly kicked in, and he had to explain to the driver that he needed to vomit. The car pulled over, and he vomited out the side of the vehicle. Mel was also feeling a little ill at this point, and by the time we arrived in Recife, they were both drugged up on Dramamine and took a long nap. They recovered fine, and were eating Chinese later in the evening.

The last two days we spent in Recife doing shopping, getting souvenirs and the sort. But my highlight of the time in Recife was going to see Brazil's national soccer team play Paraguay in the World Cup Qualifier.

I've never been to a more important sporting event in my life. Brazil and Paraguay are the two top teams in South America's qualifying tournament. These players are the best in the world. Most of them play for top teams in elite European leagues. Brazil's midfielder Kaká was voted the best soccer player in the world last year, and now is number three in the world.

We filed into the stadium two hours before game time, all wearing our newly purchased Brazil shirts. A slight rain wetted the fans before the game, but nothing dampened the Brazil soccer spirit. The game began around 10 pm, and Brazil controlled the ball most of the first half. But Paraguay got a free kick outside the penalty box that got deflected by a defender and went past the goalie. Being down 0-1, Brazil continued the attack, and got a beautiful goal by Robinho after the 40th minute of the first half to tie the score. Early in the second half Niemar scored the deciding goal on a slow dribbler past the goalie. Brazil had numerous other chances, but at the end of the game, the score remained 2-1 for Brazil. The win nearly guarantees them a spot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Brazil and Paraguay begin the game.

It was a fantastic vacation with my family, and I'm so glad I got to spend time with them. It was the most unique vacation ever. Yes, I realize that unique is unqualifiable, but this vacation was singularly unique. Spectacular.