The 9 hour flight wasn't too bad, as far as international flights go. It's interesting flying south and staying within one time zone for the whole trip. You don't have to deal with the short night or long day like you do when you fly parallel to the equator. I actually got a pretty decent 5 hours of sleep on the plane.

After arriving at the airport, our group began the long process of heading through custums. Waiting in all of those lines is a pain if you're by yourself, but multiply that by about 10 for a group of 20. It's like herding cats. At least the iPhone was cranking out some good tunes.

It was raining quite a bit as we hopped on the tour bus. The temperature was pretty nice - in the 60s I would say, but the entire place has a tropical feel. The airport reminded me a bit of the airports in Kona or Maui, Hawaii. Anyway, it cleared up as we started the two and a half hour drive up to Piracicaba (peer-a-see-cah-ba). Everybody's pretty tired, and it sounds like my 5 hours was about twice what the rest of the crew got.

I've posted a few pictures and a goofy little video up on my Flickr site. Click on one of the pics below to head over to take a look.

Yes, the flight was long as all get-out. But it was a great trip, and there's some good pictures to show for it. Here's the photoset out on Flickr: