Christian Children's Fund Tour of Brazil, September 2005

The Fortaleza skyline, as viewed from the airport.

The Fortaleza hotel for the tour. It shows up on postcards.

This is the line for checkin. Hooray, Scott was near the front!

Once you get to your room, the hotel has a nice view of the beach.

Spettus, a South American "churruscaria". Or, in other words, Parade of Meat.

In a churruscaria, the meat walks right up to your table and onto your plate. Really!

Alexandra and Aljandra the CCF translators get ready for a hard day of duty. Aljandra had it particularly hard, because she had to work for Scott.

The CCF tourists and translators get ready to meet the sponsored children of Ceará. Lots of translators other than Alexandra and Aljandra showed up.

CCF brought Brazilian children from the countryside to meet their sponsors. At a resort near Fortaleza, the children of the state of Ceará greet the visitors.

Hearts and crafts. Scott meets his sponsored child Cristiane. And her mother. No, Scott doesn't sponsor an orphan, he sponsors a family.

Gifts were exchanged, including the Eiler flag, and some tokens of North America.

Scott and Cristiane kept Aljandra the translator busy.

Each sponsored child came with a contingent. This one included (from left to right) the CCF base coordinator (in CCF project uniform), Aljandra the translator (in CCF city uniform), and Cristiane's mother. Cristiane and Scott are here too, of course. Scott has his Eiler uniform on, complete with Eiler and Ceará flag emblems.

Cristiane wants lots of pictures. This is Scott saying Hi.

This is Scott and Cristiane on the beach.

This is Scott and Cristiane in the pool. Scott should have worn his hat.

This is Scott and Cristiane at the poolside. Cristiane has sunglasses and Scott doesn't.

This is Scott and Cristiane by the palm tree.

Scott's hat gives good protection from the sun... when he wears it.

But Cristiane liked Scott's hat too.

Everyone likes ice cream.

Of course, people other than Scott had sponsored kids there too. This is Monica with her child. Monica is 18 years old, which might make her the youngest CCF sponsor ever.

This is Stan with his child. Stan is 85 years old, and was a Marine pilot in World War 2.

While Scott and the other sponsors were busy, some of the other people had fun. How did that donkey get onto the beach?

CCF set up some embarassment races for the sponsors. Kent Snider (not Kent Olson the photographer) seems suitably embarassed.

But it takes a bit more than that to embarass Scott and Cristiane.

Just to make things fair, people whose sponsored kids were conveniently in the next town on the tour, got to race too. Dee's having her fair share of the fun.

The whole Ceará group.

Cristiane wanted a picture of Scott saying Bye.

Of course, everyone has to say goodbye, even Stan. And in the background, Scott's translator is about to tell him, he's expected to take the giant styrofoam heart home with him.

On CCF study tours, the tourists get to see some CCF project schools. This is Project Pecem.

The sight of the tourists getting off the luxury motorcoach, was quite a spectacle for the neighborhood kids.

Of course, the project is for kids, so grown-ups have a hard time stuffing themselves in.

Municipality map for Project Pecem. The project is near the coast.

"World of Heroes". Popular cartoon characters hang on the kindergarten walls, just like kindergartens anywhere.

Another hero hanging on the wall. And Aljandra the translator too.

CCF schools have visiting dentists.

Alexandra the other translator shows how children learn the food pyramid. She was amused to find we call it the U.S. Government Food Pyramid.

The students in Food Pyramid class.

School play, featuring the Sad Cloud that cried.

This CCF project has a dance club.

Actually, it has two dance clubs.

The audience got to participate in the dancing too. The dancers went a little slower for the visitors.

But reports indicate, by the time Scott joined the dance, it was right back up to speed.

A CCF project named after someone's Aunt Faust.

Brazilian children apply crayons to pictures of their country, just like kids everywhere do. But one little girl wasn't too happy about it at the time.

Look! Up in the sky! The world may never know what that thing up there was, but apparently it burns.

Yes, the sun is obviously behind the tourists, if only barely. But in this part of the world, the sun can appear in any part of the sky. And it pays to be ready.

The CCF project has a martial arts club. It's pleased to perform for visitors.

On the way from Fortaleza to Belo Horizonte. The sun sets on the airport of Brasilia.

CCF has a junior drum corps in Belo Horizonte. They gave the tour group a spectacular welcome at the airport.

As the drum corps plays, Scott contentedly stows some more of the free stuff that CCF gives its tourists. Yay, swag!

The CCF tour group got to see a Belo Horizonte slum project. A group of children was there in their school uniforms, to say Hi. And naturally, people had to take pictures.

The photographers themselves were quite a spectacle.

But pictures are cool. Kids love cameras.

Scott loves cameras just like kids do. And he was wearing his Eiler uniform, complete with Eiler and Minas Gerais flag emblems.

School room in the CCF project. Scenic view.

This project has a dentist too. It's Happy Tooth Time!

CCF lets its students onto the Internet... not around Fortaleza, but at least in Belo Horizonte. Hey, Kids, Eilertech! Em Portugues!

Scott helped some of the junior students out with the artwork... with Eiler-colored lima beans. Thumbs Up for Eiler!

One class was making puppets. They had a play later.

Flags are flown for important occasions. Scott can respect that.

In the project, kids learn to jump rope... without the ropes. Just to be fair, Sandra the tourist takes the same class.

They told us at the project, the group hug is a form of native dance.

And the tourists fell for that story. More than once.

The CCF project martial arts club. Every project has one.

This project's club wears the state colors of Minas Gerais. The red triangle on their shirts is part of the state emblem.

Of course, the club likes to perform for visitors.

And here we all are at the project.

Photo opportunity at the CCF project. Even the slums there are scenic.

CCF brought a film crew to interview the tourists. No interview for Scott, though. Oh, waah.

Downtown Belo Horizonte, as viewed from the "Alta Vista" observation tower on the edge of town. The entire urban area of Belo Horizonte would have required two more photos.

They're building new houses outside of town.

Smile, everyone, there's a camera crew!

And here we all are outside the tower.

Brazil has shopping malls. They're just like U.S. malls.

The atrium of the Ouro Minas Palas Hotel of Belo Horizonte. Fancy.

The restaurant for the Minas Gerais visitation had a trampoline. Fun for everyone. Especially for Sandra, who just can't stop having fun with the kids.

The restaurant had horses. Fun for the kids.

One grownup got to ride the horses. But Scott didn't. No fair!

Pam sits with her sponsored child. Awww!

Photo opportunity for the tour group. Even the people taking the photos were a crowd.

And here we are in the group photo. Complete with group uniforms!

The airport and terminal of Belo Horizonte. Leaving for Rio de Janeiro.

Rio de Janeiro is built around coastal mountains.

Rio is famous for a Giant Concrete Jesus statue. Planes into Rio's downtown airport get a nice view of it.

Giant Concrete Jesus under the zoom lens.

Leo enjoys the complimentary caporinha cocktail at the hotel in Rio. Nice beach view, eh?

As the tourists mill about before checkin... what's that little spike on the distant hilltop? Why, it's Giant Concrete Jesus!

Giant Concrete Jesus, as seen from Scott's hotel room.

The Copacabana beach, as seen from Scott's hotel room. One hell of a scenic room.

Part of the tour group at dinner. We had two other tables.

Martial arts, as performed at the Plataforma dance club in Rio.

Dancing, from that same dance club.

Brazilian regional dance, featuring a professional with bolo balls.

The dancers had some elaborate costumes.

A team of singers supported the dance troops.

The audience got invited on stage. Here we have the Chinese. United States residents went up later.

At the end, they had a Parade of Nations. It was kind of chaotic. But the Brazilian flag flew proudly throughout.

Of course, Scott had to represent the USA in the international conga line. Now that's the kind of patriotism Scott can support.

Ann, Scott, and Aubrey at the Giant Concrete Jesus statue.

The rain forest of Rio, viewed from jeeps. Rainy and authentic.

A slum area of Rio. Very scenic... from a distance.

Rio has streetcars. But they're ancient and not too reliable.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.

The ceiling of the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Shrine to Sebastian, the patron saint of Rio. People bury his holy relics in their yards when they want to sell houses, and then they offer them at the shrine afterward. (Much like people do for St. Joseph in the United States.)

Rio is named after the patron saint of archery, because its site was discovered on St. Sebastian's Day. The full name of the city is "Rio de Janeiro de San Sebastian".