From Littleton to Brazil: Early Days.....

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Early Days.....

Hi everyone, We arrived safe and sound to Sao Paulo, Brazil on Wednesday evening around 7.00pm. While it was a long journey, time did not seem to drag too much. We left Dublin at 6am on an Aer Lingus flight to Amsterdam and from there connected with KLM for a direct flight to Sao Paulo which took 11.5 hours. We were well looked after on the flight which helped the time to pass and finally touched down at 4.50pm local time. Once the usual security formalities were cleared and luggage collected, we were met in the arrivals hall by Eddie and Dermot form the Kilteegan House in Sao Paulo. It was just a short journey back to their place but as it was "rush hour" (noted as one of the worst cities in the world for traffic chaos) we finally arrived to base camp!! A cool beer was most refreshing as the weary travellers relaxed in the evening dusk.

All of us bright and chearful at 5.00an in Dublin Airport awaiting our initial flight to Amsterdam.

Our first day here in Sao Paulo was a relaxing one catching up on lost sleep after the log journey. It was great to have a local base where we could get ourselves adjusted to the time change. Fr. Sean brought us on a walk through the local park "Horto" near the Kiltegan house. Although monkeys frequent the park, they must have known we were in town and decided to scatter!! They made their presence felt the next morning however. No alarm clocks were needed with the screeching of the monkeys!!

Although situated on the outskirts of the city, there was a great sense of peace and tranquility there. To our surprise, a cold weather front moved in the day before we arrived so temperatures were quite low for the time of year. In fact, it was little better than Ireland in the evening around C 12. It has improved dramatically since then with temperatures now C 30+ during the day. The hospitality of Eddie, Dermot ad Sean is greatly appreciated.

Fr. Joe, Liam, Fr. Sean Stella and Bart on a walk through the park.

We took a trip to Fr. Dermot's parish in the afternoon. He has eight small community churches and is currently in the process of expanding one of the buildings so as to have a church large enough to bring the eight smaller communities together. Many local parishioners were helping with the building on a voluntarily basis over the weekend when they had spare time. All around were the favelas (shanty towns) where the local families try to survive on very little.

The Local Favelas in Sao Paulo

With no land available to families and little resources, generation after generation build on top of each other in small favelas.

Bart gets wired into the work!!

Bart gives a thorough inspection of the wiring in Fr. Dermot's new Church. Not much of a fuse board to work on as yet but maybe before the end of our trip, there will be more to do.