Bus tour of Curitiba

Arnaldo looking at the map as we begin our journey around the city on a cool double-decker bus.

As you can see I was totally excited to have some fun, while Tiago's wife Adriana was just being a dork in the background.

The Opera de Arame, or Wire Opera where concerts and such happen.

Having fun during the ride. We had to stay seated to not get hit by the low phone/electric wires or get hit by trees.

One of the impromptu pictures Gabi surprised her parents with.

The young international cute couple.

These two pictures are of an amazing museum made of concrete designed by the same guy who designed the new Capital of Brazil called Brasilia (with an arial view, the streets are in the design of an airplane). The museum almost seems like something in a sci-fi movie.

The Mendes family.

A cool botanical garden.

Inside the building with a cool banana tree flower. I like how the colors of this picture turned out ... and the photographer ... my wife!!

Almost all of us in front of the garden, someone had to take an awesome picture. Believe it or not, there were quite a bit of people there!!

Our final picture with the Mendes family at their home before the good-byes.

The Temple of Curitiba

While we were in Curitiba we had to go and visit the new temple there.

An awesome view from the temple missionaries' apartment with the lights on!

Me in front of the temple before we went in to do some work and check out all the beauty inside. For anyone who saw the slide show of temple pictures before the dedication of the Gila Valley temple, it showed many shots of this temple ... so naturally I was thinking to myself, "I've been there."

This city is unique for the trees it has. There are lots of different types of pine trees and personally I like this one the most. It's kind of like an umbrella with a straight trunk and the branches stretch out sideways with poofs of pine needles on the ends.

There was also a nativity set there even though it was January, just so we could see it when we went.

This is just an idea to realize how big these trees get. And to really prove I was there, HA!

Of course I wasn't going alone ... I had to have my beautiful wife there with me. And if you are wondering, yes I picked a tie that would match with her dress.

Gabi put these two pictures of her with each parent. You can tell what she gets from each of them. She has a kind and gentle look with her mom, but with her dad is totally a fun person. The cool thing is though, that she managed to curve her foot almost the same in both pictures!

The guys. Tiago in the middle is from there and helped with the construction of the temple and still works there to maintain the temple, so we got a little tour as a bonus.

Our friends' wedding

The wedding was at the coolest Churrascaria (Brazilian Bar-b-que) in town.

Gabi's parents and my favorite in-laws before the festivities began. They were actually asked to be part of the presentation of the new couple.

Here I am with the coolest bishop during my mission and his wife. Bispo Leo was bishop when my wife and her parents were baptized, so another reason to like him even more since he took such good care of them when they were just starting out in the church.

Of course I left the best for last ... my beautiful wife (half Japanese) with her cool Asian dress.

The Christ Statue

A lot of the cities in Brazil have a big statue of Christ, and they are usually located on top of a huge hill overlooking the city's downtown. Some are located at the entrance to the city, but in comparison to this and the one in Rio de Janeiro, they are much smaller.

You can see this statue of Christ from down below in the city. It's really quite cool to think that the statue is there to watch over the city, but we all know He is always watching over us and we don't need a statue to remember this by.

The awesome view you can see from the statue.

Well would you look at that! He isn't just looking at the view, but he is searching for his wife. Let's see if he can spot her...

Blimey, there she is! Let's see if he was able to find her too!

Awww, look how cute. They found each other on top of the world!

But, look, he wasn't the only one looking for something...

You thought the "Thinker" statue was good, how about the thinker/searcher man on his quest for happiness.

After searching for so long, everyone has to get up and stretch sometime... but he can't give up in his quest to find "the one".

Well at least he could see the great statue from where he was... WAIT!! Who is that sitting down below!!??

That's who I thought it was! Let's see if he can make his move and get the girl. It looks like she brought her wing-girl, hopefully she will be on his side!

Would you just look at that!! The guy got the girl and don't they look so happy! Not only are they on top of the world, but their heads are in the clouds too!



P.S. I know I can be kind of a dork, but this just seemed appropriate with the pictures I had to work with, so I will only accept comments with praise for my witty comments and ideas. HAHA.

Serra Negra

Welcome to Serra Negra!!

Here's the map of the city with all the attractions. The green area in the middle is where the Christ statue is. Pictures for it are in another post.

This is our cute little house that we stayed in. Yeah it's pink, and the doors are green, but you have to admit that they are cute little apartments.

They even have a little cute pool and when we got there we were the only ones there! They even had an awesome breakfast every morning with fruit and stuff with the great view...

I definitely had to take advantage of the hammock, because they are so relaxing, especially when it's lightly raining.

My death pose for the picture.

The cute couple as they prepared for our adventure for the day.

The next two pictures are awesome. If you notice, we decided to make faces in separate pictures. Just prepare yourself, you're probably going to laugh.

Churrascaria Party

When I got back to Ribeirao Preto where Gabi's parents live, there was a young couple getting married and we went to their reception. It was at an awesome Churrascaria (Brazilian Bar-b-que) that they rented for their special occasion.

Here is cute little us while we were waiting for the party to begin.

Gabi's cute little parents getting ready for the action.

Here I am with "my bishop" and his wife. He was the bishop of the ward when Gabi and her parents were baptized and actually my favorite bishop. He is still young at heart and will always be a great friend.

B-R-A-S-I-L!!!!!!!!! (2009-2010)

My first stop in Brazil was to see Jorge and Edna (Gabi's been in Brazil since September).
They took us to the park downtown that has a little lake and is quite the hangout area. We took advantage of the beautiful scenery and took our picture together.

Gabi, Bryan, Edna, and Jorge

This is mans encounter with the wild. A closer picture of the capivara is next, don't worry it's cute.