Day 1 - We All Made it to Brazil Safely

Day 1 - by Dave Weitl
August 4, 2009

We made it to Brazil on schedule and were met by Maria Fereira, sister of our good friend Dega de Gama. She had a bus waiting for us and we were driven to Porto de Galinhas, a posh beach resort town about 1 hour south of Recife. We strolled briefly through the quaint streets of this tourist town and quickly made our way to their amazing beach. Porto de Galinhas has been voted the 'Best Beach in Brazil' many times and we saw why.



After a quick drink of coconut water we found our way into the water which is absolutely the perfect temperature. We enjoyed a nice boat ride on the Jangada and swam with and fed the many colorful fish in the special pools they have here in the rock formations. The players purchased some items from the beach vendors, got some tatoos, and then we enjoyed an amazing lunch. Afterward we drove to Tamandare, another hour south to Maria's beach house.

Her beach house is awesome and we enjoyed a walk along the perfectly clean sand beneath coconut palm trees that seemed to lean out toward the azure ocean waters for a closer look.


We had a great dinner of lobster and delicious traditional dishes prepared by Jane and some of us soon went to sleep to the sound of the waves crashing into the beach while others stayed up late and talked and talked and talked.

We woke up to another day of perfectly clear and warm weather. After a breakfast of fresh fruit, traditional NE Brazilian 'Tapioca' and other yummy things, we enjoyed another great day on the beach, followed by a traditional Brazilian lunch. We boarded the bus and were driven the two hours to the airport to board the flight to Belo Horizonte.

We arrived on time in Belo Horizonte to be met by the many girls from Minas who greeted us with cheers and whistles as we walked out. Mario and Marcelo of Minas were there to officially welcome us to their great city. It was so nice. The families met the girls at the club and they were whisked off to their homes and to get some dinner before sleeping tonight. Tomorrow (Wed) we will have a team practice from 10am-noon and then lunch and maybe lounge around the pools before the girls go back to their host families.

Life is good... We will post the photos as time allows tomorrow and you will begin to read the blog postings by each of the players starting wtih Kameron Mclain, followed by Ashtyn Mann and then Michelle -- but no pressure or anything. We start competition with an opening ceremonies at 8:00am on Thursday and our first of two matches at 10:00am.