On the plane ride over, the flight attendants handed us the customs forms and one extra piece of paper. In true American fashion, I took one glance and saw that it was about the Swine Flu and completely ignored it. I'm only concerned with what I have to do, not anything else. The eight hour nighttime ride was excrutiating. It would have been perfectly fine if we didn't have two sick children.... Natalie had a fever the day before and on the plane decided she wanted to throw-up about once every hour. For some odd reason, whomever was in charge of the lights kept them on for most of the flight, instead of for just a little while at the beginning and end. So, Natalie wasn't able to sleep, even though she tried very hard, she kept waking up. Eulalie on the other hand was okay until the middle of the night and then she started getting sick too. Oh yes, it was the most fun I've ever had in an eight-hour time span.
As we were landing, my husband asked if I filled out the Swine Flu paper, and I said, "Oh, do I have to?" It was just a paper asking for contact information and asking if you had any of the symptoms on the list.
He responded, "They will collect it, so yeah."
My Americanness showing through, "How will customs/immigration know if I filled it out or not?"
"They won't let you off the plane if you don't."
Oh yeah, I was going into a different country. Brazilians tend to just do what they are told. Me? Oh no, I want to know why I have to do something. I ended up filling out the stupid papers anyway, one for EACH of us.
When we got off the plane, we saw that several other planes had just landed also. We began walking towards customs/immigration when we were stopped in our tracks by a huge line of people. We couldn't even see where the line ended, nor could we see the customs/immigration signs. The wait in line would have been atleast 3-4 hours, but Brazilian rules came to our rescue. You see, in Brazil, the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and families with small children get preferential treatment. So, we got to skip to the front of the line!! It took us about 10 minutes just to walk to the front! Not a bad start to our arrival.... (Oh, and at the front of the line, they did collect the Swine Flu paper.)
After waiting about 5 minutes in the 3-4 hour line, it was our turn. Apparently, I am supposed to fill out paperwork when I leave the country. Ooops. I was there 2 weeks previous and no one had me fill out a form. I guess they want to make sure I'm not out of the country for more than a year, otherwise I lose my permanent resident status. But, the guy at the immigration counter let me slide, since I was just stamped into the country 3 weeks before that.
On to the baggage claim! Since Adamo is an elite frequent flyer, he was allowed to check 3 bags and we were allowed 2. Plus a carseat. Oh yeah, and since our carry-on bags were too heavy, we had to check those as well. Luckily, they didn't charge us extra. Since we skipped the long lines, we were the first at the baggage claim. We got all but one of our bags right away and after about 45 minutes, we realized it was not coming. There was no line at customs when we got there, but after waiting so long at the baggage claim, there was a loonnnnggg line going into customs. And, Adamo still had to make a lost baggage claim. Even though our luck failed us a little with the bag being lost, it was really a blessing in disguise. The worker at the baggage claim said that since they lost our bag, he would walk us through customs. So again, we were walked to the front of the line.
With all our 12 bags stacked high on two carts, we realized to late he walked us to the front of the X-ray line. Crap. Each family is only allowed to bring in $500 of new items. My laptop alone is worth more than that, even though it is not brand new. If they really wanted to, they could have charged us for all the stuff we were bringing. Even though we also filed a form at the consulate that is supposed to exempt us from the limit, as long as we are bringing household goods in. But, this is the Brazilian Beaurocracy we are talking about here. It is hit and miss. To our surprise, the baggage claim worker stood by us in the short line and waited for our bags to be x-rayed and helped us along. I think that is a signal for, "We screwed up, let them through without a problem." The guys that were x-rayed looked at the baggage claim guy and waved us along!!
From a friend picked us up, and as all cars are small in Brazil, we filled his car up with luggage and still had to use a taxi for the rest of the bags. I will update more about actually being here later. We do have a small, furnished apartment and are doing well so far!
The view of São Paulo from our rooftop:
