I MADE IT!!

Every Brazilian has a dream to go to Miami and Orlando.
Here in the States, if you are poor, the first thing you do to tell yourself and your family "I made it in life" is to buy a fancy car and then a house. That's the American dream.

Not in Brazil.

Over there you buy a car, and then you do the "Florida Tour", which consists of shopping in Miami, going to Disney World and then to the Universal Studios in Orlando.
That's the dream of approximately 90% of Brazilians. Because of that, (believe it or not) it is cheaper for us to go to Miami than to the Amazon. An airfare from Sao Paulo to Manaus (Amazon's state capital) will cost you around $1600, but to go to Miami, it would only cost $700. During the good ol' days (around 1997) when our economy was kicking and there was no war in the Middle East, you could buy a ticket for $250.

Everybody in Brazil knows "somebody" who is currently having their dream vacation in Florida. Some folks go there every year, no matter what. They come back to the same places and do the same tours, so they can keep their status of "cool", and trust me, it really works, because they ARE cool!

Knowing that (even though I'm part of the 10% that never cared about it), I was feeling very special to have the opportunity to go there 2 weeks ago and play with the band at Universal Studios in Orlando. Even though we didn't have too much time, I walked around, took pictures, and went on my first rollercoster ride in my life (I went secretly by myself, so nobody would make fun of me), and had so much fun!!

And then I finally got it, the Universal Studios are so cool, no wonder everyone wants to go there!

At the end of the day, as I was looking at the pictures, I called my dad in Brazil, and I said "Dad, I made it. I really made it in life. I am at the Universal Studios hanging with Zorro at the red carpet!"

kisses for all
Amanda