Are We Lost Again?

Every time we set out to try to go somewhere on our own it is an adventure! After all, Sao Paulo IS the third largest city in the world. We have learned how to get from here at Jeremy's parents' house to the grocery store. We are trying to learn the major roads. The problem is that if you make a wrong turn, it takes forever to get back to where you were to try again. I'm not sure that I have seen a square block yet, and there are many one-way streets and dead ends. And if you get off the highway, you usually can't get back on right there. We have tried printing off directions from Google maps, but they don't take into consideration all the one-way streets, so it becomes quite confusing. Also, just to make it more interesting, most of the streets don't have street signs up. That would be too easy!

We do have a map of Sao Paulo. It is a book about the size of a small dictionary and has over 1000 pages...no lie. We have learned to use it though, and it helps us to figure out where we are when we get turned around. The hard part is that I have to try to read it while Jeremy drives. I try to decipher the tiny print, in Portuguese, while swerving through traffic and in potholes and over speed bumps, which are everywhere! By the time we finally make it to wherever we are trying to go, I feel so stressed out that it's hard to enjoy whatever we are doing! We are learning however, and we managed to get to church today without getting lost! That's an accomplishment!