back on track. the palacio duhau/park hyatt . . .

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when you're on the road,

home is your hotel.

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which is why waking up to this,

called a "submarino":

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in the gardens of this hotel,

with it's grand salons and stunning architecture:

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i am just SO relieved that i found the havaiana store in brazil 

before returning.

can you imagine being here if i couldn't wear the right shoes?

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(silver/pink/yellow for timmer.  cause he loves em.  and lets me travel like this.)

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and then, apres dinner, a model appeared -

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true story.

we just finished dessert,

and this insanely gorge brazilian girl walks up to our table 

and says

"you are landis?"

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she had been shooting lingerie 

in a castle outside rio,

had just flown in,

and ran to the restaurant 

so as to not miss us.

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i know you already know it,

i did too,

but it was one of those

"huh. creatures like this DO exist in real life"

combined with

"god, did i really eat that much meat??"

and

"she's a hardworking gal, that brazilian lingerie/hair model".

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ok, i guess this makes that day a leeeetle bit more glam.

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i guess this shows it's not ALL glamour :

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i've been country-hopping.

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went from argentina to brazil for casting call backs 

and to meet up with the agency and client.

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how to put this . . .

bru-tal.

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the hotel in sao paulo reminded me of a stephen king novel.

about a corporate hotel in shifty neighborhood,

with stained toilets,

strange overly sanitized scent,

two full beds in every room

(there is something INCREDIBLY disturbing about that set up.

who travels that way?

rob and laura petrie?)

no wifi

and a palette i can only describe as "golden girls" meets "full house".

talk about HORROR.

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this was flying into sao paulo.

the clouds were a sign.

did i mention the six hour delay before takeoff?

yeah.

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day two, 

casting, 

better,

mainly due to the team having fun together.

here is marge,

checking emails while ignoring the cheese sandwiches on the table behind us.

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we went to lunch, came back to callbacks,

and suddenly THIS had appeared on the stage:

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no one could explain why.

or what it meant.

or why.

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BUT,

we did get to go eat that night 

at Figuera,

a restaurant built around a three hundred year old fig tree

in the heart of the upscale neighborhood of sao paulo:

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we got drinks.

we got meat the size of our heads.

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here are marge and GL just about to start:

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yay, photogenic creative design-y type people to play with!

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the clients, kimberly and ana just seemed eager to eat.

i was with them:

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so i had this:

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and this:

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(note the size of the POTATO in foreground for reference.  THAT my friends is MEAT.)

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which fortified me for this:

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they are big on the dessert buffet down here.

no complaining,

just an observation.

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i am going to get SO FAT.

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so i guess the moral here is

not all is glamour,

it is sometimes strange smells,

ookie hotels,

bad neighborhoods,

draining flights at bad hours,

pressure,

stress,

keeping it together,

and solving things with tequila,

a big tree,

and meat that would make the flintstones envious.

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