there is that old hollywood film "road to rio" but i'm calling this entry road to sampa. and why is that so? well it's finally going to happen--i'm going to visit brasil this year! sao paulo to be exact or sampa as it is also known. i'm still working on the details of my trip but the big thing has been done. i got my plane tickets to south america and back home. i'm going down for the celebration of the 100 year anniversary of okinawa immigration to brasil. there is also going to be one for argentina but details are still sketchy. so far i have had much success in finding out places to stay/eat/see for argentina in english online but have very little success for the same in brasil. now brasil loves the internet and they have tons of sites and portals but i find it difficult to navigate by not knowing the language and even picking out what i can and using translators, the specific things i want to know do not seem to be there. so i keep hacking away at the keyboard and trying to plan this thing. i'm sure as the time draws nearer it will all work out. nankurunaisa!