I was in a group designated as the first All In-country Peace Corps Training, which meant my group of Rural Electrification volunteers would leave the US with absolutely no, zero, nada em treinamento. 

We had a Staging in Philadelphia in late 1970 and all boarded a plane, many for the first time, to leave America for the shores of Brasil. It was a long, long flight on an airline called Pan Am, now history, and for sure no one slept...

We arrived at the airport in Campinas São Paulo, Viracorpos....it was a bright sun shinny day full of new smells, images and 30 young Americans who spoke not one word of Portuguese.

We all went by a number of taxis to a small pensão and sat down to a breakfast of the most exquisite bread and soup I had ever eaten...

To this day I can still feel the wonder and sense of adventure and the beginning of a life long love affair with Brasil...

I have had many fabulous days since then but this one was one of the best!

David Rodwell

"Oh I Have Slipped
The Surly Bonds of Earth...
Put Out My Hand
And Touched the Face of God"

John Gillespie Magee, Royal Canadian Air Force