Finally HOME!

It has been a LONG road! For Sidnei anyway, for me it was just so frustrating to be here trying to fix things there!

The run down of events:

Sidnei got to Sao Paulo last night at 9 PM. He had US Dollars, but they would not exchange them for him because he had no ID on him. Therefore he could not buy ANYTHING. So I scrambled around to see if I could get him a flight out that night to Belo Horizonte (BH), but they wouldn't let me buy the ticket over the phone because it was less than two hours before the flight left. They wouldn't let him buy it at the counter because they won't accept dollars and he needs to have a credit card physically present (i tried to give him the card numbers) and when I called the ticket counter they could not sell me a ticket over the phone! I was SO frustrated.

Sidnei did have a document stating that he had been deported. We asked the airport if he would be allowed to come back the next day to fly home and they said yes. So then started the search to get Sidnei into a hotel for the night so he could catch a flight at 1 PM the next day. Found the Marriott close to the airport, made Sidnei a reservation online. Well apparently they needed a credit card authorization. So they emailed it to me, and I tried to fax back, but the fax was down, etc etc. But we finally got him into a room at 1AM. Poor thing he was so overly tired and so emotional, it was breaking my heart! So, I then proceeded to buy him a ticket with GOL airlines, but the website kept going down. But I had it secured by 2 AM. Went to sleep, completely exhausted!

This morning Sidnei felt MUCH better. But I imagine a good nights sleep and a hot shower would do that for a lot of people! He was actually allowed to get on his flight (I personally was SHOCKED that this step had gone well, I thought for sure they would deny him re-entry into the airport! so YAY!). He got to Belo Horizonte about 2:30. Still was not allowed to exchange US Dollars for Reais...So he couldn't buy a bus ticket. Luckily I had bought him a phone card online that worked in Brazil(something right for a change!) and he was able to call his family, who gave him the number of his uncle who lives in BH, and the Uncle came and bought Sidnei his bus ticket home! I was so grateful when Sidnei called me and told me he had finally arrived!!


Here is the VERY first picture of our reunion! **Exclusive to the Blogging World!!**



It was wonderful to see his face and to see him HAPPY!

Thank you all for enduring the last couple of days with me. Greg from Gringo in Bahia put it best from his post today (not related to mine at all, but..).. "It's just that sometimes when you keep hitting brick walls you need to let off a little steam."

I am SO close!! What was a really rotten day has blossomed into a really wonderful night! Tonight I will sleep well!

Thank you all for your prayers and support! It means SO much to me!
53 DAYS!!