It just snuck up on us!

Tomorrow at 2:30 pm. Pacific time we're leaving from LAX on a direct flight to Rio de Janeiro. My son, his long time girlfriend, mother of his child and said child - my little granddaughter Yara will be there to meet us. It will the first time Alex meets his daughter-in-law and his granddaughter. She's already 3 years old. He's been practicing the phrase "Give Grampa a kiss" in Portuguese. Its the sweetest thing I've ever heard. Before that the only sentence Alex could say in Portuguese was "Un guariná porfavor" - hence the title of our travel blog. (It means 'A guaraná soda please' - with an American accent.)
My heart shrank when I dropped off Cherokee and Gitana at the Drummond Ranch today. I spent the day with them, gave them dinner and quietly left. It's been the hardest part of this whole experience so far.. We've decided to postpone Cherokee's surgery until we come back from the trip. I couldn't bear leaving him convalescing without me.
I'm jumping through hoops trying to rent a 4X4 vehicle for our road trip. There is only one rental company that has them in Rio. They have 3 diesel pick-ups varieties that go for almost US$250 a day including taxes and insurance. Totally out of the question. I did some research online and got some numbers for 4x4 mechanic shops, they then indicated some people to me. I'm still working on it and by tomorrow morning I'll find out. Meanwhile I have one reservation for the diesel 4x4 pick-up and another reservation for an SUV/jeep type called Ecosport by Ford. This one is the latest flex cars produced in Brazil. That means it runs on gasoline and on the alternative fuel made of sugar cane - the ethanol alcohol. Its optional and depending on the price of gas you can save by using alcohol. The gallon of gasoline in Brazil is approximately US$3.48 and alcohol is US$2.33. Any given Gas Station will have gas, alcohol, diesel, bio-diesel and natural gas pumps for the variety of alternative fuels and cars that run on them
We arrive in Rio Friday morning and head to our beach front hotel the "Lancaster Othon". We'll begin our road trip on the 17. In between then, we'll spend time hunting Easter eggs, walking on the beach, visiting museums and getting tattooed. I failed to mention beforehand that my son is a tattoo artist! One of our goals on this trip is to get a matching family tattoo.
Of course we'll post the pictures!