It's true, we were there over Easter weekend, but the "Peeps" I reference in the title here are not of the pastel-colored marshmallow variety whose heads you bite off, and whose bodies you leave stuck in a row as an impromptu art installation at your office.

Not that I would ever do that.

The "Peeps" I reference here are the wonderful friends and family who did their absolute utmost to rescue our vacation, and to try to summon forth the sunny, relaxed disposition from the grumpy, uptight American.

Unfortunately, I did not get any decent family pictures this time, but here's a shot from Beto's last trip of him and his mom that I love...

And here's one of the entire fam from 2002:

Now, back to this trip. The picture below is of Beto, Junior (Helder's partner), Helder (one of Beto's best friends), and Helder's brother. The two shots below that are of Natal from Helder's balcony.

This is Uncle Neto, a family friend, Aunt Lamina, Beto, cousin Valma, and Valma's husband. (Neto LOVES Americans, and I love Neto.)

This is Beto, Joca's wife and Joca. Joca stayed with Beto for two months back in 2000. We tried to hook him up with our globe-trotter friend, Claire, but that went over like a lead balloon. Joca's now an oncologist and his wife is amazingly sweet and caring and a phenomenal cook. We'll call her the "anti-Catherine." She really does make me look bad, she's THAT good of a person.