Leg 002

"Sure, I can deliver that!"

Wanda looking fine

The wait was 72 hours, but let me tell you, it was worth it.  I spent a few warm soggy nights in São Luís as I waited for Wanda's makeover to be complete.  I am enjoying a cigar & a cold Brahma when the barkeep covers the phone to yell across the counter to me, "Hey Max, your girl is waiting on the ramp."  Chuckling now, "they told me to tell you she's wearing a brown bikini!"  Oooh boy!

I throw 10 Real on the counter, grab my shades & leather jacket and chirp "see ya, Manuel, I have a date!"

Riding in the taxicab, I muse to myself just how similar this ride is to the experience of a blind date.  What will she look like?  Is she fast?  Is she clean?  Was I catfished?

We round the corner and there she is - pure elegance and class parked right where I left her three days ago.  She's bathed in warm, dessert tones.  Her dark chocolate cowls are so nicely accented by her butterscotch stripes and milk chocolate cowl flaps.  Her new registration number is bold, but somehow fits perfectly on top of those polished new rivets.  Her right rear passenger window now serves as the crown of the Brass Globe World Tour scoreboard...something I am eager to fill as soon as possible.

El Bruto turned out to be a gentleman & a scholar

Over the past several days I have been asking around the ramp if there are any opportunities to earn some cash.  I quickly learned to specify "no drogas" when making my inquiry.  A weathered old Brazilian man approaches me and begins talking in a slow Portuguese drawl.  I quickly communicate with my hands that I "no hablo" (close enough, right?), which makes him sigh and point laboriously across the airport to the cargo ramp. 

And what do I see?  A large Fila Brasileiro looking back at me with a look on his face that says "hey Bud - want to test fortune and see if you can still fly while I bite your leg from the co-pilot seat?"

Apparently "El Bruto" is headed for Alcantara.  Why?  I'm not sure, but the old man seemed to have an explanation.  Not understanding a word of it, I decided to accept the job & welcomed the big guy to join me in Wanda's fresh new cockpit.  Ah, I love the smell of functional avionics!

As I make preparations for the short flight across the bay to Alcantara, the old man hands me a note that says 'dos personas VIPs Militarios a la Coronel Alexandre Raposo con mucho dinero to Alcantara.'  What's this I hear?  Mucho dinero?  Mucho interesado, amigo!  So I type 'SNOZ' into the fresh GPS and El Bruto and I are off for our 8 mile 'let's be friends, big boy' flight.


Passing Praia Do Olho D'água, leaving São Luís behind

El Bruto is a champion during our short 14 minutes from start-up to shut-down.  He never woofed or did anything other than enjoy the lovely Brazilian sun.  What am I worried about?

Arriving at Coronel Alexandre Raposo airfield, I'm not quite sure where to find the VIPs, so I decide to wedge Wanda next to a Baron, Cessna 152 & A36 as a way to make them all look bad while I was in town.  Within a few moments, two Army Generals approach me, asking if my nombre is Max.  "Si, amigos, yo soy un piloto" and "bienvenido!"  The Gray General tells me to cut the crap.  What a charmer.  The Soy General hands me a packet of US greenbacks ($1,100), so I am happy to commence the requested crap cutting.  I smile, nod my head toward Wanda and within a few moments, I hear two seatbelt clicks in the backseat.  El Bruto will again fly as my copilot, but I suspect he is better company.

"Where to, fellas?"

"We need to be in Pinheiroa by dinner.  Can you handle that?" asks Gray.

"If you don't mind, we'll drop this beast off at Alcantara then we'll go straight to Pinheiroa." 

White says, "sounds like a plan.  Let's roll."

It isn't every day that one is approached by a random limo at a random airport with a random dog.  #itsmylife

As I approach Alcantara, my mind is wondering what to do with Big Bruto.  I presume I can just open the door and he will run right out to where he needs to be, but that doesn't do much for my wallet.  I can't imagine that on my second full day of flying I'd be donating rides to 33kg smell factories.

I make a smooth landing on 27 (enjoy, Generals) and as I'm letting Wanda rollout to the terminal all the way at the end of the runway, I see a limousine pull up an adjoining lane and flash his lights.  'That must be for us' I think.

I pull up to the hold short bars, kill the engines, wish my beef-breath friend 'adios' and pop the copilot door.  The dog scampers down the wing (don't scratch the paint) & over to the limo.  The rear window retracts and a dark-skinned mamacita flips me a wad of Reales for my trouble.  "Sir" she asks, "would you mind doing me a favor?"  Oh, I tingle with joy...and grimace over my shoulder, remembering the Generals.  "Would you please pickup a small package for me in Pinheiroa?"

Small package...ha!  "Sure, madam.  In fact, I'm headed there now.  What is it?"

"Don't ask questions to which you don't need answers" she cooly replies.  Seeing an opportunity, I respond, "sure, I understand.  Ignorance does come at a price."  "Of course it does" she chuckles.  "You would know best."  OK, lovely lady, you win.

"Look for a silver BMW with a man in a red shirt.  He'll take care of you" she instructs.  Needing no more information, I hop back into Wanda's lush cockpit, wink at the Generals, and fire up the engines.  Let's see what happens.

The colors would make Bob Ross cry

We're now cruising along here at 2,500 feet above the magnificent color palate of the state of Bequimão.  The Generals are chatting in the back and I am listening to "Landed" by Ben Folds Five, amazed that I am flying such a beautiful aircraft over such a wonderful landscape.  Is there a better time to be alive than this moment?

"...If you wrote me off, I'd understand it
'Cause I've been on some other planet
So come pick me up, I've landed..."

-Ben Folds Five

On the downwind for RW9, gear down

It's only 27 minutes of blissful flying over this sunny canvas painted by a master before I need to prepare to enter the traffic pattern.  OK, here come the props, the mixture, the carb heat and the lights.  Wanda is flying as beautifully as she looks.  I have never found such a magnificent aircraft as this.  She's fast.  She's light on the controls.  And she loves having her trim constantly tickled.

I fly a picture perfect left hand pattern and land on runway 9.  The airport is brilliantly sunlight while the surrounding landscape hides behind cloud cover.  I taxi to the ramp next to the small FBO.  I give Generals Gray and White my best 'hope to never see you again' smile and then begin to look for the silver BMW.  I don't see the mystery man in the red shirt with the mystery package yet, so I head into the Shpadoinkle FBO (on FSEconomy), purchase 54 gallons of their discount fuel and wait for Mr. Beamer.  

The mystery bag

After the tanks are 3/4 full, 'Mystery Marcus' appears and hands over a gorgeous green travel bag. "This is for Ms. Encanto" he says. (Encanto? I think...as in the movie? anyway...) Without any further explanation, he passes me the bag and another wad of Reales, and then asks, "will you take this back to Alacantara?"

"Sure, I'll deliver that" was my oh-so-clever response.

"Bien" he says and then jumps back into his SUV.  Within seconds, he is off the ramp and headed back to what I would guess is his shady routine.  As for me, I've got another wonderful 30 minutes of flying eastward back to Alacantara and that smoky woman who belongs to this bag.  I think of her as I watch the colors pass by, "Smoke" by Ben Folds Five playing wonderfully in my Bose headphones.

Why hello again, mamacita!

Feeling tired after running all these errands, I still manage to make a lovely straight in approach to runway 9.  I touch down a bit hard, but lucky for me, my only passenger is the type of 'old bag' that doesn't have a loud mouth.

I taxi over to the FBO and am greeted by 'Miss Smoky' from the back of her limo.

"Wow, that was fast" she compliments.

"You should see what I can do after a hot shower and dinner" I say, hoping my charm is intact after 4 flying legs.

"Get in" she says.  And that, my friends, is where you'll have to wait: on the ramp with Wanda while I go to explore the hidden delights of Alacantara with the appropriately-named, Ms. Encanto.

She's lyrical in her own way

"Here's an evening dark with shame
Throw it on the fire
Here's the time I took the blame
Throw it on the fire
Here's the time we didn't speak
It seemed for years and years
Here's a secret
No one will ever know the
Reasons for the tears
They are smoke"

-Ben Folds Five