Marajo to Home

Hello! First I must continue the rest of Friday's entry and then I must tell you about our weekend in Marajo. On Thursday we visited 2 of the cathedrals that are located in Belem. One of the cathedrals was built in the 17th century. It's alter, statues and walls were all carved out to wood. The ornate statues were representations of the Mary, Jesus, and the Saints. This place was awesome but cameras were not allowed so I don't have any pictures. I posted a picture of Basilica de Nazareth on Thursday which is cathedral built in the 19th century. After the cathedrals we visited the Forte de Belem which was built to protect Belem from the 17th to the 19th century. We learned about some of the history of Belem at the Museum including about local cannibals who would eat the flesh of their captured enemies. This was the original Brazilian Churrascurria. After our tours we headed back to host families so we could rest up for our weekend trip to the Isle of Marajo.

At 2:30 am sharp I awoke and dressed and headed for Jussie's house. Jussie is Rotarian in Belem who owns a home on the Isle of Marajo. I along with rest of the team met up with Jussie and his family and headed to the docks to take the ferry ride to the Island. Jussie brought his wife, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, and 4 grandchildren with us. It took about 4 hours on the ferry to reach the island. On the boat we were able to see the sun rise from the horizon on the equator. Jussie's house was about a 20 minute drive from the docks. The house caretakers had breakfast already made for us once we arrived. I was very hungry at this point at we had been up since 2:30 am. After breakfast, we traveled to couple remote beaches, visited a bison farm, drank out of coconuts and then went back to the house. Upon our return we had an extravagant lunch that included freshly fish caught directly out of the river. Jussie's house is located on the river; however you would never know that was a river because it is so wide you that you cannot see the other side. The water was super warm, calm, lined with sandy beaches, effected by ocean tides, and had many waves. It was like a fresh water bay. It was paradise. We went down to the beach behind the house and swam for a couple hours and then went out to dinner at about 8 pm.

We had to travel some ways to get to the restaurant which appeared out of nowhere down this long narrow dirt road. Included with dinner was show that featured traditional dances of the island natives. They show took place in middle of the outdoor dining room. There was a band of about 10 guys beating drums, playing some type of wind instruments along with about 6 guys and 6 girls were dancing wearing the traditional dress. Of course they were grabbing us to dance with them. All of us were pulled out to dance at least 3 or 4 times. We had a blast. The whole show lasted about hour and a half. After dinner we drove back to the house to sleep. Mary, Dean, and I managed to find some empty hammocks and slept outside under the porch that night. It was very peaceful listening to the sounds of the jungle along with the sounds of the waves crashing on the beach.

After my night under the stars, I awoke to breakfast being served on the outdoor patio. We all had breakfast and few of us went out to a couple local swimming holes. At the swimming hole we attempted to rock the some of the local boys off the log that bridged the stream. It was like trying to bounce someone off a round balance beam that was about 6 inches in diameter. I must have fell off the log and into the stream about 30 times before I gave up trying to beat some 9 year olds. After we all swallowed our pride and left the swimming hole we decided to go back to the River and swim for another couple hours. At about 2:30pm we headed back to the house prepared for our trip back to Belem. We left the house at about 4:30, took the ferry back upstream and arrived back in Belem at about 9:30 pm. During our ferry ride we got to see the sunset on the equator which was a great way to end our trip. Marajo was truly and amazing place that I would like to go back to. It was truly a great way to end our time in Brazil. However, I must note there are some things I won't mind seeing again. Here goes:

Top ten things I won't miss about Brazil
10. One word- "Arroz", that's Rice for you American's reading this
9. Using the waste basket in the bathroom
8. Having the vocabulary of a 1st grader
7. Not getting change back from a $5 bill even though your total at the supermarket is $4
6. Everyone thinks Queen and ABBA are your favorite bands
5. A "couple hours" really means ten.
4. Finding out that Chris Berman is not featured on ESPN
3. The internet…My dial-up AOL was not so bad after-all
2. Realizing a 7 year old can school me in a soccer match
1. Not peeing for 5 days because I have diarrhea.

As I am writing, we are on our way home. And sadly the trip is over. This was truly a life changing experience that I never thought I would ever have. I really did achieve my goals on this trip. Vocationally I was able to learn about how the health care system works here. I was able to meet and visit the people from all walks of life here. I met the fishermen to the businessmen. I walked through jungles, swam with dolphins, slept on docks, slept on hammocks, danced the samba, ate fish, drank out of coconuts, learned some Portuguese, and started an electrical fire. It was quite an awesome trip. I thank you for you interest and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for all the kind comments and emails you all sent. I'm looking forward to getting home and seeing you all. Thanks again! And for the last time "Tchau".