Note- I started writing this post on Monday, April 28th - Enjoy!
Hi, its Monday April 28th and we are in Obidos. We have been here since about 5 am on Saturday morning. Since I last wrote we took an overnight boat on the Amazon from Santarem to the small town of Obidos. We took a typical passenger boat that left at about 7 pm in the evening. Most of the people were traveling all the way to Manaus which is a 3 1/2 day trip. There are no seats on the boat as people will hang there hammocks from the ceiling so it is very crowded throughout the boat. We were booked in small cabins that were big enough for 2 people with bunk beds for us to sleep on. So our team split up into the 2 rooms. Upon arrival in Obidos, Paulo, a local Rotary member greeted us at the dock and he brought us to his house where we slept for another 4 hours. The next morning we woke up and had breakfast and Paulo took us on a tour of the town. This is a very small quaint town, which is much different than Manaus and Santarem. The town is built on a hill over looking the narrowest point of the Amazon. The views are amazing from the old military fort built at the top.
After our city tour we drove about 15 miles down this long dirt road to a tributary of the Amazon. To our surprise, there was a restaurant and bar built at the stream crossing. This place had walkways and decking that criss-crossed the stream. There were tables and chairs setup all throughout. We ended up having lunch and spending the afternoon here. We went swimming and played some UNO to pass the time. That evening we returned to town and had dinner and called it night as we were all tired from the long day.
Yesterday (Sunday), we took a ride out to Paulo's Uncles farm. His uncle gave us a tour in which there were cattle, chicken, and ducks. On the property was a long elevated wood walkway that took us to another tributary of the Amazon. We were lucky no one fell in the swamp as the boards were rotted and many were falling in the water below. After the farm we went back to yesterday's oasis and spent more time eating, drinking, swimming, and of course more UNO.
At about 7 pm yesterday we returned to the city and went down to the docks to wait for our boat back to Santarem that was supposed to arrive and then depart around 8 pm. We sat at the docks and had a couple sandwiches thinking this boat would show up. Well at about midnight Paulo and his wife were getting very tired and wanted to go home to sleet so we stayed at the docks. Well midnight turned into 1am, 2 am, 3 am….. 6am. Our boat never came. The hard benches were had no comfort at all. We did see lots of wildlife such as rats, bats, cockroaches, and lizard that ran into my foot. This could be one of the worst nights ever. Here in Brazil people don't know exactly when boats will arrive at the port and waiting at the docks for 6 hours is not out of the ordinary here. But this boat was 12 hours late which is so ridiculous. So at 6 am we went back to Paulo's for some rest and he woke us up at noon for lunch. Its after lunch now and we are waiting for the boat here at Paulo's house. It looks like we will be taking a boat that originates out of here so we won't have to sit and wait for a boat to come because it is already here. So this is where we are now (posted April 28 at 4pm) …… to be continued
…….. Now it is April 29th at 10 am on Tuesday morning and I am happy to say that we are back in Santaram. Last evening at 5 pm we got an alert that our original boat the "Cezar" was headed to the port in Obidos. Apparently, it was broken down for several hours up stream. At this point it seemed to whole town was aware of our plight so the news of our boat spread quickly to get the message to Paulo that our boat was arriving. So after spending the afternoon relaxing we hastily repacked our gear and headed off to the docks. To our amazement the boat had arrived it was only 21 hours late. We boarded the boat and got back here at midnight. We have lots of free time the next couple days heading into the Rotary district conference so I will be sure to take advantage of it.
That's it for now. Have a great day!
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
City and the Jungle
This heat does not let up and the forecast stays the same every day. Rain in the morning till 10 am, Sunny skies during the day with a high around 93 with 98% humidity. The sun goes down and the temperature drops to 83 and then it starts to rain all over again after midnight. We have been lucky so far that none of excursions have been cancelled due to weather. That was the case yesterday when we were given a tour of Santarem. We will be here until May 6th so our hosts thought we should get to know the city. We took a city bus to the downtown district. The city buses are interesting because there is a cashier with a cash drawer who collects fares on the rear of the bus. It is a great concept because you do not need to worry about having exact fares. Also, it is another way the City of Santarem can employ more people.
Our first stop was the Santarem Cathedral which is the largest Catholic Church in the city. In addition to showing us the art and historical items in the church, our guide led us to the mausoleums of 2 past bishops of Santarem that were located inside the church. After the church we did some shopping and walked the River walk. At the river walk there were many people fishing for food and we saw someone catch a Piranha. You should see the teeth on these guys. They can snap your finger off in an instant. From there we walked back to the compound and had dinner and made a visit to the IESPES University across the street.
This morning we got picked up by a man named Steven Alexander who owns his own Bosque (i.e. a 120 acre tree and wildlife preserve). He is a Dual citizen in the US. He lived in the US for about 34 years before moving to Brazil over 20 years ago. It took us about 40 minutes to get there through some roads that were barely wide enough for an ATV. Considering the mudbogs from the rain we somehow made it to our destination. At the Bosque, Steven gave us details about the trees, plants, animals and the rainforest ecosystem. It was amazing how much knowledge he had about everything. He led us through the intricate trails that cross the property. We even heard the hallowing monkey family's make load incredible calls that would last up to 8 minutes. These monkeys's calls sounded like a jet engine was cranking. As it is the rainy season, many of the swamps were filled. These swamps looked exactly like the swamps from the Empire Strikes Back. So after my Jedi training with Yoda, we headed back to our host's house and returned back to the compound. That's today's update. Hope all is well back home.
Our first stop was the Santarem Cathedral which is the largest Catholic Church in the city. In addition to showing us the art and historical items in the church, our guide led us to the mausoleums of 2 past bishops of Santarem that were located inside the church. After the church we did some shopping and walked the River walk. At the river walk there were many people fishing for food and we saw someone catch a Piranha. You should see the teeth on these guys. They can snap your finger off in an instant. From there we walked back to the compound and had dinner and made a visit to the IESPES University across the street.
This morning we got picked up by a man named Steven Alexander who owns his own Bosque (i.e. a 120 acre tree and wildlife preserve). He is a Dual citizen in the US. He lived in the US for about 34 years before moving to Brazil over 20 years ago. It took us about 40 minutes to get there through some roads that were barely wide enough for an ATV. Considering the mudbogs from the rain we somehow made it to our destination. At the Bosque, Steven gave us details about the trees, plants, animals and the rainforest ecosystem. It was amazing how much knowledge he had about everything. He led us through the intricate trails that cross the property. We even heard the hallowing monkey family's make load incredible calls that would last up to 8 minutes. These monkeys's calls sounded like a jet engine was cranking. As it is the rainy season, many of the swamps were filled. These swamps looked exactly like the swamps from the Empire Strikes Back. So after my Jedi training with Yoda, we headed back to our host's house and returned back to the compound. That's today's update. Hope all is well back home.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Under the Canopy
Hello everyone! Today we woke up early and took a bus to the National Forest. The bus we took was not exactly Greyhound service and was built probably in the 1970's. The trip to the forest took about 2 hours over mostly 1 lane unpaved road. The drive to the forest was interesting in itself considering the bus could barely make it through the many mud bogs due to the rain in the morning and up the steep hills. We were moving at 5 mph up these muddy hills as the engine was screaming. On the way we saw where many of the river people lived. The river people are Indians who are indigenous to
Anyways, once we arrived at the "entrance" of the national forest (keep in mind our entire trip to the forest was a forest), we met our guides to take us on our hike. Our guides (who were river people as well) took us through the trails under the canopy of the forest. They pointed out many of the plant, insect and bird species. Our hike lasted about 4 1/2 hours. This tour was not a hotel sponsored tour by any means. We had to climb over these 200 year old large fallen trees. The jungle was so dense that the guide was using his knife to clear the path for us at some points. We traveled up and down some steep hills that caused me to fall a couple times. It was quite an adventure. I will try to attach some pictures once I get internet access to my laptop. Have a good night!
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Week 1 in the Amazon!!!!
Here are my entries from the past week. 4/14 – 4/20/08. Sorry to post all at once but we have had very little access to the internet. There are no hot spots like we have in the US and the internet is very slow on top of that! Enjoy!
4/14/08
Ola! I am here in Manaus. After a full day of travel we arrived here in the wee hours of 12:45 am. Yesterday's travel went smoothly for the most part. We flew via TAM (the Brazilian National Airline) from Miami to Manaus. I must note the disposable cloths on the plane used to cover the head support part of the seats were sponsored by PwC Brazil. What a surprise to see something like this on a Brazilian airline. The flight to Brazil was our first real taste of what our trip was going to be like as the airline staff and most of the passengers spoke Portuguese. In fact, the gentleman who sat next to me was a Rotarian with whom Mike and I enjoyed a few drinks and gave us some free Portuguese lessons.
After landing and going through customs we had finally arrived. However, we were the only things to arrive. Apparently our luggage had not taken this journey across the equator with us. At this point the only possessions I have are my passport laptop, camera, malaria pills, clothes on my back, and a Karate Kid DVD.
My host family provided me some clothes and essentials. I am staying with the Carbral Family. Luckily Fabio Carbral is my Brazilian clone so I am able to borrow a shirt and pants from him. Fabio and his wife Vera have 1 boy and 2 girls. They are taking great care of me and are helping me with my Portuguese. Learning Portuguese is very important since very few people here do not speak English. This morning Vera cooked me a wonderful breakfast with traditional Brazilian fare including a banana frita sandwich, Brazilian coffee, Amazonian fruits and few other things.
A couple hours after breakfast we attended the local Rotary club meeting where our team was introduced. The lunch was awesome. I ate lamb in rice; beef tenderloins wrapped in bacon, chicken in curry sauce, and mashed potatoes. I was so stuffed after both meals I had no room for dessert. We then left the meeting to tour Unimed, a large private hospital in Manaus. Our gracious tour guide was Dra. Jucelia Viana Chiche. She led us through the emergency room, pediatric observation rooms, triage, OB, and the pediatric ICU. The hospital was very crowded with sick children crammed into every corner of the hospital floor. Dra Chiche indicated that this was the time of year that the hospital is most crowded. In order to alleviate this crowding the hospital is in the process of building a new hospital wing which we had the privilege to tour. The new facility is expected to be open in four months.
4/15/08
Last night we ate at a large outdoor café that was overlooking the city. We ate with some of the local members of the Rotary clubs. This restaurant was known for their preparation of fish. I ended up eating some and I really did like it. Many of you know that I don't eat fish, but it is not quite as exciting as this morning.
Today started-off with a bang….. I will explain. In order to heat shower water, Brazilians use some type of electric shower head. It has exposed electrical wires that run from the wall to the shower heads. This morning while I was doing my final rinse, I heard this loud pop, bang, above me. I look up and see a shower of sparks falling down on me. So I held my head down for cover and dove out of this shower of water and sparks thinking that I was about to be fried. Then smoke began to billow out of the shower head filling up the entire bathroom. It looked like I started an electrical fire and the house was about to burn. Thinking that this might be a problem, I ran out to find some help. I found Vera, the 2 girls, with their housekeeper standing in the kitchen. While standing in the kitchen with just a towel on, I tried to tell the people (who don’t speak English) that their house is on fire. Vera then ran with me to the bathroom and shut off the circuit breaker. The smoke stopped and was told that everything was fine.
So after the small fire, I was picked up in a van and we visited a small ecological preserve. This was a great stop as we were able to spot some un-caged spider monkeys, Amazon manatees, alligators, electric eels, giant otters, and many turtles. I must note that I escaped death for the second time today as I had to dodge a small wooden sign that broke away from the ceiling of a security shelter. It was flying at us during an afternoon storm landing between all of us.
After the preserve, we visited the Federal University observed the programs operated for children with disabilities. Then we went to Amazonas University Specialty Hospital for Cardiology. We toured all the units in the hospital including X-ray, MRI, Tomography, Gamma Ray Suite, and Nuclear Medicine. At the end of the tour, we were transported back to our host family. In case you are wondering, my luggage had arrived and it was waiting for me in my room. I got to wear my clothes for our presentation and dinner with the local rotary club this evening. That's it for now.
4/17/08
Hello! It is Thursday and I am on day 5 our expedition through Brazil. Yesterday, I was unable to update this journal because the day was booked solid and I had no time write. I want to let you all know that I am fine and that we are quite an amazing experience here. Yesterday, we focused on some of the culture in the Amazon region. In the morning we were given a tour of the Teatro de Amazona. This is the large opera house in Manaus that was built in the late 1800's with ornate pillars and architecture. At one point during our tour we had to place slippers over our shoes in order to not scratch the wood floors in the reception hall. Then we finally got a chance to exchange our US dollars into the Brazilian Real at the shopping mall. During the evening the Rotary Club took us to the Tropical Hotel for drinks and appetizers. We ended up leaving a little bit early because our driver, Francesco was getting tired and we had to be ready to go by 4am this morning. He has been our driver all week, picking us up at each of the host family houses which are located in various parts of the city.
The next day was to be our day to swim with the dolphins.
So as I previously mentioned, we were all picked up very early in the morning and we went to the Ferry crossing of the Rio Negra. We used the ferry to cross river and then traveled down a 2 lane road westbound for 3 hours until we arrived at our destination. Sorry but I don't remember the name of the village. Once we entered the village we were led to the docks where there dolphins swimming at the edge seeking food and people swimming and playing with them. To my surprise these were the dolphins we were going to feed and swim with. So we all eventually jumped in and starting feeding them fish from a shack that was on the dock. It was amazing because the dolphins were wild and not bound by any barriers so they were free to come and go as they wanted. So after the dolphin experience we visited Mira's (one of our hosts) parents house and drank some Cuppa da Socco (not sure of spelling). This is a drink made from the pulp of the fruit that was growing on the property. This must be popular drink here in Brazil as we have been drinking this everywhere. Its 8:30 PM and the van is here to pick us up for dinner.
April 20th, 2008
It is Sunday evening and I finally have this chance to write. Just to keep you up to date with our progress, on Friday we took an all day cruise down the Amazon River. This was quite an awesome trip as we were able to see the "Meeting of the Waters". The "Meeting of the Waters" is where the dirty brown water from the Amazon River meets the Rio Negra's black colored water. The water does not appear to actually mix for many miles. It looks like 2 distinct rivers that are running side by side because the color of the water from each river is totally different. After seeing the merging of the waters we had lunch at a deep lagoon reastaurant where we took a guided canoe tour deep into the jungle. We were floating under the tall tree canopies in the river in the flooded areas. There were these tree trunks that were the size of Escalades. It is the rainy season so the river naturally floods across the forest so there are trees and shrubs that rise out of the river out bed on the flooded banks. During the evening we went to a birthday party at one of our host Rotarian's homes for food and so drinks. After the party my host family took our team out to one of the Night Clubs where we saw a Brazillian Cover band. Most of the songs were in Portuguese however there was some "Dancing Queen" and "YMCA" mixed in. Mike and I got on stage and showed the Brazilians how to properly do the YMCA. You have to see the pictures….
Yesterday was our last day in Manuas so we traveled from Manaus to Santarem and arrived here yesterday afternoon. We will be here until May 5th. We are staying across the street from the University in some dorms in the middle of the City. Our hosts are Ron and his wife Vera. Both of them work for the University. Vera is the district governor of the Amazona Rotary district which spans over 2000 miles. During the day today we went to a village called Alter do Chao which is approximately 30 minutes away. This village is along the water and usually you can go on the beach but as I previously mentioned it is the rainy season and the beach is flooded. So we ended up walking through town along the water's edge and stopped for a few drinks along the way. We had an outdoor lunch at a one of the local hotels. From the hotel we took a small boat tour and our driver stopped at an island in the middle of river. On this island were a couple makeshift bars and tables. This appeared to be the most popular place in town and I can see why. We hung out, drank a few beers, and played some dominos before coming back to the village and drove back to the city. Its 7:15 so I need to shower before dinner. Good night!
4/14/08
Ola! I am here in Manaus. After a full day of travel we arrived here in the wee hours of 12:45 am. Yesterday's travel went smoothly for the most part. We flew via TAM (the Brazilian National Airline) from Miami to Manaus. I must note the disposable cloths on the plane used to cover the head support part of the seats were sponsored by PwC Brazil. What a surprise to see something like this on a Brazilian airline. The flight to Brazil was our first real taste of what our trip was going to be like as the airline staff and most of the passengers spoke Portuguese. In fact, the gentleman who sat next to me was a Rotarian with whom Mike and I enjoyed a few drinks and gave us some free Portuguese lessons.
After landing and going through customs we had finally arrived. However, we were the only things to arrive. Apparently our luggage had not taken this journey across the equator with us. At this point the only possessions I have are my passport laptop, camera, malaria pills, clothes on my back, and a Karate Kid DVD.
My host family provided me some clothes and essentials. I am staying with the Carbral Family. Luckily Fabio Carbral is my Brazilian clone so I am able to borrow a shirt and pants from him. Fabio and his wife Vera have 1 boy and 2 girls. They are taking great care of me and are helping me with my Portuguese. Learning Portuguese is very important since very few people here do not speak English. This morning Vera cooked me a wonderful breakfast with traditional Brazilian fare including a banana frita sandwich, Brazilian coffee, Amazonian fruits and few other things.
A couple hours after breakfast we attended the local Rotary club meeting where our team was introduced. The lunch was awesome. I ate lamb in rice; beef tenderloins wrapped in bacon, chicken in curry sauce, and mashed potatoes. I was so stuffed after both meals I had no room for dessert. We then left the meeting to tour Unimed, a large private hospital in Manaus. Our gracious tour guide was Dra. Jucelia Viana Chiche. She led us through the emergency room, pediatric observation rooms, triage, OB, and the pediatric ICU. The hospital was very crowded with sick children crammed into every corner of the hospital floor. Dra Chiche indicated that this was the time of year that the hospital is most crowded. In order to alleviate this crowding the hospital is in the process of building a new hospital wing which we had the privilege to tour. The new facility is expected to be open in four months.
4/15/08
Last night we ate at a large outdoor café that was overlooking the city. We ate with some of the local members of the Rotary clubs. This restaurant was known for their preparation of fish. I ended up eating some and I really did like it. Many of you know that I don't eat fish, but it is not quite as exciting as this morning.
Today started-off with a bang….. I will explain. In order to heat shower water, Brazilians use some type of electric shower head. It has exposed electrical wires that run from the wall to the shower heads. This morning while I was doing my final rinse, I heard this loud pop, bang, above me. I look up and see a shower of sparks falling down on me. So I held my head down for cover and dove out of this shower of water and sparks thinking that I was about to be fried. Then smoke began to billow out of the shower head filling up the entire bathroom. It looked like I started an electrical fire and the house was about to burn. Thinking that this might be a problem, I ran out to find some help. I found Vera, the 2 girls, with their housekeeper standing in the kitchen. While standing in the kitchen with just a towel on, I tried to tell the people (who don’t speak English) that their house is on fire. Vera then ran with me to the bathroom and shut off the circuit breaker. The smoke stopped and was told that everything was fine.
So after the small fire, I was picked up in a van and we visited a small ecological preserve. This was a great stop as we were able to spot some un-caged spider monkeys, Amazon manatees, alligators, electric eels, giant otters, and many turtles. I must note that I escaped death for the second time today as I had to dodge a small wooden sign that broke away from the ceiling of a security shelter. It was flying at us during an afternoon storm landing between all of us.
After the preserve, we visited the Federal University observed the programs operated for children with disabilities. Then we went to Amazonas University Specialty Hospital for Cardiology. We toured all the units in the hospital including X-ray, MRI, Tomography, Gamma Ray Suite, and Nuclear Medicine. At the end of the tour, we were transported back to our host family. In case you are wondering, my luggage had arrived and it was waiting for me in my room. I got to wear my clothes for our presentation and dinner with the local rotary club this evening. That's it for now.
4/17/08
Hello! It is Thursday and I am on day 5 our expedition through Brazil. Yesterday, I was unable to update this journal because the day was booked solid and I had no time write. I want to let you all know that I am fine and that we are quite an amazing experience here. Yesterday, we focused on some of the culture in the Amazon region. In the morning we were given a tour of the Teatro de Amazona. This is the large opera house in Manaus that was built in the late 1800's with ornate pillars and architecture. At one point during our tour we had to place slippers over our shoes in order to not scratch the wood floors in the reception hall. Then we finally got a chance to exchange our US dollars into the Brazilian Real at the shopping mall. During the evening the Rotary Club took us to the Tropical Hotel for drinks and appetizers. We ended up leaving a little bit early because our driver, Francesco was getting tired and we had to be ready to go by 4am this morning. He has been our driver all week, picking us up at each of the host family houses which are located in various parts of the city.
The next day was to be our day to swim with the dolphins.
So as I previously mentioned, we were all picked up very early in the morning and we went to the Ferry crossing of the Rio Negra. We used the ferry to cross river and then traveled down a 2 lane road westbound for 3 hours until we arrived at our destination. Sorry but I don't remember the name of the village. Once we entered the village we were led to the docks where there dolphins swimming at the edge seeking food and people swimming and playing with them. To my surprise these were the dolphins we were going to feed and swim with. So we all eventually jumped in and starting feeding them fish from a shack that was on the dock. It was amazing because the dolphins were wild and not bound by any barriers so they were free to come and go as they wanted. So after the dolphin experience we visited Mira's (one of our hosts) parents house and drank some Cuppa da Socco (not sure of spelling). This is a drink made from the pulp of the fruit that was growing on the property. This must be popular drink here in Brazil as we have been drinking this everywhere. Its 8:30 PM and the van is here to pick us up for dinner.
April 20th, 2008
It is Sunday evening and I finally have this chance to write. Just to keep you up to date with our progress, on Friday we took an all day cruise down the Amazon River. This was quite an awesome trip as we were able to see the "Meeting of the Waters". The "Meeting of the Waters" is where the dirty brown water from the Amazon River meets the Rio Negra's black colored water. The water does not appear to actually mix for many miles. It looks like 2 distinct rivers that are running side by side because the color of the water from each river is totally different. After seeing the merging of the waters we had lunch at a deep lagoon reastaurant where we took a guided canoe tour deep into the jungle. We were floating under the tall tree canopies in the river in the flooded areas. There were these tree trunks that were the size of Escalades. It is the rainy season so the river naturally floods across the forest so there are trees and shrubs that rise out of the river out bed on the flooded banks. During the evening we went to a birthday party at one of our host Rotarian's homes for food and so drinks. After the party my host family took our team out to one of the Night Clubs where we saw a Brazillian Cover band. Most of the songs were in Portuguese however there was some "Dancing Queen" and "YMCA" mixed in. Mike and I got on stage and showed the Brazilians how to properly do the YMCA. You have to see the pictures….
Yesterday was our last day in Manuas so we traveled from Manaus to Santarem and arrived here yesterday afternoon. We will be here until May 5th. We are staying across the street from the University in some dorms in the middle of the City. Our hosts are Ron and his wife Vera. Both of them work for the University. Vera is the district governor of the Amazona Rotary district which spans over 2000 miles. During the day today we went to a village called Alter do Chao which is approximately 30 minutes away. This village is along the water and usually you can go on the beach but as I previously mentioned it is the rainy season and the beach is flooded. So we ended up walking through town along the water's edge and stopped for a few drinks along the way. We had an outdoor lunch at a one of the local hotels. From the hotel we took a small boat tour and our driver stopped at an island in the middle of river. On this island were a couple makeshift bars and tables. This appeared to be the most popular place in town and I can see why. We hung out, drank a few beers, and played some dominos before coming back to the village and drove back to the city. Its 7:15 so I need to shower before dinner. Good night!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Where am I going?
The team and I had a meeting at my place tonight. I must thank Teresa for the awesome crumb cake. We discussed the final details of our trip. We will be leaving out of the Philly airport on Sunday at 11:30 am for Miami. Then we will have a 5 hour layover in Miami before we board our next flight to Manaus, Brazil. I should be on the ground and in Brazil by 12:30 am on Monday. From what I learned today, we will be touring Manaus, Santarem, Belem during the course of the trip. They are all located just south of the equator along the Amazon river. See the attached map of Brazil. I also attached a picture of the team photo that we took this evening. From L to R: me, Mary, Dean, and Mike
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
T Minus 11 Days
Wow! its already April 2nd and I will be boarding a plane to Manaus in 11 days. We have been talking about this trip for 4 months now and it is almost a reality.
Just to give you some background. I will be traveling with a team of 3 others from the Philadelphia region. We were selected to be part of the Global Study Exchange (GSE) program which is sponsored by Rotary International. In a nutshell, it's a global exchange program for young professionals to experience the culture and life of another country. The itinerary is planned totally by the Brazilians, so at this moment I don't even know where exactly I'm going. Each of our journeys will be partially customized based on our field of work. So for me, I assume I will be visiting hospitals at some point during the trip.
Well I gotta go and finish prepping. I'm getting a mosquito net tonight. I heard there is no air conditioning and people keep the windows open at night. On second thought, maybe I will need more than a mosquito net to protect myself.
Just to give you some background. I will be traveling with a team of 3 others from the Philadelphia region. We were selected to be part of the Global Study Exchange (GSE) program which is sponsored by Rotary International. In a nutshell, it's a global exchange program for young professionals to experience the culture and life of another country. The itinerary is planned totally by the Brazilians, so at this moment I don't even know where exactly I'm going. Each of our journeys will be partially customized based on our field of work. So for me, I assume I will be visiting hospitals at some point during the trip.
Well I gotta go and finish prepping. I'm getting a mosquito net tonight. I heard there is no air conditioning and people keep the windows open at night. On second thought, maybe I will need more than a mosquito net to protect myself.
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