January 5, 2008
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Traveling and beach
i have gotten pretty used to traveling. i told Anna to flirt with the baggage check guy so he wouldn’t weigh my bags, but she was confused as to which guy it was. it worked out alright with a big tip anyways…i read a psychology book and actually got interested in it. if they would stop telling me the problems and give some solutions. through Detroit and on to Miami, i checked into the room my Aunt and Uncle reserved for me (thank you ever so much!) and jumped on the bed and all those things you can do when you are alone. took a bus until i found a grocery store and bought lots of food. i can have 50 pounds in my bags until Miami, where they suddenly get nice and let me have 70 pounds. so with two bags, that is 40 pounds of food i can buy. i almost did it. so New Years Eve found me on a bus stop somewhere in Miami with 40 pounds of food, chugging a quart of milk. i miss milk.
The next day, after watching Ratatolli twice on the plane via Panama City, i got to Sao Paulo, where the guy stamped my visa paper thingy with “30 days” and i felt horridly depressed. an hour later i remembered God was still God and i found an empty corner of the airport and slept rather nicely on top of my two black truncks, with my water bottle, alarm clock, and pile of books (and don’t forget electric guitar) stacked neatly next to me. oh yes, the electric guitar (brought for a friend in Brasil) made me look cool the whole trip. everyone stopped and thought how talented i was. or something. especially as i had to take it everywhere…including the bathroom…with me. the next morning i arrived at Recife, but managed to screw up the time change again, so felt abandoned for an hour until the correct time came for me to be picked up. then i complained about my greasy hair and melting chocolate until we got to the Alcance and i unpacked and packed again to go to the beach.
Camboinha
they have five hammocks. i have taken naps in all of them, but i like the yellow one best. all we do is sleep and read and get called for meals and then sleep and take a swim. and Nita is here (Nita is the cook/maid for Tele’s sister). whatever food Nita touches turns to gold. if gold tasted good. yesterday i burnt my back half so today i will burn the front half..in a couple of days i should lose the pasty look, moving on to the red balloon look. i tried to wash dishes and Nita shooed me out of the kitchen. how delightful. too bad for the seaweed. there is alot of it everywhere. i have this horrible, pathetic fear of things around my feet when i cannot see what it is. so i wander out into the water and randomly jump and yell and shiver as the seaweed wraps around my toes like something alive and poisonous. everyone laughs at me.
and just when i thought it could get no better, we add music to the mix. music makes everything better. Karine and i got a blanket and sat and looked at the stars. one day i will know all their stories. they will tell me themselves. then we grabbed hold of the corners of the blanket and ran. the wind was so strong it almost picked us up and we both laughed and the world was good.
i woke up and saw red tiles, with a slit opening that makes the room bright without electricity. we swam out to a random boat that was anchored to the middle of no where. we sat on it until we could open our eyes without the salt sting bluring our vision. time is forgotten here. no projects are due, and the clock in the hall is only there to make sure we fit in three meals at proper intervals. the nights are spent listening to wind and ocean and palm trees that blend so loudly you cannot tell if it is them or a thunderstorm.
