Paradise

All in all, last week was pretty much normal (as far as normal is concerned). Despite a few scratches, poop stains on my shirt, bite marks on my ass, and some tears, I had a solid week. I do not want or need to go into detail about the incident concerning tears, but if you are so inclined to know, shoot me an email and I'll tell you the story. Some of the older children were supposed to have been at school last week, but because the teachers thought it would be really nice of them if they went on strike, we were stuck with the chaos of Lar Da Crianca for yet another week. But this morning, when I walked in, I was pleased to find the younger children sitting happily around the T.V singing and dancing along to a show they love. I only had to break up one fight today. It was seriously a miracle. I knew that the older kids influenced the behavior of the younger children, but I did not expect such a dramatic change in the groups dynamic. 

This weekend was one that I will never forget. The crew of six volunteers embarked on a journey to Morro de Sao Paulo, the island I traveled to on my first weekend in Brazil. Mary and I had talked it up to the other volunteers, and were a bit worried that it would not compare to the experience we had the first time. But, it was even better than expected. The boat ride was unexpectedly rough on the two hour journey to the island. It resulted in our bodies being soaked from sitting on the deck of the ship, salt caked onto our skin, and us sweating due to the fact that we felt it necessary to relocate to a more ideal location, inside. When we finally arrived, a woman from the hotel picked us up, holding a sign with our names on it. We took the walk to our hotel, and were pleased to find our small paradise. Air conditioning in the room, a huge beautiful balcony overlooking the ocean and one of the night clubs (good for seeing when it was getting busy), and comfortable beds. We happily got ready for our  night, went for sushi/pizza for dinner, and then went to Funny for the night. Before we knew it, the club was packed and the sun was rising. We ran next door to pick up our cameras to snap a few photographs of the sunrise. I thought this would be a great opportunity to use the last of my Poloroid film, and I managed to get two great last shots. But of course, me being me, something was going to go wrong. As I was switching my other camera to my other hand, one of the photographs slipped from my fingers and flew right into the ocean. I am convinced that if there was not a hot Israeli man standing next to us, I would have cried. Despite the little mishap, it was a fantastic evening.

Mary and I slept until 2 p.m. The crepes we ate the morning before had warn off and we were becoming hungry. Good thing we found a full breakfast of pastries, cheese, fruit and juice in our kitchen waiting to be eaten. Amanda and Emanne had already left the room for the beach. Mary and I got ourselves composed, and went to find them at the beach. We got some very comfortable long beach chairs, and the owner of them would come around every few minutes to wet our feet with cold water to cool us down. It was magical. 

We went for an early dinner at a Brazilian restaurant where I of course ate...pasta! Then we went back to the room to have a quick nap so we would make it through the evening. We woke up at around 9:30 p.m, and started to get ready for our night. I put my tie-died bikini on and was ready to go! We went to Pulsar, where they have a foam party on Saturday nights. For those of you who do not know what a foam party is, they fill the dance floor with foam. It was amazing. That night was probably one of the best nights I have had this whole year. When the sun finally began to rise, we left the club for the beach. We ran in to rinse off all of the foam. If I have ever seen anything beautiful in my life, it was this moment. Rain pouring down from above, a rainbow in front of a cliff to the left, and a gorgeous sunrise to the right. It got even better after because we went for crepes, round two. When I saw my watch said 7:15 a.m., I knew it was time for bed. We woke up at 1:00 p.m., just with enough time to pack and catch the boat back to Salvador. 

I will post another blog on Friday before leaving for Costa Rica! Enjoy some more photographs from the last week!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075960&id=1341960108&l=ad23ad57b7