Rock & Roll Dad

Last Saturday evening while In Búzios Junior, Bárbara and I went walking down Rua das Pedras (Rock Road) when we found this great little place that had live Rock & Roll. We decided to sit down for a little while. I told them how if my Dad was there is would be dancing and singing along with all the great songs.
As the band continued singing I just kept thinking about the many times I would drive in the car with my Dad and we would sing to Elvis, the Mamas and Papas, and many more. I thought about how he dances and snaps his fingers to the beat. I thought about how happy he seems when listening to his Rock & Roll. And after all of this I thought about how much I miss my Dad. I wanted so badly to have him there with me and we could rock out together. We could check out the cool Harley Davidson parked out front. And last we could have chocolate milkshakes. Sounds like a good plan to me! Dad want to come and visit me??

Dentist in Brazil

This morning Graciano and I went to the Dentist. There is a Medical post near the entrance of the city that offers free services, if you get there early at least. I had to bring a girl from the orphanage there last week when I saw a sign that mentioned that along with offering emergency medical service, they also have a dentist a few days a week.



Here is the sign that is so professionally posted on the wall. It says, "Attention users, numbers for the Dentist are given at the post at 6 am but you must wait with your number here!" So what I get from this sign is that you must arrive at 6 am to get a number and then wait until your number is called. Is that what you get from it too?
So Graciano and I arrive at 6 am, and while we are in the tropical country of Brazil believe it or not at 6 am it is cold! There is no one to give us a number, and it fact there is no one else there that would even want a number. So we were told to sit and wait a little while.



You can see from this picture that we arrived when it was still dark and just waited. While waiting to find out when we can get a number we read a little and played a game. Finally a man comes up to us to say that the receptionist will not arrive for another 30 minutes and we don't know if the dentist will show up today. What? She is scheduled to come but they don't know if she will? hahaha only in Brazil.
We decided to wait a little longer for the receptionist to show up and see if she knew anything. Then all of a sudden my friend Adimir shows up and asks why I am there so early. Well, the sign clearly says to get there early. He says to me, "No you don't have to come early, you know Junior Reis (politician) and he says anyone from the orphanage gets in first. While the child I brought wasn't from the orphanage it still worked because I am from there. Needless to say we left and went back later.




This is the emergency medical post of the city. If I was sick, this is where I would want to go to for sure. Anyway we got there and everyone knew that I was from the orphanage so we got right into the dentist. She looked in his mouth and pulled out his tooth. We were in and out in seriously 2 minutes. I couldn't believe it! Sometimes being a gringo has it's advantages here.



Don't worry I took good care of him after his tooth was pulled. Plus he said that it didn't hurt, he was just acting for the camera. So this is my story of going to the Dentist in Brazil. Everything is always an adventure and never goes as planned. But that is part of the fun of it.

Jauá

Since the following days were filled with the beautiful Bahian sun we had to keep going to the beach. I think by the end of the trip we went to 4 beaches. Jorge's family kept making fun of Eveline and I asking if we have had enough of the beach and we would only respond, Never!! And it seemed that every day the beaches kept getting better and better. Jauá was perfect. There were only a few people on the beach the day we went.



The waves were perfect too. They were big enough to knock you over, which made it really fun! We must have played in the water for over an hour. Then Eveline and I just walked up and down the beach taking pictures. Eveline and I decided that we should start the Cultural Center in Bahia instead. Hey we might get it going faster than here in Xerém, and we can spend our time on the beach while we are waiting. Sounds like a plan to me!



What else could you expect in Brazil than finding a soccer ball on the beach?



After playing in the waves, you can tell because we are covered in sand. But it was so much fun, I want to go back!

Praia do Forte

Saturday was such a beautiful day! Which meant we were ready for the beach! Praia do Forte (Strong Beach) was the one that we decided to go to that day. They have a sea turtle project there (projecto TAMAR) that had turtles up to 4 feet long. They were huge!

Bruna, Jorge and Marco went with us. None of them had ever been to this beach so it was something new for everyone.



We all played in the water and relaxed while enjoying such an amazing view.



I love the feeling of being at the beach. It is automatic relaxation and the feeling of being on vacation. I definitely love going to the beach, especially beautiful ones like this!

Salvador

Bahia!! Eveline and I went on a little vacation up to Salvador Bahia on May 2nd. It was such an amazing trip! We met up with my friend Jorge who ended up showing us around the city. He took us to all the great places; Pelourinho, Mercado Modelo, praia do Forte, and much more!
The day we arrived it was cloudy and a little rainy. So we decided to go see the sites that day and save the beaches for later (when there was sun!) We first went to Modelo Mercado (Model Market). It had everything a tourist could ever want. And believe me, we wanted it... all! If we didn't tire Jorge out from stopping all the time to take pictures, we definitely wore him out by stopping to look at everything for sale.





Later we went to the Lacerda Elevator. You pay 5 cents and it takes you from cidade em baixo to cidade em cima (lower city to higher city) they actually separate the city by the level. I thought it was strange to pay 5 cents. Is there really a reason to charge then?
As soon as you walk out of the building people come and give you bracelets. These bracelets are the most famous souvenir from Salvador. It is just a colored band that says ,"Lembrança do Senhor do Bomfim da Bahia" (Souvenir of the Lord of Good End of Bahia) Senhor do Bomfim is a church in Salvador. When they tie it on your wrist you are supposed to make a wish and it will come true if you never take it off, you have to let it fall off. Well letting it fall off takes a long time! I have a friend who had hers for over a year and a half! I don't know if I can make it that long... You can see the yellow band on my left hand in the picture below.




Here is the view from Cidade em cima. It was beautiful to see the port with all the boats on the sea.





This is from the Pelourinho. it is a city within the city. The place to find all the great restaurants, shops, clubs, dancing in the streets, everything pretty much. It is famous for it's colored buildings and night life. It was nice to walk around and see all the art that was displayed.