Im browning nicely.

Being in a poor country... its sad to see. Brasil isnt as 3rd world as i thought but there is an intense dichotomy of classes here. you´re either poor, or filthy rich... really. its crazy. Children younger than 10 are selling individual cigs, pirated dvds, and drugs in the streets to tourists here. its so sad. someone told me the parents have their youngest child do those types of jobs because the tourists feel bad and are more likely to give money.

but its a wierd feeling because there are thousands of little kids sleeping in doorways here with no shoes and they´re covered in dirt and then there is me. this little white american who sightsees all of the horrible attributes of the country and then when im done here, i fly back to my cozy bed (actually i dont have a bed or a home when i fly home but there is still a big difference). i wish i could do more instead of just walk by and stare.

on another note:

i went to salvador the other day. my bus arrived from illeús around 6am and i took a city bus into town where i was dropped at the center. i strutted across the street to the elevetor which takes you up to old town salvador. in old town, i went to the historic center which is full of HUGE buildings with incredibly old old old architecture and beauitful churches and colorful buildings. i kept walking to a part of old town called Pelourino and in the center i found a bunch of people doing copaeira which is like a type of dance that looks like their fighting. those guys are ripped and they can do one arm hand stands for minutes at a time. then i went down to the huge indoor market which was cool but really everything looks the same and im pretty sure i saw all that stuff in another indoor market when i was in barbados.

around 7pm. i hopped on another bus to head to recife. 14 hours later....... i made it.

margarets friend francsico had his incredible girlfriend scoop us up from the bus station and she took us to probably the best restraunt i have ever been too and i ate like a champion and she kept ordering capirinas and of course i kept drinking them so by the time lunch was done with, i was way too drunk for me own good. i started talking like a pirate.

then she took us to olinda. north of recife. they have shark signs everywhere. she plopped us at a gay bar on the beach and ordered us a skol while she worked distributing Pitú (a brand of caçasa) and then drank with us when she was done (but still working). she loves her job.

then, being drunk, paula showed us the town of Olinda. the streets here in olinda are beautiful. they´re tiny little cobble stone streets so narrow only one car can squeeze through at a time and all of the houses on each side are connected and lined up together but look so different. they each have their own character painted either yellow, pink, lime green, sea green, blue, orange... every color you can think of there is a building painted that color in the streets of olinda. the architecture is amazing too. rounded edges that peak at the top and shoot up into the sky like a dagger. the buildings look sturdy. like they´ve been there since the 1800s and they´re still holding strong.

So margaret´s friend fransisco and his girlfriend, Paula, well, they´re freaking rad people. paula works for Pitú which is a caçasa distrubuter. she gave me a bottle.

last night, paula got us free tickets to a concert to this local club. you know how in movies there is that divider stand that forms lines outside the club door? well, there was definetly one of those and we skipped to the very front because we were "on the list". then we went inside and all the tables at the club were reserved so paula "pulled some strings" and we sat down at one of the best tables in the club. no big deal.

then we drank and drank these delicious brasilian drinks and more people kept buying me drinks because i have blue eyes and one guy told me he wanted to take me out on his boat and i said no and then i danced because the club kept playing incredible american remixes of all these amazing songs that i forgot i missed so much until i heard them in a brasilian club. then, a really famous brasilian band got on stage and played all night long. by the way, i love brasilian music. so i danced. i danced like ive never danced before. then around 2 we called it and went to paula´s penthouse which stands taller than any other building around for miles. we have our own room there.