It was storming last night. I have never seen it rain so hard in my life. You couldn't even see in front of you because the rain was coming down so hard. Bony, being the gentleman he is, offered to give all 10 of us a ride so we didn't have to walk in the rain. We all piled into a medium-sized SUV cramming five people in the middle and five people in the trunk. It was quite a site!
On our drive, Bony explained to us why people don't stop at stop lights. "It's very dangerous here and people will rob you if you stop," he said. No wonder, it totally makes sense!
We went to the Museu Emílio Goeldi again this morning. The director of the museum, Ima Vieira, came and spoke to us about deforestation and how sustainable resources are decreasing in the Amazon. The nice part about this lecture was that she spoke English.
I was especially interested in learning about açaí because it is the most sustainable resource in the Amazon. "In the past three years, the price of açaí has increased almost 10 times," explained Vieira. I can't believe this! It used to cost one or two reais (Brazilian currency) for one liter of açaí. Now, because it is in such high demand, açaí costs 10 reais! Again, I will be writing a news story about açaí and how the price increase is negatively affecting the lives of Brazilians.
We went to the Parque da Residência for lunch this afternoon. The park used to be an official governor's residence in the early 20th century. The best part of the park was the ice-cream parlor (yum).
As much as I love food, I don't know how big of a fan I am of Brazilian food. I did try Brazilian fish for the first time though, and I must say it wasn't bad. Everything else is too salty. I can't wait to go home and chow down In-N-Out Burger. Mmmm a number three with animal style fries and grilled onions sounds delicious! Anyways, the point is that the food wasn't bad today.
After eating at the park Raúl had planned a surprise visit for us. Our surprise was going to the José Liberto, which used to be a prison from 1749 until 2000. I'm not gunna lie, that place had some really crazy stuff to see. For example, there were tools used as torturing devices for prison inmates. The roll looked the most painful.
This is a picture of the roll. It's the one to the right. All I can say it that I feel sorry for anyone who had to experience the wrath of the roll.
Now it's a giant jewelry shop and a gems and indigenous artifacts museum. I bought my mom and sister both some really beautiful gems. The gems were so cheap because there's a large abundance of them. I asked Raúl because I was curious as to why they weren't outrageously priced.
We then left the prison and came back to the hotel. I just checked my facebook and I'm glad to see that one of the Brazilian students, Bih, has been writing to me. She is so cute and what she says is so funny. I really hope we get to hang out with the Brazilian students again before we leave.
Oh good news! I'm officially going to Rio de Janeiro with Janice and Laura! I'm so pumped!! Hopefully Carla can get her flights changed so she can come too.
I have so much work to do tonight, ugh. I feel like I am constantly working. I guess that's a good thing but I am also the only person who doesn't nap between class and dinner and I don't go to bed until 3 a.m. every night. I'm not even doing anything I shouldn't be doing, like stalking people on facebook or anything like that. I feel like I'm constantly working, but hopefully my hard work will pay off. I really hope it does!
Gotta get back to work. Ciao!
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