Today was pretty cool. We started off by going to the Instituto Evandro Chagas, which is a medical research facility in Belém. The guest speaker and director of the facility was Elisabeth Santos.
She discussed how the company works on a region of developed lands and the effects of the development. She went on to discuss certain diseases in the Amazon and how Yellow Fever has currently infected the Amazon.
Yellow Fever infected people in the Amazon two years ago. She went on to discuss how disease cannot leave he Amazon due to the fact that it lives in the forest. However, we did learn that Brazil provides vaccines for everyone, even the indigenous people. They have what we know as free health care. I really wish America would get up on the times and provide free health care for everyone. We learned about how disease is controlled here as well. I'm going to be writing a small story about all of this so if you want to learn more, check out my blog later tonight or tomorrow.
We then got to take a tour of the facility, which to tell you the truth, was pretty eerie. I must say that it reminded me of a mental institution from the 1950s.
We got to go to a different mall today, which was interesting. The food I had wasn't very good. Some of the stuff smelled like mildew or mold. Come to think of it, I think a lot of stuff here smells like mildew. I think that must be because the air is so damp here.
I bought a Brazilian flag! I'm stoked because now I can put it in my room at home in Long Beach. I kind of miss Long Beach. I miss the food and my friends, well some. I miss my roommate Stephanie a lot. I consider her my little Buddha.
Next, we went back to the Museu Emílio Goeldi again. I love that place! we got to see the jaguar again and he was stressing out to say the least.
Our speaker at the park was Claudi Lopez. She is a researcher and anthropologist at the museum. She's also Colombian, which was a plus because she spoke to us in Spanish, not Portuguese. She discussed the general problems of the indigenous people of Brazil . The goal of her speaking to us was to have us be aware of the general views of the indigenous people of the Amazon. She then discussed the implications of nation security and indigenous people and concluded with how the issues should be treated. The native people were once given protective laws, then had them taken away and now only have one law in the Brazilian Constitution of 1988. It is in article 130, which established the respect of all Brazilian people. Again, this will all be discussed in my next post.I learned a lot today, especially about indigenous tribes of the Amazon. I think it would be really interesting to be able to go out in the Amazon and spend a few days with one of the 230 tribes. I don't know how well that would work and it probably won't ever happen. I would like it to though. Well, I'm going to wake up Emily because we have to meet everyone downstairs for diner soon. Read my story later!!!
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