Europeans on a boat

Today Brandie and I took a boat ride along the river. It was an obvious tourist attraction, but it was also nice to be out on the water and see Belem from a distance. The boat went around for a couple of hours or so, and then stopped off at this place for lunch, and then made a much shorter trek back to the dock. On the boat with us was a huge group of Americans, mostly in their late teens to early twenties. Wow, were they loud. You could definitely tell that they were Americans. B and I sat in the back of the boat in the sun and just watched their antics. It was kind of like watching Real World: Belem, either that or one of those spring break specials. The loudest girl also spoke Portuguese, so she was loud in both languages.

When the boat went through a narrow part near an island where poor people lived, this group of Americans got out bags of candy they had prepared and threw them whenever they saw children near the water. The kids would then jump in to collect the candy. At some point in all this, not long before we stopped for lunch, B must have said something to me and the few people near us heard us speak English. It turns out that they thought we were European b/c we were so quiet! I took that as a compliment! It turns out that they are from northern Virginia, near DC, and they are here on a mission trip of sorts. A friend of one woman started a mission down here and they come every year to run a week-long overnight camp for the local children. They have been doing it for about 4 years and this was the first year that they have some of the Brazilian kids who had gone through the camp a few years helping them. Those kids were on the boat with them, but luckily there are three or four of the Americans that speak Portuguese fairly well so that they can communicate with the kids. They have a week of fun first and then an intense week with almost 200 kids at camp.

For lunch, B and I packed quite a bit of food, with the help of Nece and Alanna. We had two apples, two oranges, two sandwiches, two bananas, and one small bad of chips to share. We were both parched, so I tried to order us some water, but they were out of the kind I requested. Not knowing the differences b/t the other choices, I chose what turned out to be tonic water. It was definitely not what we were expecting, but it was cold, so it did the trick.

After lunch, we had some time to kill b/f the boat took off again, so we walked along a path that went a bit into the jungle. When I say a bit, I really mean a bit. But guess what we did see? A freaking huge spider! I think it was a tarantula, but I didn't get close enough to find out. It was on the outside of the handrail along which we were walking. Some of the stupid boys with the American group were poking at it b/f we walked by, which made me a little paranoid that they would provoke it and it would attack one of us when we went by. I really hate spiders and I don't know much about tarantulas, so I just walked by as quickly as possible. B asked me if she wanted me to take a picture of it, and I said no way, not with my camera.

We sat and watched some boys jumping into the river b/f it was time to get back onto the boat. (Alanna said that the waste from our toilets go into the river...I'm kind of curious about how safe that water was.) On the way back, the Americans had a little dance party, with the dancers on the boat trying to teach them the samba. When we were close to docking, the loud woman pulled B and I up to dance as well. She asked us if we spoke English...once again, we were mistaken for being European! Ha!

We were picked up by Carol and her boyfriend John. Tulio claims that she is some sort of a cousin, but she doesn't seem to think that they're related. In any case, she's never met him, doesn't think they're related, yet she is still taking the time to show us around Belem for a couple of days. First we went to get some ice cream, which was closer to gelato than our ice cream at home. Carol wouldn't let me get anything chocolate, but had B and I try two different fruity flavors. I got one kind and B got the other, but I couldn't tell you the names. Carol also makes us try to speak a little Portuguese to order what we want. I think it's amusing for her to listen to us make spectacularly horrible attempts.

After ice cream, Carol and John took us walking to a large outdoor market down the street where Carol showed us various typical Brazilian food and items. Then we drove to a little park near the water, which led to a fort. Yes dad, you read correctly, I went to a fort today! We walked around there for a few minutes and then B and I each tried coconut water. B really liked it, but I just thought it was okay. It tastes like water with a faint taste, kind of like our sports drinks at home, but not even that strong. It doesn't taste enough like anything in particular, but it has too much taste to be plain water. Carol told us that she usually has chocolate ice cream and had soda instead of coconut water. She's just making sure we try new things! We drove around the city for a it, and then she dropped us off home. We are supposed to go out to a bar tonight to go dancing, so B and I just have a few hours to kill here in the apt b/f we go out again.

By the way, I am very, very red from our excursion on the boat. I wore sunscreen and reapplied twice, but I unfortunately forgot my chest and legs, and now those are crispy. That just kind of sucks b/c now I a very warm and not feeling 100%, but I do want to go out, b/c this is probably my only chance to do so in Belem. Maybe I'll take a nap to boost my energy.