Everyday there's something to do and many things to see. The people are still a bit weirded out by tourists. I'm guessing they don't see many of us here but nevertheless you always get your couple friendly ones who are willing to give you a smile and help you figure the language out.
Today after class was over Raul introduced us to Lucas a graduate student who is in a free enterprise organization called SIFE cesupa. This organization helps the poor people living in the amazon. They provide dental and health assistance and they also donate food to the 110 families living in the amazon.
After class we went to Yamada, a huge supermarket with a restaurant. We ate at the buffet where they weigh what you buy and charge you by the pound. It was delicious. I'm not exactly sure what i serve my self but i always end up cleaning my plate.
After, Tracy, Patrick and I shopped at Yamada for water, wine and M&M's, which were delicious.
We then headed back to the Hotel and took a small nap before Raul came to pick us up to take us to an ecological reserve. It was called Mangal das Garcas. This was an amazing place. We saw two huge parrots. Then we walked on a boardwalk that headed out to the river and it was amazing. We then went into a bird sanctuary. There was a lot of different kinds of birds. A little abby one kept following us around he was adorable.
We then walked towards a butterfly sanctuary. It was beautiful. There were a lot of butterflies and amazingly big lily pads.
After, we went inside a small museum and then to a gift shop. I bought myself a bag of delicious brazilian cookies.
Raul then dropped Patrick, Tracy and I at the shopping mall, as they call it here, because unfortunately both of my bags ripped. Boulevard is the name of their closest mall and it is very big, expensive, modern and beautiful.
My purse cost 60 reias which is about 30 dollars. Their malls are very expensive especially this mall but my purse is really cute and purple. We also ate at the mall. I ate at a brazilian buffet it was delicious and only 20 reias, which is about 10 dollars. The eating court had an amazing view of the city and for a second i felt as if i was in a fancy restaurant in New York City.
After dinner at the mall we grabbed a cab and went back to our hotel. I was so exhausted from the heat and all the walking we did that i threw myself in bed. At 9 p.m. we were suppose to all go to Patrick's room and hang out and drink our Brazilian wine but Karissa's and Stephanie's flight back home was cancelled for some unknown reason and they were trying to fix that. Then Patrick was asking the help desk to call TAM's airline to ask about his missing luggage but they did not want to help him. And then i was checking my bank account and realized that my bank had withdrawn $500 two times when i had only withdrawn $500.The night had turned into a royal mess and we all decided to just stay in and deal with out problems.I then decided to email my sister for help. She called them and told them that i was out of the country and couldn't contact them. So after being on the phone for a few minutes, they told my sister that they had put a request to investigate the issue and that i should be checking my email and my savings account within the next few days.
I really hope that problem gets resolved because that's $500 of my savings! YIKES!
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