The happenings

Hello all,
I feel like it's been a while since I've written, but not very much has been happening in my life.
I'm still working at Conservation International, but things are moving quite slowly there. I'm also still waiting on other bureaucratic issues. Work is generally frustrating, and I haven't gotten my hands on any sharks yet, nor have I gone out to the sea.

Home life is good. I adopted a new kitty, the brother of Gaia, so she has company now and everybody's happy. His name is Manguezal, which means mangrove. Soon I will have a new housemate and things at the house are generally pretty exciting and I'm making new friends.
Last week I traveled to the big city of Porto Seguro, as I had to register with the federal police. To get to Porto Seguro, which is the closest large city with any real movement, I have to take 3 separate buses. I left home at 7:30 am and only got to Porto at like 6:30 pm. And yes, this is the closest city with any real movement. Porto Seguro was in general a headache. The federal police were big jerks and almost everybody I encountered there just wanted to tell me how wrong I am and show off their authority over me. But, ultimately, I got what needed to be done done.

It's so funny to travel alone. The first night I got to Porto Seguro, I just wanted to sleep, so I only left my hotel to get food and didn't explore the city at all. But the second night I was without anything to do, and I already knew I was going to have to stay at least 1 if not 2 more nights than I had planned. So there was nothing to do but explore the city alone. And I walked around looking at shops, which I didn't even really want to do. I sat down and ate dinner by myself, feeling awkward. I was feeling awfully lonely, but quickly made friends with the local hippies and I had friends for the rest of my stay in Porto Seguro. One night we were sitting in the plaza, playing guitar and bongos and dancing. To me it was nothing out of the ordinary, but soon tourists were showing up to take pictures! It was pretty weird for me, especially since I didn't quite "fit in" with the rest of them, but I was still a part of the general groove there, playing bongos and dancing without inhibition.

It really stood out in my mind how different my Brazil experience is from other tourists: they show up and take pictures, while I groove to the beats.

Another lesson I've learned is that while traveling alone, I never stay alone for very long. Traveling with other people is fun too, since you have automatic company; but traveling alone causes you to make friendships that you would automatically exclude yourself from when hanging out with another foreigner.

I'm back in Caravelas now, loving my home. Work is still frustrating.

~Helen