Hello my lovelys...

The story with my laptop is that my charger is burned out and my Dad is having a new one mailed to me. I think it will be another 2-3 weeks before I'm back in business. To buy one here would cost R$420...

So much has happened in the past few weeks. I had a wonderful weekend in Morro de São Paulo the weekend before last. I went with Baird, Nora, and Bethany (all three of which puked on the boat ride... at one point I was sitting between Bethany and Baird, rubbing their backs while they both heaved... somehow I held it down... I think the only other people on the boat not vomiting were the drunk men and the crew.)

We stayed at a beautiful hostel with a hammock and tons of beautiful birds and plants. On Friday we visited the beaches and Saturday we took a clay-mud bath and washed it off in the ocean. I went back with Bethany Saturday night because I wanted to attend the Health Conference that started Sunday. (We drugged Bethany up for the ride back and it went fine.)

Saturday night I stayed up until about 3 AM writing my paper for Raça e Classe, then went to the conference Sunday afternoon and skipped classes to attend Monday as well. It was an incredible experience and gave me an overview of the current controversial issues in public health in Bahia.

Last weekend I went to Lençóis with Bethany, Breanne, Kristina, and Maggie. We took an overnight bus ride Thursday night and I came back Sunday night with Kristina. Lençóis is a community in the interior with tons of natural waterfalls, caves, rivers, mountains, etc. Friday we hiked a 9 mile trail up and down a mountain with the 2nd biggest waterfall in South America. Saturday we snorkled in a cave and visited several caves and waterfalls. Sunday we hiked several trails and slid down a rock slide into a lake. It was amazing! I'll post pictures when I get my laptop running.

I'm meeting with Barreto this afternoon. I went by his office again last week with no luck, but I talked to his secretary and she told me to e-mail him again. I did so and marked the e-mail as HIGH PRIORITY... and he responded. :o) At last! Wish me luck...