Change is Good.

 July 30, Friday. Today we decided to change things up a bit and do things a little more to our schedule. We decided to walk before language class while the weather is cooler and there is less traffic. We decided to leave by 8 am giving us time to walk 2 hours and still have an hour to eat shower and walk to the church. We also decided to go to the farmers market but to go a different route than the one we always used which was off the google maps. We have been walking long enough here that we know the area if not all the streets and alleys really well. Right off we noticed that there were wider sidewalks, more gardens, lots more stores, and tourists. It was a lot more fun. We looked in a lot of store windows as most were not open yet.

We got to spend more time walking side by side instead of walking single file. We arrived at the market and bought only what we thought we could use in the next couple of days. On the way home we moved over one block for part of the way to see new things and then returned to our previous route to check out a store we wanted to see. We passed a store called casa de Brasíl,

we saw a store that wanted to buy your gold, silver, or jewelry,

lots of higher end clothing stores. One street had these stuffed girls pants and shoes with flowers. They reminded me of the antlers we saw in Santarém with the flowers on them.

We walked through parks and of course flowers again.

We arrived home all sweaty and a little tired but with plenty of time to shower, eat, and walk to the church. Afterwards we went home I cooked a really good stew one of my best ever for lunch. We had an appointment cancel on us so we spent some time in the apartment, then headed out. Since I have trouble shifting and manipulating the phone maps, I had written down the names and  addresses of 5 members who sort of lived by each other and with this list in hand we listened to the phone tell us where to go. (Still call it #$@& she who must not be named). We found all 5 plus I realized there was a sixth right by so we stopped there. Two didn’t answer. Two were different people living there although I am thinking one was lying as when they were talking on the intercom before they answered the door the man said he didn’t want to talk to us. One man said to come back tomorrow as his mom would be home then, and one was actually there. An older lady who talked fast and  was nice but said she hadn’t had contact with the church in 22 years. Her brother was a member and because of him she joined and attended for a while before he moved away. I asked if she would like us to visit once in a while and she said no she was not interested at all. I thanked her for her time and explained my poor language skills as talking Brasileiro she was kind and said I spoke very well (very kind) then I told her we were here for another year and she said if we were in the area to stop by. Okay. We were about a half mile from home so we walked back up the hill to the apartment. It really is uphill both ways as everywhere you go here is either headed up or down. Love you.

This boat is the only one I have seen parked so far. As the only place to use a boat is the ocean I imagine the weather has to be good. I realize the smaller motor is probably for fishing, but it does prove I am right thinking if I had a boat to visit the other islands I need one with two motors. Caleb knows I am right.