Politics aside

It is hard to believe I have only been here a week. I have seen and done so much. Obviously, I haven't been fastidious about posting, and I am going to try to change that. Last night a few of us went to the Northeastern Fair. It was oddly like being on Buford Highway.

I got a tiny hat.

This is Zalton. He is the ONLY boy in our group. At first everyone felt bad for him, but that ended real quick. He's 6'4" and all the locals think he's Brazilian. As we walked through one of the favelas on Friday a bunch of boys kept shouting, "Michael Jordan! Michael Jordan!" Plus, all us girls are all, "Zalton, will you carry/lift/hold/hand me/reach for (xyz)?!?!" I think he likes it. I made him put on a tiny hat.

The girl on the right is JST5, the third member of the three musketeers (me, my grad school BFF, and JST5). She was absolutely horrified by my interest in a tiny hat. I told her that the more shit she gave me for buying one the more I was going to wear it around her. She created such a fuss that I will, in fact, be wearing my tiny hat every single day that we have class together in the Fall. GSU sees much worse with all the high-waisted-too-short short-shorts/ugly leg tattoo combos. I made her put on this vagina/canoe hat.

No one was near the "Videoke", but I was intrigued. Had I been with my typical crew and (therefore) had a few more caipirinhas in me, surely I would've investigated.

My friend Velasco (from HBO's "Preamar") commented once, "Why is it that the poorest people have the most beautiful views here in Rio?" Well said, Velasco. These were taken in Cantagalo, one of the poorest favelas in the city. They have a daycare facility at the top that we visited:

I should've gotten better pictures of the facility, it was really cool. But I was preoccupied with the children and practicing my horrible Portuguese. I'll try to get copies to post better ones later.

And finally, tattoos don't lie. Here is proof that my ass was on the beach in a pink bikini. Many believed it was not possible. In Brazil, anything's possible.

Politics aside, those were my last couple days in a nutshell.