Pagode

I just returned to the grind in Salvador and thought I should catch you up on the end of my village study in Santo Antonio de Jesus. I think this was by far the best two weeks I have had in Salvador. I was completely and helplessly submerged into Brazilian culture and had both hands in the health sector. Most days we would walk door to door to check up on patients, register new patients, administer vaccines, regular check ups, you name it. Other times we would be sitting side by side with public health agents in the post waiting for the rain to stop, waiting for a task, or just waiting for no reason. Never in my life have I done so much sitting, pondering, and waiting. It´s a great thing I was blessed with Maritza as a partner- our long, deep talks about life were the best time fillers.

All Brazilians know how to have a banging time, especially those in the interior because there is not a lot to do otherwise. The 10 hour pagode/fogo party was the icing on my village study cake. Typical Brazilian party- total madness. The floor was dirt which quickly turned into mud. There were two main venues- one was the main stage with pagode/fogo music and the other was a small DJ cement area with techno music. As soon as main stage switched artists, people would hurry to the other "techno-club" venue. Brilliant- non stop dancing. I like pagode- it´s a dance that makes you forget you have bones in your body. Unfortunately, we only stayed until 3 am for the entirety of the pagode. Fogo, the main attraction, didn´t start until 4 am. The later it got, the more the dangerous equation of (men + alcohol + cloth wrapped around fists= fights + police beating people off of each other) started to make me nervous.

As I said, I have returned to Salvador and started my ISP today. At 8am I went with a program that hands out a hot breakfast/groceries/and clothes to children in the situations of the streets- street children in a non-acceptable term because under Brazilian law all children are protected by the Constituion of 1988 and the government is responsible for providing all children with homes and numerous other rights... I personally have witnessed many situations that scream other wise. I am living with my original host Mom which is wonderful because we get along great and Fazenda Garcia has a lot of character and a good typical Brazilian vibe.

I can´t believe I am only here for one more month!! I want to finish up my ISP in 20 days so I will have time to visit other places in Brazil before I leave- possibly the Pantanal region like my Uncle David suggested to see the amazing wild life.