You can take the boy out of America but not America out of the boy

Im Tired Of:

Ants
Cold Showers - apparently the only option everywhere
Sweating in my Sleep
Bug Bites of all Varieties
Buffets
Random Stomach Aches
12 Roosters cock a doodling every morning at 6am
Searching for slugs and roaches before showering or going to bed
No Garbage Cans - since if you have one, well - it brings organisms
Child Flip Flops
Rice and Beans

Just had to get all that off my chest. Im coming into a routine of Tucu Ma for breakfast, buffet for lunch (piece of beef, piece of chicken, rice and beans) and water plus fruit for dinner or random pastry from Lindopan. The interesting thing about this country so far is the portion control. They base everything at these buffets on weight. The more you put on the more you pay so you can imagine they put less on - and I follow suit. Most eating in Manaus and towns on the way to ITA are buffet. And most of these buffets offer the same exact options. Versions of beef, chicken, rice and beans.

Anyway, when I woke up this morning after, the priest was eating papaya so I decided I could have the pineapple I bought at the Market from the other day. I grab it off the windowsill and the priest takes it from me. It was loaded with Ants. He proceeds to wash them all off and cut off the skin. Handing me a plate with slices of Pineapple, I notice a few existing ants, but I cant be bothered.

By the way, I asked him about the ants and his answer was ^you should see them in the summer^

MMMMMMMMM. This does not taste like the tangy pineapple we get in the states. Its much better. And within the hour, my stomach aches are gone! I have read that pineapple is good for digestion. But they must of been talking about the real ones grown in the Amazon. WOW! It was like taking Imodium, Pepto, Ginger ale all in one, but this actually worked.

From here we headed over to a new tailgate and on the way dropped off garbage. I ordered a Tucu Ma with eggs and cheese and proceeded to take my vitamins out of its packet. So intriguing to the other brazillian tailgaters. But they became immediately distracted when a car drove up and parked. Lots of looking, oooooing and aahhhing. It was as if a Ferrari, Bentley or Donald Trump had shown up. I wasnt sure the big to do. The Driver got out and ordered his breakfast.

I got up to view the back. It was a Ford Fusion. Who gives a (curse word here). It was a Ford Fusion SE which to me looked like a Ford 5oo. It definitely wasnt the Ford Fusion we are used to, it was much larger - but even so - I love Ford but its nothing special. I own a Ford!

Lorenzo goes on to tell me that it looks like there are a lot of cars here in Manaus but only 3 percent of all of Amazonia owns a car and the majority are here in the city. Most travel is by bus.

The rest of the day I spent in a meeting with Lorenzo as he pitched me three documentaries, a feature film and a few business ideas. All extremely good, well thought out and perked my interest. Definitely something there that could be good for transforming the health of America and the plight of the people in impoverished parts of Brazil.

Tommorrow, I go on a Mission for children with Aids here and then off to a school to teach english. I leave for ITACOATIARA to stay until the 17th of June where I will be involved in some humanitarian aid as well as documenting archives in video and pictures for the foundations to use to get their word out. Also a bit of my own research for documentary ideas that I would be interesting in doing when I get out of Columbia next year.

Internet has been aweful so I apologize for the slow down in posts. I am doing my best. Continue to comment so that I know that you are all enjoying the blogs as much as I enjoy writing them.

Facebook will have a ton of new photos as I took 135 pictures yesterday. Video uploading is a nightmare and might have to wait til Rio.

*** commenting on these blogs is key, just so I keep the motivation for blogs, so please comment or email me if you are reading. It doesn't take more than a few seconds.