i have the most amazing friend ever who is spending her senior options in the amazon...
an email i just got from kathia
heyyy guysss!!!! whats uppp!!
ok, right now im the Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonia. Its a big city but people are simple and nice. I~m staying at this woman~s house... she~s sooo nice, but last night it was kinda freaky cuz they gave me like the second to best room in the house and even though its small it has air conditioning, can u believe it!! So anyway, the mother comes to my room and says she~s gonna keep me company until i fall asleep, next thing i know shes laying on the bed sound asleep, and there was nothing i could do except to lay next to her and sleep too. But it was soo weird. I mean, i knew they
didnt have enough beds and i WAS wondering what we were gonna do, but i had no idea i was gonna share a bed with anyone. lol. Its a twin bed, or queen size, im not sure... no, its smaller than mine, but its not a single. anyway, i survived.today it was fun i went to many places and learned a lot about the food and the indigenous (what do u call indians that are not from india but from south america, u know...) But im really uppset im not so sure im gonna be staying 2 weeks in a tribe and all the way i was expecting it because there was a rape in one of the tribes and they blamed a guy who used to work with my sponsor, so they dont wanna c my sponsor any place near them. The other uncivilized tribes are too far away, about 7 days to get there. Then outta nowhere this guys starts talking to me and i come to know that he is in the military(that was pretty obvious bc of his uniform lol) and they are going on an epxedition to this place where the indians are somewhat civilized but not ocmpletely and maybe we could come along with them. hes gonna call his cousin who is the general and then we are gonna call him tomorrow. HOPEFULLY it will work out. But we are defenitely going to this other town where the people are really poor and they are all descendents of indians and thye live from fishing and all, and they are completely civilized but live from the jungle. And we are staying at this house that is build on the river, and the water is pitch dark and we can fish and swim and all. The kids are playful and hey love outsiders. im really excited to go there, especially cuz there are no insects there. On the other town we are visiting there are a LOTTT of insects. We might also go to this place which is very touristic but has beautiful waterfalls, but m not that excited for that as i am for everything else because ive seen waterfalls before but i have never met an indian.Today i visited a place where the indians from wamari atrari come when they come to buy things or when someone is very sick to see if i could go visit them, but they said no because they are having this ritual and they dont want any outsider there, not even for one day, not even to watch. This ritual lasts a really long time and there is a whole preparation for it, and they have no idea when its going to end. To tell u the truth they dont even know when itsgoing to start. But yeah, i talked to the indians from this tribe that are here in manaus todya but they were dressed like us and they speak portuguese with very little accent, and fluently. They talked with me for a little while and all, but they wouldnt change their minds about taking me with them and all.I also went to the harbor and tot he market. I didnt buy anything yet, im going to buy everything the last day so i dont have to carry everything around with me for a month. But everything is sooo amazing, i wanna buy EVERYTHING. But its not as cheap as i expected, like an earing is about 3 reais, the cheapest, which is like a dollar. its still cheap but not as
cheap as i expected. does anyone want anything>so thats pretty much all that has happened so far. Im really upset about all
the uncertainties and all the delays but there is nothing i can do right now.i had one more thing to tell and now i cant remember.
holy shit, they want me to PREACH at the church!!!!! my immediate reaction was no way, i have never read the bible or attended mass. Even though i said i could never do something like that, i think they completely ignored me because today he mentioned it again! he was like, yeah, this father is very anxious to meet you and he wants to you to preach at his church. if i have to preach i dont know what im gonna do, should i pretend to be religious, open the bible at some random chapter, read a little bit, and then of ocurse no one will have a clue what it means so i could just make something and then talk about my trip to india and nepal and what i think of the situation here, and how i wanna help them. It sounds like a good plan, doesnt it?
ok i gotta go now, i dont know when Ill write again, an international call i dunno why, none of the phones work, its so annoying.I cant write or speak english anymore.I mean its weird, in the morning i
woke up thinking in english and portuguese sounded awkward but now its the other way around and everything i write sounds terrible in my head.
okk, i gotta go
love ya guys!
kathia
this girl is more awesome than you'll ever know. she spent last summer in India and Nepal, helping impoverished people in small villages, and now shes in the Amazon this summer, hoping to help and observe the tribes in the area. I LOVE HER =) & did I mention she's only SEVENTEEN! yeah, i know. unbelievable. a born humanitarian.
heyyy guysss!!!! whats uppp!!
ok, right now im the Manaus, the capital of the state of Amazonia. Its a big city but people are simple and nice. I~m staying at this woman~s house... she~s sooo nice, but last night it was kinda freaky cuz they gave me like the second to best room in the house and even though its small it has air conditioning, can u believe it!! So anyway, the mother comes to my room and says she~s gonna keep me company until i fall asleep, next thing i know shes laying on the bed sound asleep, and there was nothing i could do except to lay next to her and sleep too. But it was soo weird. I mean, i knew they
didnt have enough beds and i WAS wondering what we were gonna do, but i had no idea i was gonna share a bed with anyone. lol. Its a twin bed, or queen size, im not sure... no, its smaller than mine, but its not a single. anyway, i survived.today it was fun i went to many places and learned a lot about the food and the indigenous (what do u call indians that are not from india but from south america, u know...) But im really uppset im not so sure im gonna be staying 2 weeks in a tribe and all the way i was expecting it because there was a rape in one of the tribes and they blamed a guy who used to work with my sponsor, so they dont wanna c my sponsor any place near them. The other uncivilized tribes are too far away, about 7 days to get there. Then outta nowhere this guys starts talking to me and i come to know that he is in the military(that was pretty obvious bc of his uniform lol) and they are going on an epxedition to this place where the indians are somewhat civilized but not ocmpletely and maybe we could come along with them. hes gonna call his cousin who is the general and then we are gonna call him tomorrow. HOPEFULLY it will work out. But we are defenitely going to this other town where the people are really poor and they are all descendents of indians and thye live from fishing and all, and they are completely civilized but live from the jungle. And we are staying at this house that is build on the river, and the water is pitch dark and we can fish and swim and all. The kids are playful and hey love outsiders. im really excited to go there, especially cuz there are no insects there. On the other town we are visiting there are a LOTTT of insects. We might also go to this place which is very touristic but has beautiful waterfalls, but m not that excited for that as i am for everything else because ive seen waterfalls before but i have never met an indian.Today i visited a place where the indians from wamari atrari come when they come to buy things or when someone is very sick to see if i could go visit them, but they said no because they are having this ritual and they dont want any outsider there, not even for one day, not even to watch. This ritual lasts a really long time and there is a whole preparation for it, and they have no idea when its going to end. To tell u the truth they dont even know when itsgoing to start. But yeah, i talked to the indians from this tribe that are here in manaus todya but they were dressed like us and they speak portuguese with very little accent, and fluently. They talked with me for a little while and all, but they wouldnt change their minds about taking me with them and all.I also went to the harbor and tot he market. I didnt buy anything yet, im going to buy everything the last day so i dont have to carry everything around with me for a month. But everything is sooo amazing, i wanna buy EVERYTHING. But its not as cheap as i expected, like an earing is about 3 reais, the cheapest, which is like a dollar. its still cheap but not as
cheap as i expected. does anyone want anything>so thats pretty much all that has happened so far. Im really upset about all
the uncertainties and all the delays but there is nothing i can do right now.i had one more thing to tell and now i cant remember.
holy shit, they want me to PREACH at the church!!!!! my immediate reaction was no way, i have never read the bible or attended mass. Even though i said i could never do something like that, i think they completely ignored me because today he mentioned it again! he was like, yeah, this father is very anxious to meet you and he wants to you to preach at his church. if i have to preach i dont know what im gonna do, should i pretend to be religious, open the bible at some random chapter, read a little bit, and then of ocurse no one will have a clue what it means so i could just make something and then talk about my trip to india and nepal and what i think of the situation here, and how i wanna help them. It sounds like a good plan, doesnt it?
ok i gotta go now, i dont know when Ill write again, an international call i dunno why, none of the phones work, its so annoying.I cant write or speak english anymore.I mean its weird, in the morning i
woke up thinking in english and portuguese sounded awkward but now its the other way around and everything i write sounds terrible in my head.
okk, i gotta go
love ya guys!
kathia
this girl is more awesome than you'll ever know. she spent last summer in India and Nepal, helping impoverished people in small villages, and now shes in the Amazon this summer, hoping to help and observe the tribes in the area. I LOVE HER =) & did I mention she's only SEVENTEEN! yeah, i know. unbelievable. a born humanitarian.