Magic

Walking around the city today I stopped at a store to talk with a man who was selling paintings. Amid the many Brazilian and afro-Brazilian culture type paintings, he had TWO portrait style shots of Obama in front of the White House. I started cracking up because it caught me so off guard, but there he was grinning at me. And, seeing me looking at it, many passing Brazilians started talking excitedly about Obama. The asking price was a little steep (even the "student discount"was a little up there) but it was exciting nonetheless.

I discovered the magic word to use on Brazilian men. "Sou lesbica." It works like a charm every time. Since latin culture is so machismo, apparently the being a lesbian is enough to stop even the most aggressive guys in their tracks. Awesome.

The problem with withdrawing money is that you have to get a ton at once so you only get one convenience fee. But then you get it all in hundreds which means you HAVE to spend some in order to break them. So after exchanging plentiful amounts of money, my friend Alison and I wandered into a restaurant we never would have considered walking into twenty minutes earlier. There was literally a waiter for every table. And they mixed the salad dressing in front of us. And we were so close to the water that it felt like we were eating from a boat. Needless to say we split something (delicious, of course) and ate very slow. I enjoyed the fact that VEGETABLES were included. What a treat.