Prep Saturday



January 24  Saturday

Merl gets up early most mornings and studies.  He is reading in the Portuguese Book of Mormon and is able to understand most of what he reads.  It is slow reading, but David insists that reading is the best way to learn.  Understanding what is said is usually the last piece of the language that comes. 

Mid-morning, Ann and I went in search of a loja that might have native beads/seeds/nuts to make a necklace.  We found a little artisan shop behind the visitor center that had several beaded necklaces that might work - the women who made the necklaces didn't take a debit card, and I didn't have enough cash.  She said she would hold them for me.  Discouraged, Ann and I went home. 

Artisan Shops

I convinced Merl to go for a walk with me.  Ann said that she had purchased beads a couple of years ago from an Indian sidewalk stand by the cathedral.  That was our destination.  The only things we found there were trinkets made of sticks, yarn, and feathers.  So we walked back to the little shops and purchased the beaded necklaces.  The women there gave me some "string" to make my own necklace.  Then I needed to get some spray varnish, so we walked back the other direction again to find a hardware store.  The store was closed, and Merl was ready to go home.  Success and failure in the shopping trip today.

Merl and David both spent a lot of time today on budgets and finances - tallying up expenditures since we have been here.  David also gave Merl a tutorial on the Family Search website.  Ann and I worked on Primary stuff - lessons, pictures, Regras de Fé (Articles of Faith), and music.  We made a big batch of waffles for dinner.  Merl needed a haircut before church tomorrow, so that was the last thing to do before bed.  He also checked his email and found a message from District President Nunes giving him direction on how to proceed with some of the SF de Paula issues. 

A couple of random photos that I found interesting:  Phone booths are found all along the streets, a rustic TP dispenser in a gift shop - sign say: "In an emergency, break the glass.)  Inside is a dry corn cob. . . might be fun to make for our outdoor bathroom.  Every home, apartment, or business has a trash collection bin - various sizes and shapes - but divided into seco (dry) or organico (wet).  The trash collectors come by frequently - a big truck with a couple of men emptying out the bins by hand and tossing into the truck.  Sometimes they just pick up the dry, sometimes just the wet, and sometimes both - thrown into the same truck



 Phone booth

Trash collection

TP Dispenser