Today started off with a wake up call, not from my alarm, but from Jeffson. I figured it would be a normal wake up, so I set my alarm for 8:30 - but it turned out, we would start more work on the ice cream store in the morning so I needed to give up an hour of sleep. It was fine though, I'm glad I can help him while his arm is healing. There was one thing in particular though, that I was excited to help him out with. All of his vehicles are stick shift, so he can't drive with one arm out of commission. I had to do the driving today. And unlike the simple drive from the fast food restaurant, this drive was legitimate; on their highways and into the big city! I'm aware that these roads are some of the tamest in Brazil, but everything sure was different from back home. You had to be on constant watch for potholes, hidden speed bumps, the motorcycles that dart past you on both sides, the city buses that drive like they're motorcycles, and follow all the rules of the road, despite there being next to no signage. I'm really hoping that I didn't stress Jeffson out too much - considering how new these roads areto me, I think I did a good job, but he had to give me a fair bit of instruction. It's different in that you have to be both an aggressive and defensive driver at the same time; take every opening you can get, but realize that everyone on the road is opportunistic and will cut you off. Anyway, yet another good point to knowing how to drive stick. We got to the store in one piece and met up with Marcelo, Jeff's parents and the guy that was making the signage for Jeffson. The whole morning and part of the afternoon consisted of work to get this place closer to opening. I worked on the last of the painting inside the shop, while the signage was being put on outside. It was a good team effort, and a lot of progress was made. For lunch, we had Manaus' most popular fish: tambaqui. It pretty closely resembles halibut in shape and taste and was really good from the restaurant next door. The day's work was done for now, so I drove us back home. Well, almost home - we made a quick stop by the barber shop since Jeffson had a hair appointment. Then we were back. I had a bit of time to chill this afternoon, in between doing my laundry and having afternoon coffee. Marsia (host mom) made a nice cake for with coffee which was delicious. I'm going to miss her cooking when I leave. Later on in the evening, my laundry was finished, so i proceeded to hang my clothes to dry - and again, my feet fell victim to these minuscule, menacing fire ants. My poor feet are going to fall off if I keep this up. The burning didn't last too long this time at least. The evening finished with a quick trip back to the store to gather some things we left behind, then some shopping for supplies for the next jungle trip out. And wouldn't you know, we ended up shopping at what was the Brazilian cousin of Costco. The resemblance was amazing. It was getting late now, so we finally headed back home - but first, a quick stop at a kebab stand on the side of the road. A tasty final meal before bed. I'm really getting the full Manaus experience with this family - I'm really lucky! Not too much else to report today - I have a 6am wake up tomorrow, so time to go to bed.
Our hard work at the store today
The kebab stand
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