If this half is amazing, then...

Friday was a travel day for us. We flew from Manaus to either Brasilia or São Paulo (depending on which group you were in) and then connected on to Salvador. Once in Salvador, we took busses to the Othon Palace Hotel. And they're not kidding when they use the word Palace in the name. The OPH Bahia (Bahia is the state that Salvador is in) is a wonderful five star hotel set on the Atlantic Ocean. And Salvador is a marvelous city with both old and new.

On Saturday we toured part of the old city. The area is named Pelourinho which translates to "whipping post" because it contains the town square where the whipping post for slaves was located. Salvador was a major hub for the importation of african slaves into Brazil during the colonial period. We walked down cobble stone streets, saw a couple of cool, old churches (important from the early Catholic influence in the city) and learned quite a bit of history in a short amount of time.

We lunched and shopped (and shopped and shopped...) at the Mercado (market). One of our guides (yay Wilson!) even took us down into the tunnels that were used for bringing in the slaves and what a gift of "living" history that was! Some of us had a few problems with using debit cards, but we have been pulling together and lending money to those who need it until they get to a machine that works for them. From the number of packages I saw coming out of the Mercado, the shopping part was a rousing success. The lunch was somewhat interesting from several accounts. I did not have personal experience of it, but Cindy Twining said that the hamburgers had yellow lettuce and green tomatoes and some were actually missing the meat! It is sometimes interesting dealing with other cultures.

On our return from the Mercado, the kids swam, the adults napped and the rest did whatever Brazilians do in the middle of the day. The swimming was apparently quite refreshing because that evening our students gave what the venerable Shawn Lawton called "a performance that was beyond words" at the UFBA (the federal university located in Bahia). Perhaps another reason for the spectacular concert was the incredible acoustics of the space we were in. Or maybe it was the fantastically appreciative crowd who turned out in surprisingly supportive numbers because this is actually a big holiday weekend in Bahia and most people have fled the city for their smaller home towns and villages.

Our Sunday started with another spectacular breakfast (I found the room where they make the omelets here... yum!) in preparation for yet another boat ride. The group boarded two schooners curiously (though quite inappropriately) named "Sinking" and "Hopeless" and sailed off into All Saints Bay. Our weather was gorgeous: warm and sunny with a little breeze while we were on the boats. (Yes, parents, we did remember our sunscreen.) This time it was to Monk Island where we learned some history (mostly about how the indigenous tribes cannibalized the monks who were exiled to Monk Island), roamed the soft sandy beach, swam in the ocean, explored the tide pools for crabs and sea shells, and drank Guaranâ. It has quickly become the new favorite drink among the Mona Shores Choir. From Monk Island we sailed to another island (sorry, I don't recall the name) where we ate yet one more wonderful buffet lunch. We're being fed so well, I am beginning to wonder whether we won't need an entirely new wardrobe by the end of the trip to accommodate our (adjusted) waistlines...?

Unfortunately, we were a bit behind in our schedule all day long, so we really had to scramble to shower and change when we got back to the hotel. But, everyone did a great job of rushing back to our busses in time to head to dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse named Baba Gula. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the concept of a Brazilian Steakhouse or churrascaria, it is a restaurant serving grilled meat, offering as much as you can eat where the waiters move around the restaurant with the skewers, slicing meat onto your plate. Of course, all of this meat is in addition to the overly large buffet table which seemed to have twice as many choices as any other we had encountered up to that point. And to make the restaurant an even bigger hit with our group, they served ice cream with fruit for dessert causing many of us to wonder whether we had in fact died and gone to heaven.

Following this most recent incredible meal, we were treated to a performance by Brazilian Folklore Dancers. If that name sounds a bit boring to you, perhaps you'll recognize the more common name for the dance they perform: Capoiera. Let me just say that the multiple standing ovations that the kids gave to the performers hardly goes near describing how much they amazed and entertained us all. When we have all returned home and you see photos or even a clip of it on the dvd, you'll have a better idea. But this was an event that only being there would allow one to truly comprehend the power and magnificence of what these people do. This trip continues to amaze and excite... And we're just hitting the halfway mark!

To those following along at home, all the luggage made it. Mr. Dake no longer has students in need of disciplinary time. We will deliver the messages you write in your comments to the kids. And things are going very well.

We head off to the state of Minas Gerais tomorrow and the students have their home stays. My only problem (besides needing more time for blogging) is that I am running out of superlative adjectives to describe our experience. It is an incredible, fantastic, outstanding problem to have.

What's big and wet and cool and hot and...

What an incredible couple of days it has been. Tuesday morning (after another spectacular breakfast) we walked across the driveway of our hotel to the docks on the Rio Negro where our group of 120 boarded three large boats which, incidentally, were staffed by another set of outstanding cooks as well as other crew members, and began our journey to the rainforest.

Appropriately enough, it was raining at the time. But then the fact that the smallest of the three vessels was worth more than $1,500,000 and they were all multi-leveled with sleeping compartments done in fine wood and with game rooms with large screen flat panel TVs playing James Bond movies went a long way toward taking the kids minds off the soggy weather. We cruised down the Rio Negro toward where it joins up with another tributary to form the Amazon River, lunching in the gorgeous wood floored dining room and it was a grand adventure.

We stopped at a small village about a 1/4 mile in from the river and experienced a wonderful tribal music and dance presentation in a hut out of the rain. We also had an opportunity to purchase some local handicrafts which we took advantage of all too zealously. After being thoroughly entertained by the indigenous people, we walked back to our boats in the rain.

Eventually, the rain gave way to simply cloudy skies, so some of us went for a dip in the Amazon. From the third deck of our boats! What a rush it was to see the river flying up to meet you! And the water felt great! There were tons of photos taken as we plummeted into the dark brown water (from whence the Rio Negro, Black River, derives its name) and even some video. (Sorry, no time to post photos yet; it's all I can do to keep up on the written part of the blog.)

Back on the boats, we traveled further down the Amazon to the "Queen of the Jungle", a floating restaurant in the middle of the Amazon rainforest where we, you guessed it, ate another in what has become a long line of outstanding meals with no end in sight.

Dinner was followed by cayman (like a crocodile) hunting in the dark in a group of 15 person river boats that were much like motorized canoes. Also a blast and very cool to be on the Amazon at night. One of the highlights for me was when we stopped and shut off the engine to hear the sounds of the rainforest while floating gently on the river beneath a nearly full moon.

After an overnight on the big boats, we awoke before sunrise to get back in the canoes and experience the waking of the river up close and personal (ask someone about the sloth) followed by breakfast and the trip back to Manaus by the afternoon. (There really was much more to that than just a single sentence, but it is after midnight and did I mention we were up before sunrise?)

After returning to our hotel, we swam and cleaned up and headed for the Teatro Amazonas (an opera house in the middle of Manaus) for our first concert. It is a perfect location to showcase the beautiful voices of our amazing choir! And what a perfect end to our day...

Tomorrow we travel to Salvador. If the past three days are any indication, it will be amazing!