Rubella? motels lobby churches? toiletpaper allowed?

My sister asked me whether I had heard about motels in Brazil.... which, having heard little of Brazil, I hadnt and she explained that the favela is mostly evangelist and catholic/christian and that you are not allowed to have sex in your home.
The apparent loophole, that everyone uses, is motels. You are somehow allowed to have sex in motels instead, but no birth control of course. So are the motels lobbying the church? Or maybe the churches own the motels... don't take me seriously please.
She said that most families have 7-15 children in the favelas (all with lice of course, which I have so far successfully avoided). All of the volunteers have had lice.
I am quite wary of lice, because last time I had to cut all my hair!

I did, however, for a couple of days, think that I had Rubella. No, I dont think I got the vaccine for it, and the woman Lindalva, who works at the organization said the bodyrash I had, and warm cheeks, seemed like Rubella to her.
She said its not a big deal, I am just now allowed to go anywhere for 8 days because I would either kill or cause complications
with any unborn babies... and there are a lot of pregnant woman - everywhere!
After some research, and the fading rash, I decided that due to an incubation period of 14-21 days, Its not likely I have rubella... Unless I got it in Austin. Hmmm Texas
but if I do - be careful if i have kissed you and dont go around killing babies.

So, at one point, I had a fullbody rubella rash (supposed), my eyes hurting, a hopefully not infected cut on my finger, swollen hands and feet, and sore limbs, surrounded by lice-infested volunteers. Wheres the spa? I am only kidding - it has been great and minor in comparison to the sicknesses, horrible ones, that my sister has complained/explained of every time I have spoken with her in the last 10 months. Makes me feel alive.

Feeling alive is a bit from a conversation I had with an english volunteer in that the people in the favelas are really living.. despite lack of resources. And its so sad that those with so many resources dont seem to do the same! Here there is community, and dancing, and art, and so much more - people are alive!

So what have I done in the last 3 days?
Well, I ate pancakes on Saturday, had falafels on Sunday, and had cabbage-meat on Monday.
Literally, besides a bit of internet to plan my next travels and research, the one meal has taken up all day. Time works quite differently here, preparing for, hanging out, and cleaning up after and planning etc, has been done quite leisurely with large groups of people.

I was quite happy about the meals these past three days, as my sister doesnt really eat, and spending time with her I was often hungry and in search of food. If it wasnt on the agenda, then we could snack on the volunteer food... which left me one night making beans/rice/carrots/garlic/

bellpeppers.

I have eaten meat at two meals now, as I wont refuse what a Brazilian family has kindly and generously prepared for me. Who knows whether the protein will be good for me, or it wont be good for my body to add additional new things it hasnt seen in a decade to an already confused system.

I have now arrived in Belo Horizonte, sitting at the computer desk of the room that my new
friend Roman and I are sharing as we couchsurf with a brazilian family, in particular, a girl from here, Olivia,
who just got back from being an au pair in Germany and is studying history at the University here.

Universities here are free, though there are some private universities that aren't very good. Olivia told us that it doesnt
help very much to have a degree to get a job - its contacts that really count. Theres also a debate here right now as to
the value of studying history - whether we can learn from it, or not.

I asked her to confirm that I could actually flush the toilet paper down the toilet, as my sister had told me yesterday that everywhere in Brazil you cant do that! Theres also a washing machine and internet - what a luxurious place for us to stay right now.
Her mom, aunt, and brother are very welcoming and we are going to meetup with 3 other couchsurfers tonight who I contacted, to see one of their friends play at a bar.

Once I decided to leave the favelas, partially from restlessness, and partially because I wasnt feeling so well, I realized that two of the volunteers, Roman, and Maria were also leaving yesterday so we are now travelling together. I am not used to travelling with other people, but they both speak portuguese, are spontaneous and flexible and a lot of fun. Roman is from Nepal and speaks 7 languages or so and Maria is from Norway. Roman is going to Amherst in the fall! Small world.

Its winter here in Brazil of course, and in the south its quite cold... so far ive been bundled up - with scarf and jacket and tennis shoes at the least - and its been constantly raining.
Fortunately we are on our way up north and today it is sunny! I am now in a tanktop and skirt and sandals and thinking about sunscreen - I am so looking forward to the beaches we will find a bit further north!
First, though we will go to uberlandia where I will stay for a couple of days or more, doing reserch on a development project there and visiting an ecovillage.

I have contacted all of the ecovillages in Brazil in the hopes of visiting and documenting my visit and disseminating the information through mass media websites as the beginning of a world-wide project that I want to start, bringing the lessons learned and innovative ideas and lifestyles from ecovillages to the mainstream. This is only just a chance for me to get an idea of how to go about it, and in the future, I will partner with organizations, have more structure and sponsorship... but the best way to learn is to just try it out for now!
I have been invited to go to the ecovillge in the northwest amazon, but it will take a long time and cost a lot - so I dont know that I should do that unless I want to change my flight back home. I will go visit one in uberlandia, which is about 6 people...lots of mosquitoes and I need to bring a sleeping bag for the floor. We shall see!

Whenever I am around those whose first language isnt english, my english devolves... I make all sorts of mistakes, which doesnt help them learn, and only entertains me. I'll see what I can do about that... lack of fluidity in my sentences and thoughts even as I start to mix spanish, portuguese, french, and german with my english.

Last nights 9 hour bus ride is the first time in a longtime that I havent been able to sleep on a bus for the first couple of hours... so many thoughts running through my head!

I started to think again, Sunday. Noticable" I was no longer exhausted by speaking multiple languages, the food, culture shock, and the health tolls - and I started talking and feeling a better version of myself. It was refreshing and now I am on a roll again... creatively travelling and learning and exploring, proactively!

Also, traveling is getting my creative juices going once more on the positive-impact travel site I have wanted to create for awhile. Dont steal my idea, because I am going to do it :-)

love

Rashes in the jungle...

On my second day in Brazil, my sister took me to Pequeno Principe, or, The Little Prince. It's a community in the forest, which has a kindergarten, kitchen, workshops, garden, many buildings, and german volunteers.
OH, and one swiss volunteer who I went to school with 10 years ago ! we are still friends with the same people though we dont remember each other being in different grades.
It~s like a mini paradise... with banana trees and many plants I've never seen before.
We took the bus with a group of children from the favela where my sister lives, who were getting a once in a lifetime chance to go to this paradise community for 3 days.
It was a strange feeling that I can go there after one day, and they have waited for years for this opportunity.

Schools in the favelas have three different sessions, morning, afternoon, and evening, because all of the children work. The organization that my sister works for, has many kindergartens and art workshops, thus theres quite a waiting line. Around 50% or so of the children are children of the workers of the organization.

Yesterday, Livy was surprised by the amount of light in the favela near the organizations center.. overnight there was a new lightpost which actually worked, bathing the children playing soccer, in light despite the late hour.

Back in the forest.... there's a volunteer house, more like a magical cabin, with a pond in front, and two adorable kittens running around. There are only male volunteers here, all very friendly and fun, and we speak a mixture of portuguese, german, and english. And sometimes swiss-german.

My portuguese is getting alot better, at least I think it is, though understanding native portuguese speakers is harder than those europeans speaking slowly.

I hadnt eaten much, so when we walked down the forest dirt road, unsafe to females by themselves, but fine with our group of guys, I searched for some vegetarian food at the stores below. Only bready cheesy things if i dont eat meat.
I drank my first Caiparinha, which ive surely misspelled. Its the talk of the country, and of travellers lucky enough to explore Brazil. It was glorious and worth the fame.

The next day, yesterday that is, it was sunny! and hot! All the other days I was quite quite cold here in winter! We laid out near a grove of banana trees, on a yellow fuzzy blanket, hand-in-hand, writing in our respective books. Dreaming of singing happybirthday in portuguese to our mother and enjoying the sunshine. The sunshine put us in a happy daze, which the crunchy apples woke us up from. I definitely got some sun. magical.

We found our friends, who'd been busy at work and were now off to give a workshop on making dreamcatchers. Livy cut her hair and I wandered after our friends, not saying much because of my sleepiness which spawned a bit of confusion when thinking of what language to use. Words coming to me in different languages quicker than words forming one sentence. Fortunately all the volunteers, all 5 or so, speak portuguese, german, and english.... and Manuel some french and of course swiss-german.

At this point I noticed a rash allover my body... little red bumps, bespeckling me like bodyart.

We went into the woods to break off long winding branches, or perhaps vines is the better description. Not too green, and not too dry. My swiss-army knife in my CarHarts came quite in handy once i remembered I brought it with.
We trampled back, my arms full of big rings of these vines. The children from the favela and surrounding community trickled onto the field, about twenty or so, but I have no quantity concept really.

I hadnt made dreamcatchers for many years, so I thought I would just watch. But the children knew better and I was soon in quite the demand, with so many eager quick learning children, and three of us able to show them. My portuguese was quite confusing i'm sure, mixed with spanish and hand gestures.. but the result was beautiful dreamcatchers, a cut on my finger which spurred a much needed conversation regarding vaccines I still need to get, and some happy children.

We took the 1.5 hrs or so bus ride back home, walking down Silva Aurujo street, bustling with people and capitalism, and sang happy birthday in portuguese to Mom through a bad skype connection. We tried.

At around 11pm we went to the community center for theater. It was all in fast portuguese, reminding me that I really dont understand much at all... though Livy confirmed she couldnt either and shes basically fluent. We were warned thered be nudity probably, and yes, one actor was naked, covered barely by a white apron. much passion and from what I could tell, was a social commentary.

Alrighty, enough gas fumes today.
love