Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Day 1



Today we checked out of the hotel and were taken to our host family's homes. There we had about an hour to get settled and visit. At 11:30 we met at the State Military Police Headquarteres where we met with the Colonel in charge of the State police. We had lunch in the officer's mess hall (?canadian term..?) with the Colonel and some of his fellow officers and a couple of our host families. Here, Brenda stole the show by giving the Colonel a Saskatchewan flag pin and when he let her pin it on his uniform (which had many military decorations on it already) she was allowed to give him the traditional Brazilian check kiss - I am pretty sure not too many people are allowed to do that with the Colonel.






After the police headquarters, we travelled to the 'old town' section, where we toured the Palace (which included many 1800 artifacts including furniture and paintings) and the Cathedral (which had beautiful hand carved and painted decorations throughout the church). The picture attached is of the Cathedral, which was built in 1629. The one wall has a floor to ceiling carving covered in gold (although only the upper half is still gold...the rest went missing...).






In the afternoon, Brenda returned to her host family home, while the three of us ended up at the mall to do some minor shopping. After a siesta time at our host family's homes, we met for supper (dinner for you in Manitoba and Ontario and Brazil) at a restuarant on the beach that served traditional Brazilian food, specifically bbq. With a few Brahama cerveja (beer) and perfect weather, we had a wonderful night visiting.






Now we are at home preparing for our early morning wake-up call for a boat tour.






Boa noite.

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