today, a brazilian doctor looked at my vagina

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i don't think anyone reading this needs any further details. let me just say it was a far less harrowing experience than one might expect. although i'm sure all the doctors in the family are gonna cringe when i say that two pieces of paper towel under my ass substituted for clean sheets. and also, my "leavening" problem is now under control.

kyle wishes he could have taken pictures. i'm fine without them.

luckily this was just the morning.

there is something sinister about crumbling ruins in the middle of a jungle formerly inhabited by pirates/deranged criminals/lepers...even when those ruins are just an abandoned aqueduct. i mean, everyone needs water, right? even lepers! we climbed up the jungle aqueduct, pretending we couldn't understand the portuguese signs that clearly said "don't climb the aqueduct", and expect for a few close run-ins with some very large, very hungry-looking ants, we escaped unscathed.

this jungle on ilha grande has a ton of unmarked paths that lead who knows where into the jungle. we were tempted to take these, but with mid-afternoon encroaching and its requisite mosquitoes not far behind, we opted for the sign-posted trail to the waterfall. now previous to this hike to the waterfall, the phrase "uphill both ways" was something i would attribute to some cartoonish, rickety grandfather. but uphill both ways it was. and not just uphill. i'm talking 90 degree angles. with the SKY. but sure, the waterfall was pretty and stuff.

here's what i know about tropical rainstorms: they excrete an absurd amount of rain, but usually only last for about a half hour, tops. well lucky us, we got down from that waterfall in the sky just as the driblets were beginning to dribble...we were eating dinner when the rivers started running through the streets...but the thing is...this rainstorm lasted for 2 straight days. and i'd say that absurd buckets-dumping-over-our-heads nonsense lasted for at least 8 straight hours. and yet somehow, our tent didn't get wet. trying to paddle through the river with a broken umbrella the next day to catch the boat back to the mainland...well, that was another story.

at least there were naked ladies in the communal bathroom that night. the nudity comes full circle.

(NOTE: sorry, no pics of the bathroom, despite kyle's pleadings.)

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Photos

wow. them things got their own gravitational pull!
is ilha grande rotating around our heads or is it the other way around? which is the center of the universe? we may never know the answers to these questions, but i can tell you that the church lights up green at night.

jazz hands in jail!
kyle and i express the fun that the deranged criminals and lepers must have had in this now-abandoned prison.

suicide pact
kyle took this picture just before leaping to his grisly death. miraculously, i managed to save the camera from too much damage.

The Actual Aforementioned Waterfall
This waterfall has no name that we know of, so for now, let's just call it "The Back of Eden's Head."

optical illusion
the reason things in this picture don´t look as wet as they actually were is because this picture was taken UNDERWATER.

Comments

[drae j. namaste-rose]

respecting the differences and feeling better.
i always say you don't really understand the culture until you live as the locals do.. and in this vein, i have a couple of "traveling guidelines": eat where the locals eat. take public transportation. but i never considered visiting the local doctors. thanks.. nice tip. it looks from the pictures that you both are feeling better and getting around again..