Whale Call

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So this Thursday Sara, Fany and I packed up and headed to Porto Alegre. It was slightly amazing. First we went to Pati's apartment to unload our stuff, and then we went to the PUC's (a really good university in Porto Alegre where Sara's dad went) museum of Science and Technology and theeeeeeeeen we took a tour of the city and then we went out to eat and then we went shopping and then we ordered Pizza from Pizza Hut (boo, we both ate it cheeselesss because the cheese tasted like regurgitated babies, in sara's words) and then at one thirty in the morning we picked up Paulo from the airport and drove to Santa Cruz do Sul.
The museum was really cool. Everything was interactive and there was A LOT to do. There was one thing where Sara and I would sit on opposite sides of a round table and try to pass a beach ball back and forth while the table was spinning REALLY fast. The only problem was that we kept accidentally hitting the beach ball off the table so the guy had to keep chasing it around. The workers at the museum didn't seem to like us. They got mad when we kept hitting the beach ball, posingwith the caveman figures, tapping on the snake's cages while singing arabian nights, accidentally kicking our shoes off when we went on the outer space spinny ride and lying down on the mirrored floor in the mirror room to take pictures. We were so nice to them.
The tour was really pretty. We took a ton of pictures and went to an outdoor market. We saw the Cathedral during the tour (although for whatever reason they got really mad that I kept taking pictures while people were praying. Whenever the flash went off the nearby worshipers would look around and be like, "Jesus! You've come at last!") and we also saw the Gremio stadium. We were going to buy jerseys there but they were the "official" ones so they were insanely expensive.
You know what else was expensive? EVERYTHING. For the people who wanted presents...you better be grateful because I have no money left now. I fully expect someone to buy me a Mika CD or tickets to Spring Awakening because I spent almost no money on myself (not counting a really cheap manicure and lunch...at McDonalds).
We went to a gaucho restraunt on our first night in Porto Alegre. There was a Danish troup of ballet dancers sitting next to us. They were pretty cool.
After eating a ton of meat there was a performance in which various men and women performed various cultural and complicated dances and then a guy came on with a rope and pulled volunteers on stage. He seemed to think it amusing to whip a rope around their heads so that it messed with their hair and nearly killed them. Sara was lucky enough to be dragged onstage (literally dragged). If I could capture her expression on that stage...hahaha.
Yesterday I went horseback riding with Sara's dad while Sara had a fascinating conversation with some lovely locals. The horses were nice and luckily it was Western Riding so I was actually somewhat good at it. English riding is awful...ugh.
We looked around Santa Cruz's various hangouts with Sara's dad yesterday. We went to the tennis club where he was raised, a car racing track in the middle of nowhere, the local University (think Dominican) and then to the mall to get a coffee. I had a brownie with mine and Sara had a coconut cake thing.
Today we went to the grandparents house to have lunch (breakfast for us since we had just waken up) and then we came home and watched CSI. Woohoo!
We are really living it up here.
In a couple days we're going to the mountains so we'll have a lot of pics (though probably not as many as we have now). We'll update then!
PEACE
Lilly and Sara

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Comments

[Momz]

Z
This could be my favorite blogz. The photos are great - not just the subject matter and titles, of course, but the composition is interesting and artistic. It must still be cold because you have your winter coat on - doesn't sound as though that is stopping you, though. Love that you went horse back riding; how cool is that! Have fun, Love, Momz

[Dadz]

luvz the picturz
Especially that one with just the guy in lower left against the white wall. Ver' cool, hearing from you and seeinz all those outdoorz pics. You've got a great eye. Looks like lots o' fun. Ver' weird to see pics of you in places we've never taken you. But I guess I'll have to get used to that. (Sigh!) Must go now and brush up on my Portugese so we'll be able to talk when you returnz. Luv youz.

[Grampa]

Comments from your Grandfather
Wow! Great pictures. Very good selection of non-descriptive captions. Well, almost descriptive. We are all very jealous of your wondrous trip. The great sights. The wonderful people. The gracious guards. It's really great to see your sense of humour come through. I'll bet EVERYONE appreciates it as much as we do. One thing that is hard to understand is that if you can put a towel on the radiator, the presence of a radiator must indicate that there is central heating??? If there is central heating, why are you so cold? It's been very, very hot here so it's hard to believe that it could be so cold there. You must be exaggerating!! We listened to your "favorite" musician, Mica. Wow! Makes me glad I grew up in a different time. Sorry, didn't mean that. He was great. Real smooth. Sure. Well, we hope you are having a good time and not getting too bored with life in Brazil. Maybe if you were able to get around to more olaces it would be more interesting.:-) Love, Grampa (and Grandma)

[Less]

Pictures
Great pictures! Looks like you're having a ball. Did you know your mother was called LeeLee and rode horses as a child? Sorta scary if that is something you didn't! Less