Back to Normal?

We are back to the mission, but I don't know if we are back to normal yet. On Thursday, Elder Zaugg came by and said that a tour guide in his English Class was willing to take us on a night tour of São Paulo. We try to stay away at night so this might be an opportunity to see the nightlife.

We loaded in a car and drove all around as she told us the history and sites of the city. I tried to write some notes of what we saw, but couldn't see to write. We stopped at a big hotel that looked like a ship. The lobby had a big reading area and a wall-full of drinks. It also had some interesting chairs and a big restaurant on the top floor with a view of the city.

Hotel lobby

Does this need a flash?

Oh, what a chair

City across a pool in the restaurant

We passed by several parks and learned about the four great architects of São Paulo.

Liberty monument 

Auditorium

 We ended by going to the mercado market which is very interesting at night. Large trucks come in with various types of produce and unload them in a warehouse. Produce sellers buy the items wholesale and take them to their booths in the market (and probably the feiras throughout the city). Fruit is really cheap, but in large quantities.

Market at night

Carrying the produce to the booths

Produce ready to sell wholesale 

Guard this food!

Friday we went as a department to Outback for lunch to celebrate birthdays for Cintia and Badu. It was a lot of fun. Maybe next week we can actually get started with our work again.

Lunch with the department 

Birthday party for Cintia

 We stayed in the apartment for most of the day Saturday to catch up on rest and chores. Elder Hall made a big batch of soup so he invited us and the Swensons to share. It made a nice eatable supper.

We had our regular meetings for Sunday, but it was hard to concentrate on the Portuguese. Understanding takes a lot of mental energy which we have lost in the process. By the afternoon we had to get out of the apartment so we took a little walk in a neighborhood across the highway.

She held very still for the photo

We learned on the night tour of São Paulo the difference between graffiti (wall pictures) and pixação (wall writing). We find both all over Brazil.

Pixação (above) and graffiti

Mamão (papaya) on the street

This must be Indian territory

Night lighting?

We found a nice park to walk through. As we walked down the trail we noticed that it closed at 5 pm. We wondered if we would get back in time or spend the night in the "mata".

Mata in the city 

A little church on the corner

Let's clean up this city

It feels good to be back where we belong, but we are still very tired and need to regroup. This next week ends June. We wonder what July will bring.