JumpEarth Around the World Adventure

Hi! On the morning of our flight to Cuba, we woke up at 4:30 in the morning and left for the airport. This was on March seventh. When we passed through security, my fifth(?) math compass for school was seized. Honestly, do they think I’m going to poke someone to death?! This compass had a sharp tip about a centimeter long and was probably only as sharp as a toothpick, but it still got confiscated! Anyway, when we got to the gate we prepared to eat the sandwiches our hotel in Bogata had made us, but they sadly had ham in them. Therefore, we got snacks at the airport restaurants. The reason I mention this is because I bought my food at a place called The Market, a side-store of a chain called Wolfgang Puck. Wolfgang Puck is at our airport in Denver so it brought back memories of home, as we traditionally eat there. We arrived at our hotel at around 1:30 in the afternoon on Havana, Cuba and met or very nice host, Isaac. He is a local man renting rooms of his sectioned house to tourists, and we also met his son, wife, and nephew. The proceeds of this family-owned business go to them instead of the large hotels that pay money directly to the military government of Cuba. We wandered the streets and ate lunch, showered, and rested, and at dinner we fed a beautiful pregnant orange cat some of my fish. While we walked around, we also saw an old woman with her dog and a litter of puppies. They were so cute! We gave her some money because she was providing for them and because she was old and we wanted to support her. We also ate ice cream from a local joint for dessert. My first impressing of Cuba was very nice. I had seen many handsome old cars, left over from when the U.S. and Cuba had had trade relations, and all the people seemed very kind and friendly. The next day, March eighth, we got up at nine o’clock and ate breakfast. Then, Troy ordered us a wonderful old 1955 Chevrolet Bellair Convertible! It was a vibrant turquoise color with white upholstery and an eagle hood ornament, and I absolutely fell in love with it. Ordinarily, I am obsessed with Volkswagen Buses, but that day I was all about the Chevys. We drove around Havana, our heads feeling the breeze through the open roof, and noticed the other car types. There were old Cadillacs, Fords, Buicks, Thunderbirds, and more! Though some of them, like ours, were used for tourists, many of the cars simply belonged to local people! When, after the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States and other countries stopped trading with Cuba, the citizens were only left with the beautiful cars from the 1940s and 50s! This is one aspect in which I envy them, for I would love to have a dashing old car. Today’s cars are hideous! Speaking of the Cuban Missile Crisis, we briefly passed by a museum dedicated to it and saw some shot-down US spy-planes as well as bombs. We looked at a statue of Christ, though of course it was nothing compared to Christ the Redeemer in Rio, a telecommunications building that looked like an inversed, tall, Mayan, pyramidal, temple, and saw some more fabulous architecture.

Among the buildings modeled from the US, the capital and another building that I can’t remember the name of but is in New York, we saw tons of intricately detailed and decorated houses, but many of them were in disrepair. We learned about the Italian American prohibition at the Riviera Hotel, an old casino. We also stopped at a Jewish Synagogue. There, we met a man called Moshe, or Moses in English (though before we told him we were Israeli he introduced himself as Maurice), and looked around the place. There were shapely windows and large walls, as well as many pictures of the festivities held there. When we were finished, Moshe, a local Cuban (who happens to have played in the Jewish ‘Olympics’ or Maccabiah) invited us to a community Shabbat dinner at the synagogue.

We continued driving around and Asher tried his first (virgin) mojito until our three hours in the glorious car were up.

Before I move on, I forgot to mention that our driver, Javier, another local, showed us a video of Will Smith sitting with him in this very car! I would be quite excited, but his upcoming appearance as the Genie in Aladdin has caused me to become very disappointed in him. We also stopped at a park named the John Lennon park and took a picture with his statue. Banned from listening to English music, a group of young people were arrested , for one to five years for listening to the Beatles.

Speaking of music, we listened to an array of old songs in the car including Elvis, Mandy Moore, and Johnny Cash. After our ride, we went back to the house, or casa, and I read. That night, we went to the Shabbat service at the synagogue. A boy and girl with horrible horrible horrible voices sang the service for 85% of the evening, a girl with a good voice but who wasn’t loud enough and an old lady who drowned her out sang for 10% of the service, and the last 5% of the evening was of a speech or lecture made almost entirely in Spanish. However, when the worship was over, we ate Shabbat dinner with Moshe and many of the Cuban Jews. Our plates were piled with warm tuna, rice and black beans, and vegetables, all very good. Along with water, we were served a flat orange beverage that tasted like liquid bubblegum, and for dessert we were served an orange bubblegum-flavored jello! We actually had a lot of fun and I thought it was a great experience.

After dinner, we went out for ice cream and went back to the casa. On March ninth, the next day, Asher had a Spanish class with Isaac’s son, Andy, and Aba and Troy and I wandered the streets of town and the boardwalk, where we saw another cruise ship. We also changed money, a slow, scamming process. After lunch and dinner, Aba and Troy went to see the Tropicana Cabaret (ages 16+), leaving me and Asher at the hotel to watch Cuba and the Cameraman, a movie about life in Cuba before and after the Revolution.

We followed the lives of three old brothers, my favorite characters, as well as other locals including Fidel Castro. We learned that the Revolution impacted everyone, farmers in the suburbs as well as people in the city (such as others slaughtering their animals for meat so they cannot work). It was a very enlightening movie and I highly highly recommended it. You can watch it on Netflix. March tenth, the next day, followed a similar pattern. Asher went out with Andy and the adults and I walked. The most interesting part of the afternoon was seeing another Jewish synagogue, this one Orthodox rather than Conservative. It was in a very poor neighborhood and the only person there was Cuba’s only Kosher butcher. On our way out, we met the Mohel, the man who conducts the Bris for Jewish children. He was an old man and very sweet, but Aba said he would never let him near his baby with those shaking hands.

We went to the casa and I read again, but I dropped my Kindle. Aba had dropped it previously in Colombia, it fell of the table so it was already very cracked, but now the cracks are deeper and more jagged. That is why this post may seem bad, I am typing with one finger to lower the risk of glass getting into my skin. That’s how much I love you! Anyway, that night, we went to the ballet version of Cinderella. When Aba had bought the tickets, all he knew was that they were for a ballet, so Asher was not happy. The performance wasn’t excellent, but it was good. As we left, a little girl was twirling in the lobby the way I used to when I was younger. It was sweet.

I also learned that Fidel Castro wanted the country to be socialist. At some point, he also attempted to learn English. There were also shortages because of the collapse of the Soviet UnionOn the morning of the 11th (a month before Trixie’s birthday!), We woke up early and drove for the hours to a cave. The cave was kind of lame compared to the ones we saw in Vietnam, for example, or the Interspace Caverns we grew up next to in Texas, so it was the least memorable part of the day.

We then drove to a tobacco plantation and cigar making factory(?). The Cuban cigars at this organic and chemical-free natural farm are hand-rolled and cost four dollars each. The methods are so traditional, I’m talking oxen and plows here, that is it protected by UNESCO. I learned that there are Cohibas, the strongest and darkest cigars; Romeo and Juliets, medium power cigars; and Monte Cristos, the mildest and lightest-colored cigars. The leaves highest up on the tobacco plant are used for stronger cigars and the ones farther down are used for the milder ones. However, leaves for cigars are only taken from the main plant, not the offshoots. Leaves from the offshoots are used for cigarettes, but they are not harvested in this particular farm because they don’t make cigarettes there, only cigars. The leaves of the plants are picked and the leaves sorted into groups by where they grew on the plant. Then, they hang in racks until they dry and are sprayed with a fermenting spray, all natural. They are soaked in this for months until they are rolled. During this process, the nicotine transfers into the main vein of tobacco leaf which is consequently ripped out. Then, they last for five years. Chemically made cigars last longer, but I still thought this was cool.

The flowers of tobacco plants are small but are filled with seeds. These are planted for the next year, as tobacco can only be harvested once a year. I vaguely knew about the previous information, but I was very surprised to learn that cigars are made up of 100 percent leaves! I always assumed that tobacco was powdered up and rolled in some kind of special paper, so this was a really eye-opening learning experience for me. Aba and Troy each tried a cigar, the Monte Cristos, though they didn’t finish them and got to keep them. Even I took a couple of puffs off one! I’ve always heard that whenever someone tries a cigar or cigarette for the first time they will hate it because it makes your throat sore, and I’m not sure if this is because it was the mildest brand, but I didn’t think they were half bad! Of course I wouldn’t have them often even if I was allowed to, but I liked how subtle their taste was. Asher refused to even smell the cigars.

After the wonderful exposure of the plantation, my favorite part so far out of our entire experience in Cuba, we stopped at a small town. At that point, Aba and Troy decided that they wanted to buy some cigars for themselves and as presents for family, so we turned around and drove back to the farm. They bought a mixed pack of the three types of cigars with 25 in the pack. They also got for five for free (for a total of $100)! We Then drove to a surprisingly vibrant wall mural and a viewpoint. Before lunch, we stopped and I bought a Casata! These are ice-cream sandwiches that I used to eat in Israel, but now I can’t find them anywhere! It was delicious. After a scrumptious lunch of beans, beans and rice, rice, vegetables, and chicken, we drove back to our casa. I read and showered, and Aba brought us pizza while we watched another movie about Cuba. I liked the Cuba Libre Story less and thought it was less engaging that Cuba and the Cameraman, but I still learned a lot. It told about the Cuban Revolution and famous historical Cuban figures and how the United States tricked Cuba by promising freedom from the Spanish and basically occupying them instead. After that, Asher and I enjoyed ourselves watching Kick-Ass 2, the sequel to Kick-Ass. The next morning, the 12th, we woke up at a decent time and had a pretty uneventful day. We strolled along Havana’s ocean-side boardwalk and went from our casa to the Hotel National by foot, quite a distance in the broiling heat. However, we enjoyed ourselves and Troy had a lot of fun taking pictures. At the Hotel National, we had a great view of the ocean and saw peacocks! Later that day, we learned that during a period of Cuban tension before the reign of a man called Batista, all of his enemies hid in the hotel with the U.S. ambassador and eventually ran out of ammunition to shoot back with. They were defeated. We hired a car to take us back to our neighborhood, and with our luck, it was an old Chevy Impala! It was great, and even the same price as a normal cab! Once at our neighborhood, we walked next to the Central Park Hotel and ate at Sloppy Joe’s. Before we returned to the casa, we browsed through two antique stores. I read, and Asher persuaded me to watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 with him. We ate dinner at a nearby restaurant with very good food, and returned to watch another episode of the film we’d watched the day before. We learned a lot about Fidel Castro. For example, he grew up as an illegitimate child and was raised by his poor mother and his father’s sugar cane workers. We also learned about other prominent Cuban figures, such as Fulgencio Batista, who basically ruled Cuba, and the United States’ role in Cuban affairs, especially when it came to the sugar trade in World War I. At that time, the price of a pound of sugar went up from three cents to 22 cents because of the shortage of beet sugar from the Soviets, and Cuba became a sugar monoculture. Anyway, After I read a bit more, we watched Mamma Mia. Yeah…. I don’t recommend it. Before watching Mamma Mia, I accidentally shut off my Kindle, thereby deleting that day’s blog post, and had to rewrite it again in the morning. The 13th was occupied by a lot of screen-time. In the morning, we watched two episodes of the show about Cuba and then walked. We went to the Ernest Hemingway bar and took a picture with his statue. A couple of months before, we had had to read The Old Man and the Sea by Hemingway for school, and as the book was written in and set in Cuba, it was wonderful to see all of Hemingway’s inspiration from the Cuban people.

We returned to the casa and Aba made us watch another Cuban episode. In the three episodes, we learned about Castro’s rise to power. When in university, Castro was a figure in many small rebellions. Finally, he orchestrated a not-so-well-planned attack on the country’s second-largest military base and failed to conquer it. This would have landed him in prison for fifteen years, but he was pardoned after a year and a half. He and his men regrouped and eventually took over Cuba! After dinner, Asher wanted to watch Central Intelligence. However, I washed to watch Tim Burton’s Big Eyes, and since he’d picked the other movies we watched Big Eyes first. It was about an artist who was explored by her husband, I won’t say any more for fear of spoiling it, but 1) I really liked the movie and 2) I loved her art! Then, we watched Central Intelligence. In the morning, we left the casa and said goodbye to Isaac and the rest of our friends. On our flight to Bogota, a man next to us was being deported for staying in Cuba for too long! Here is my summary of Cuba: It is a beautiful country and I enjoyed my experience. However, it was a lot more touristy than I expected, evidenced by the astronomical prices and many people’s fluency in English. I did learn a lot though and am glad I went. It also surprised me how dedicated Cubans seem to be to the United States considering their treatment by them. Cabs have air fresheners with the U.S’s flag on them, people wear U.S-flag print shoes, shirts, and other articles of clothing and accessories. I think the U.S. needs to step up and stop shunning Cuba, especially since from what I’ve learned on the trip the United States was the constant instigator. 5-21-7-4

Ella

Rest In Peace Matilda “Tilly” Shaul

Beloved chicken and friend, you will always be remembered

2017-2019

She is lived on by her sisters, Tweety, Kiwi, and Hazel, her friends, Ella, Asher, Troy, and Ofer, her companions, Trixie and Bruno, and by all the visitors who visited her in the chicken coop

3/04/19

The next day, we drove with our host’s son to Cartagena. The drive was an hour-and-a-half long, but the town was beautiful! Quaint old buildings flanked the narrow streets and young people rapped accompanied by guitars. We walked and I drank coconuts, and we also saw a statue made by the famous artist Fernando Botero. While we were there, we were asked to pose for some marketing photos for a new photographing company called Memories. They took our photos and gave us a copy of one, but Troy thought they were trying to scam us. I also did some research later and found out that they were NOT a new company. We ate lunch at a really good restaurant. I had an excellent fish with basil coconut rice and tried ceviche for the first time. The sourness was delicious!

Speaking of sour, I am sour because Troy has limited the number of pickles I can eat per day because he thinks they are unhealthy. But I love pickles! Also, before we even entered the old town we explored Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas fort. We saw this fort in a movie the night before, Romancing the Stone, and it was cool to see it in person.

The next day, today, we flew to Bogata, Colombia, and I just have one interesting tidbit about our flight. We waited next to the gate and got first in line, but then a fat man cut us. Aba remarked to Troy, “it’s like they haven’t seen us waiting here for half an hour!” and the man replied that ‘without us you wouldn’t be able to fly’. He said he was the pilot. We noticed that he was wearng shorts and no uniform and Aba said that they shoud have given him a uniform. When we board the plane, he sat doen in a seat! He lied!! Anyway, tomorrow we’re flying to Havanna, Cuba! It is really hard to get a tourist visa to Cuba, so I’m very excited that we can go. In addition to seeing another fascinating country, our goal is to interact with more of the locals, especially the Jewish Cubans. Who would’ve thought they would make up such a large part of the population? It would also be really amazing to be invited to Shabbat dinner there, so I’m hoping that will happen. It would be quite a learning experience to see if their religious traditions are different from those of the Jews in Israel and the United States. I don’t know very much about Cuba, but I know relatively about the Cuban Missile Crisis. I’m not 100% positive about my facts, and since another one of our goals is to learn more about Cuba’s history with the US while we’re there, I’ll tell you what I learned in my next post or two. Anyway, that’s all for now. Bye!

Ella

I decided to let my friend Una write today’s code, so this is from her!:

“8-21-5-15  23-21-12-12-1-26.  1’12 8-17-6-6-6-6-6!!!!!”

During our flight to an atrocious six-hour layover in Panama, I read a book on my kindle called Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart by John Guy and watched four movies, Rango, Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax, Matilda, and The Witches. Don’t judge me, I only had limited options. The layover was horrible because there was no air-conditioning, no restaurants or good food, and no place to sit. I ended up sitting on the floor eating a hotdog, so you see what I mean. Then, we flew to Barranquilla, Colombia! There was a group of birthday-party-goers that screamed almost non-stop on the tiny airplane, and I was glad when that was over. We arrived at around midnight, but our Air B&B hosts, Nadia and Elyssa-Sofia, picked us up. We thought that that was very kind of them because some of our previous Air B&B hosts never ended up meeting us at all during our stays! We got to the clean apartment and slept. The next morning, Asher and I were awakened at 1:30 pm! Aba, Troy, Nadia, and Elyssa-Sofia (I think that’s a beautiful name, don’t you?) had gone to the supermarket to buy groceries, and had also gotten our Carnaval costumes! That’s right, Carnaval!!! Barranquilla is home to the largest Carnaval (or Mardi Gras) in the world after Rio (but Rio’s is in a stadium costing $1000 per ticket per person) and the most culturally authentic. The adults bought flowery shirts and sombreros, but my sombrero was awaiting an ornament… We did homework, but in the evening the women picked us up again! They tried to take us to the most colorful and festive building in Barranquilla 2019, but it was closed. We went to the Window to the World, a colorful fiberglass piece of art-chitecture, and went to dinner on the 26th floor of a hotel. There, we could see all of the city through the glass walls. We learned that the women have ten siblings and a lot more about them. I forgot to mention, neither of them speaks English. How did we communicate? you may ask. Well, google translate! The world we live in…

The next morning, we left the house at nine and waited until ten to enter the bleachers. We waited for a few hours while Asher watched movies on my kindle and we ate limed-and-salted mango and ice cream (the ice cream was NOT limed-and-salted!) We met an English-speaking Colombian girl who’s boyfriend is from Indianapolis and we talked for a while. She was very pretty, but also very friendly and sweet. We ate ice cream that Aba didn’t have loose change for, so the man in front of us very kindly offered to pay for us. Another sweetheart! The festivities started up slowly at first, but when the professional floats and synchronized dancers began coming, Aba, Asher, and I moved from our shady back-row seats to sitting at the very front of the bleachers. Of course, there was a group of super rowdy, and more importantly super drunk, middle-aged people next to us. I knew Carnaval had officially started when one of the women accidentally dumped her entire beer on my body… the first time. The second time, another beer went into my hair, and the rest of the afternoon I was splashed with alcohol. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves, but the party was marvelous! I really enjoyed it, though Asher just seemed bored.

The next day we woke up later because the first day we had come too early, and we left at around 11 o’clock am to reserve our seats. The Carnaval was set to begin at 1 pm but started at 2:10 pm instead. It was 1.16667 hours late. The day before had been a festival for flowers, and that days’ was meant for traditional synchronized dance. Again, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but we had even more fun than on the day before!

Aba made friends with the people sitting next to us (we had stolen front row seats instead of our back row ones because the system changed to first-come-first-serve) and they told us a lot about the carnival. 1  4-14-23-3 12-6-26 4 23-18-6-6-26 7-14-4-5-15 26-6-6-13 8-17-3-12 4-8-17-1-5-4. We ate some yummy grilled chicken skewers, and on our way back to the apartment, we ate churros in our neighborhood and saw some children spraying each other with foam from a can. The next day’s Carnaval was the most “Carnaval-like” out of the three. If you’ve ever seen the movie Rio then you’ll know what I mean. Feathers and sexy dancing! This is what I had expected when we looked at possible places to go for Carnaval. However, there was more to the festivities than this. Many of the performers were old men and women, and there were two dancing groups of disabled people and people with down syndrome.

I was frustrated part of the time because when I tried to sit in the front like everyone had the previous two days, a group of old ladies yelled at me. Then, the next time I tried, an ordinary self-entitled woman came and forced me to get up. She did this every time I tried again for the rest of the afternoon, and she wasn’t even working there! Not to mention that she was blocking everyone’s views while patrolling the bleachers. Therefore, I have deemed the bleachers that day as the ‘Boo’ Bleachers in honor of all the sour-pusses sitting there. We had more chicken and churros, then came home. I am writing the blog after taking a freezing shower, and I’m sad to say that that is the end of Carnaval! I hope we get to see it again next year! By the way, Carnaval is not Mardi Gras! 13-3-26  12-4-17-9-1 10-17-4-23, 21-13-4!!

Ella

On Friday, we drove around with our guide and driver, Reinaldo. Our first stop was to see Cristo Redentor, or Christ the Redeemer. This is a 125-foot tall statue of Jesus Christ and is an iconic image on Rio de Janeiro all over the world. Even though we aren’t Christian, it was really cool for us to see the statue if only for its being so well known.

Next, we went to a Favela. Favelas are basically slums, but they truly are more than that. Over 6% of Brazil’s population lives in Favela’s, with roughly 1000 favelas established just in Rio! These hillside communities are cramped and controlled by drug lords, but most of the people living there are actually really sweet. We toured the Santa Marta favela with a local guide, Marco. This favela, like most of the others, was painted in bright colors and had beautiful graffiti art everywhere. Marco introduced us to a few of the people living in the community and showed us his own home and a home he rented. We also got to meet his sweet dog! Santa Marta, unlike the other favelas, has a cable car that we took part of the way up. When we got to the top, a sweet little girl offered to sell us a drawing that she’d made. Troy bought the picture, but a younger boy, perhaps her brother, got jealous and the girl had to console him (even though she was grinning the whole time). In addition, Michael Jackson filmed the Brazilian version of his song They Don’t Care About Us in Santa Marta! There was a statue of him there and a tile mural. The favela also has a gym! Marco’s house was interesting because it wasn’t as some might expect. It was relatively clean, had air conditioning, and even had a pool on the spacious roof! Marco has five kids (from five women), is already a grandfather, and is only 45 years old! Before we left the favela, Marco showed us the Samba school’s carnival practice room. Coincidentally, some of the boys in the band were there and played us a song on their drums! They were actually really good! I highly recommend Marco, so if you ever visit Rio, you should support him!

Also, before I forget, Marco told us that one of the girls in the favela now officially has a crush on him! She thinks he’s cute! There was also a kindergarten in the favela, though the older kids go to public schools. One more thing! While we were in the favela, we saw a few teenagers with machine guns. They are harmless to tourists and are only meant to protect their turf from other drug dealers, but it was still a very interesting experience to see them. Also, there was one that must’ve been 15 years old! That’s only two years older than me… I can’t even imagine living like that. We next took a cable car up to Sugarloaf Mountain (I call it Meatloaf, but that’s also what I call Bruno, so it might get confusing!). Though the rock has an odd shape, it is famous for its amazing views of the city and harbor. We ate lunch at a Brazilian restaurant. I got confused because getting food was a bit complicated because of communication but I ended up getting beef! I was so happy because Brazilian meat is AMAZING and DELICIOUS and yumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyumyum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry. Asher managed to drop his entire plate of nuggets and fries, but otherwise, the meal went smoothly. That night, Aba’s friend came to visit us in our apartment. Before that, Merrill and I swam in the ocean and had a lot of fun at the beach. The next day, we went to a lookout point on another hill. There was also an out-of-use helicopter pad. After that, we drove to tiled stairs created by Escardia Selarón. Reinaldo told us that because the pregnant love of his life would not return to him, he committed suicide by emulation when he finished the stairs. It took him 23 years. All the stairs are intricately tiled and it made for an overall wonderful effect.

Next, we went to Rio’s cathedral; Catedral Metropolitana de São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro. I won’t say much about it because it was made of concrete and I thought it was ugly, though Aba, Troy, Asher, Merrill, and Rolando loved it, but I liked the stained glass windows.

We ate lunch at a fancy sandwich place that used to be a patisserie. The building itself was architecturally fabulous!  We also bought a plastic horse outside. It walks around a pole and looks so ridiculous that we had to get it! I know, we won’t get souvenirs from our travels but we buy a plastic horse… Don’t judge! It was funny! We also stopped by Rio’s old cathedral, the cathedral before the concrete one. It looked very modest from the outside, but inside everything was covered in gold! It was a very stark contrast to its exterior. I think this was a very smart design plan; it causes the worshipers to gawk in awe.

On our way to the Contemporary Museum outside of Rio (it had one cool hammock exhibit, but the rest was ‘meh’) we stopped to look at graffiti art and joined a pre-Carnival party.

There was music and a float, but it was pretty small. Still, it was a taste to get us to want the real Carnival! We went to the museum and went home. After homework again, we watched Rio, the movie from my last post! I want to party! Party! I want to samba! Party! I want to party! Party! And Fly!!! The next day started off with us walking on the beach. It was sweltering hot so we didn’t spend long and ended up doing homework for the rest of the day, but it was great while we were there. The beach was packed!

As had become the norm, the day and the days following consisted of swimming at the beach with Merrill in the evenings, doing homework during the day, and watching Desperate Housewives at night. Two days ago, February 25th, was Merrill’s last day in Rio and mine and Asher’s anniversary with Troy! Before Merrill left that night, I gave Troy his present. As you know, I’ve been working for roughly a month (maybe 75ish total hours) on it, and I was really happy when Troy fell in love with his customized tarot cards! Asher and I first met Troy when he came over for Shabbat dinner three years ago. Earlier that day, I had bought a deck of tarot cards at Pearl Street, so that night I read his fortune. You can zoom in on the little orange card to read the rest. Anyway, I’m not sure what happened to that deck, but I made him a new one with two illustrated drawings of Troy, two of me, two of the chickens, three of Aba, three of Asher, 11 of Trixie, 12 of Bruno, and 13 of others, for a total of 48 tarot cards, one dedication card, and one diy box!

I’m so happy he liked it. It really was a lot of work. Yesterday, we had planned to go to a beach outside of Rio. However, there was a lot of traffic so we stayed in the city instead. The highlight of my day was going to the Museum of Tomorrow. Even though it was mainly in Portuguese, I think I can honestly say that it is the best museum I’ve ever been too. I highly recommend it. They had many exhibits, all beautiful, about the world, how it works, what created it, how we are destroying it, and how we need to fix it. My favorite exhibit was demonstrating the fluidity of the wind and the ocean, called Four Oceans. Two lengths of near-transparent cloth were trapped in an air vortex, so they looked as if they were dancing. I’ve never seen anything even remotely like it, and found it magical. I wish we could upload videos onto jumpearth so you could see it too, but Troy says it doesn’t work. If anyone is techy enough to figure this out, please comment! I would love to put the video here. I bought my friend Una a really nice postcard at the awesome gift store and took a video of a really cool box made out of a plastic bottle. I want to try and make one myself!

After that, we went to an Aquarium. There were some wonderful fish and a lot of exhibits about water pollution and littering. I kept thinking about how much the environmentalist club (Net Zero) and the animal club (Animal Action) at my old school (Summit Middle Charter) would’ve had a field day at these places!

Aba mailed the Buenos Aires and Rio postcards today to Una, and we did homework until evening. Then, we ate with Reinaldo at a cool restaurant and I got my last taste of Brazilian steak…. *sigh*…… The restaurant was very cool because it had miscellaneous objects hanging from the walls and ceilings, the bathroom floors were layered with partly crushed coffee beans (so it smelled amazing), and they gave us literal hunks of parmesan! Hunks!!

We just drove back to the apartment, and we’re going to sleep early because we fly to Colombia tomorrow. I really did enjoy Rio, for sure a lot more than I expected too, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I came back. So, sadly, good bye Rio! 10-3-3-9-7-22-6…

Ella