Brazil - Part One

The trip from Peru to Brazil took a long time. To get from Lima to Belo Horizonte you have to cross some desert, climb or fly over the Andes Mountains, and travel through lowlands of the Amazon basin. The first thing the Brazilian immigration officer wanted to see was my vaccination record, but luckily Erasmo had made sure that it was up to date. Then she stamped my passport and I was in Brazil!


Vanda met me at the post office and took me to her apartment. She lives waaaay up on the 15th floor. I spent a lot of time looking out my bedroom window at all that green; I pretended that I was a bird flying over the park. The prettiest little ring-tailed monkeys, called tamarins or saguis, live there. (You can see some of them if you go to the Biodome in Montreal.) Vanda gave me some bananas, and one of them let me feed her!





















I'd really hoped to be there for Carnaval, but I just missed it. Pity - Vanda had a special samba dress already for me. It was beautiful, and I liked to twirl in it, but I haven't worn it much because I wanted to keep it looking nice.

Here's a picture of Vanda, her esthetic doctor, and me. I love the way Vanda is always smiling - she is always happy and making jokes. She's sort of like the aunt everybody wishes they could have, the same way that you'd love to have Elias and Erasmo for uncles.

Vanda teaches English at a couple of colleges here. One of her classes is all teachers. Well, not teachers yet, but they're at teacher school learning how. It's funny - they go to school at night! They asked me about Canadian schools and what we do at home, and I taught them some English expressions like "Dude!" and "Cool!"

It was still light when Vanda and I took the bus out to the college. It's 25 km from her apartment, but I loved looking out the window and seeing more of the city. I shared my seat on the bus with Ana Clara. I tried to talk to her in Spanish, and she just looked at me - then I remembered that in Brazil they speak Portuguese! Boy, did I feel silly!

I have to get off the computer now, but next time I'll tell you about going to the market with Vanda!

Medical Check-up

Before Erasmo mailed me to Vanda, he had to give me a health certificate so that I could enter Brazil. I didn't mind him listening to my heart and lungs with the stethoscope (although it tickled a bit). He let me have a turn with the stethoscope, so I got to listen to my heart too. It goes thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.

I hope I'd remembered to wash my ears that morning! He said that they were in perfect shape, though.... no more ear infections. I used to get them all the time, remember?

What I most definitely did NOT like were the shots. I had to have two of them to go to Brazil: one for yellow fever and one for hepatitis A. Look at the size of those needles! The only reason I didn't cry was because the nurse was taking pictures to put on the blog. I sure didn't want you to see photos of that! But, you know, Erasmo talked to me all the time and it didn't really hurt that much after all. He put a bandaid on each arm and it was all done.

I hated to say goodbye to Erasmo. He is cool and funny, and he did so much with me. I LOVE his family! I love Peru, too.

Muchas gracias, Erasmo! Te quiero mucho.

abrazos,

Sally

Sally Mallory, Tomb Raider

One of the most exciting parts of my trip to Trujillo was visiting the Moche valley. The Moche lived a long time ago, before the Incas made their mark on the Andes. The culture died out around 1,200 years ago, but you can still see where they lived. They were wonderful artists, making things like this portrait out of clay; and these ear ornaments. Erasmo and his mother took me right to the top of the Huaca de la Luna. In the distance you can see the Huaca del Sol, and a little bit of Trujillo. The huacas are a little bit like pyramids: one for the moon (Luna) and one for the Sun (sol). They say that it took 50 million adobe bricks to build the Huaca del Sol!

I was a bit scared to go down inside, because they've found lots of skeletons and National Geographic talks about people being sacrificed here. You never know, there might have been a curse or something! Erasmo's mom let me hold her hand in the scary parts. Each new generation of Moches made a new row of murals. Some of them were kind of spooky... there was a sort of Terminator dude in there killing people. It was really cool, though, like being in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

On the left is a picture explaining about the murals inside the courts. They also had all sorts of different pamphlets about the Moche culture, but I'm only reading at Level 22 in English. The pamphlets must have been at Level 40 or something like that, and they were in Spanish! You can read more about them in English here, but you might want to ask a grown-up to help you out. I had to!

Erasmo said that the King and Queen of Spain visited the huacas last year. That must have been cool! I wonder if they found it creepy too!

A visit to Trujillo

Erasmo took me to Trujillo to visit his family and see where he grew up. Here I am in the central plaza. Erasmo showed me this poster about a famous breed of horse here: the Peruvian Paso. I didn't see them doing any exhibitions, but they're supposed to have beautiful gaits.

This is the cathedral in Trujillo. Do you notice that the sky's blue here? I have to say that sometimes all that grey sky in Lima really got to me. I'm a sunshine sort of girl!

The Freedom monument is at the central plaza in Trujillo. It looks as if it would be really fun to climb on, but of course I was polite and just asked Erasmo to take my picture with it.

One of the things I really really like about travelling is trying all these new foods. Here on the left is a plate of mote with green maracuyá juice. (Maracuyá is passion fruit.) Ms. Wright says that you were able to try mote, when you made Hundreds Day soup in class. How did you like it? I love mote, especially when it comes with chicharrón (which is a little bit like bacon). The other picture shows another typical Peruvian lunch: ceviche (a kind of pickled fish) with cancha and ñuna on the side.

Sally

(As written by Sally)

Whew! I've been so busy that I haven't had time to sit down and work on this blog. Right now I'm in the Central Post Office in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While I'm waiting for Fernanda to come meet me, one of the postal workers let me use the computer. Here's an update on what's been happening.

These photos were taken when Erasmo, Giannina and I ran the 7 km pedestrian race at the town of Santa María Beach, south of Lima. (Well, to be honest, I only ran the last 500 m - when I saw Erasmo coming to the finish line, I ran out and joined him.) Then the three of us went to the beach for a while. I put on sunblock and tried to lie down and take a nap, but that's hard for me. Instead I watched the surfers ... there are some really big waves here!

Here I am with Erasmo and his cousin Sandra (in the dress), and his friend Giannina (ready to run). As you can see, I still have my basket. I packed extra sunblock in it.
Here we are at the beach. Pity I forgot my swimsuit, but maybe it was a good thing .... at least I didn't get a sunburn!

I love hanging out with Erasmo ...he's always doing something interesting!

Back to the beginning

Until now, we never really knew what happened between Sally leaving Mallorytown and arriving in California. However, we just received a package from Lakin, who tells us what happened at the very beginning of Flat Sally's trip. Read on for details.

(You'll notice that the faces of all the kids have been erased. That's to protect their privacy, since they and their parents haven't had a chance to say whether or not they want their pictures online.)

October 14th, 2008
We left Mallorytown and we went to Ottawa for a few hours to pick up Mila. Then I took Flat Sally to Lennoxville to visit my family.

October 15th, 2008
Today Flat Sally and I relaxed while we visited my family.

October 16th, 2008
Today me and Flat Sally spent the afternoon with Grandma and her friend.

October 17th, 2008
Today me and Flat Sally relaxed at the house.

October 18th, 2008
We left from Lennoxville and went to Matane. When we got to Matane, we went to McDonalds, and I took Flat Sally in the playplace.

October 19th, 2008
We left from Matane and we took the ferry and drove to Sept-Iles. At Sept-Iles, me and Flat Sally went to see my cousin Colby.

October 20th, 2008
Me and Flat Sally had a sleepover at my cousin Colby's house.

October 21st, 2008
Flat Sally and I did some crafts today.

October 22nd, 2008
Today we drove from Sept-Iles to Natashquan. At Natashquan we stayed at a hotel.

October 23rd, 2008
From Natashquan we got on the boat to go home.

October 24th, 2008
This morning we arrived at La Tabatière, my home. Flat Sally and I went to see my cousins.

October 25th, 2008
Ocean, Bianca, Flat Sally and I played outside all day.

October 26th, 2008
Dad and family took Flat Sally and I to my winter cabin. A bear had ripped the plastic and opened the door to our cabin.

October 27th, 2008
On Monday me and Flat Sally played in my playhouse.

October 28th, 2008
I took Flat Sally into my school, and showed her to my class and to my teacher.

October 29th, 2008
Today we got Flay Sally ready to go to California. Good bye Flat Sally and everyone.

Sally spends January in Peru with her friend Erasmo

Sally has spent January in Lima with Erasmo and his family, and loved every minute of it. He celebrated his birthday on January 16th, and Sally was the very first person to wish him many happy returns. Here she is, the night before his birthday. She's admiring Erasmo's Pisco Sour; she would have liked to have one too, but Erasmo reminded her that she's much too young to have anything with alcohol in it. Sally had fruit juice instead.



Erasmo's mom and sisters have joined everybody in this photo - doesn't this look like a happy way to celebrate?

Here we see Sally with Erasmo's birthday cake the next day. It looks delicious! You can also see the rest of his birthday lunch, which featured duck and ceviche and a nice bottle of wine. (Again, Sally had a nice glass of fruit juice, but Erasmo let her have a sip out of his glass, just to try it. She liked the fruit juice better.)

Here are some more pictures of Erasmo's family during his birthday lunch. You can see his cousin Roberto and his Aunt Mary on the left. Aunt Mary is working on a new outfit for Sally; Sally is trying everything on to make sure it fits properly before Aunt Mary finishes hemming.

Here's a picture of everybody around the birthday table. You can see Erasmo's mom Lilia, his sister Liriola, his Aunt Mary, his sister Lucía, his aunt María Esther, his uncle and his cousin (both named Roberto).

Next, Erasmo took Sally to visit the Magic Circuit: a whole series of fountains, all lit up night so it looks like a fairy playground. Sally got soaking wet, of course, but had a wonderful time running through the spray. After that she was a little chilly, and had to put on her coat and hat to warm up a little.

The labrynth was her favourite place; from this picture it looks as if every kid in Lima is running through the spray!

The circuit is even mentioned in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Erasmo also took Sally to visit the main plaza in Lima. As you can see, Aunt Mary finished Sally's new outfit in time for the occasion. The little bag is exactly what she needed: she's carrying her sunblock in it, along with some emergency money. She also has some emergency phone numbers, some candies given to her by Erasmo's mom, and, most importantly, her passport.


The yellow building is the Presidential Palace, and you can see the cathedral as well. In Latin America, all the most important buildings are built around the edge of a plaza. Sometimes the plaza looks like a little park, and sometimes it is mostly paved or cobbled.

Now, Sally's getting ready to fly to Brazil to visit Vanda. She needs her yellow fever shot, but after that she's good to go. She's really going to miss Erasmo and his family, though!