21:45 BRT (EST + 2 hours)
~~Thursday
Thursday started out like normal. I went to school and such. Then once I got home, I relaxed for a short while, and went to hang out at Cipex for a few hours. Then, around 18:00 (6pm) I went home, finished packing my bags and relaxed a little more. Then at 20:00 (8pm) we had dinner and time went by quickly after that. Soon it was 20:15 (8:15pm) and I was rushing to put my bags into the car so that Odete could drive me to the bus station so I could buy my bus ticket for 20:30 (8:30pm) and get there on time. I did and Paulo met me at the bus station. We got on the bus and started our 2 and a half hour drive to Santo Angelo. That night, since the camping hadn't started yet, I slept at the house of a Rotarian. They had a small dog named Luna, and she was very cute. The couple whose house I stayed at were really nice. They also had neighbors that they introduced me to, they were also very nice. (They all lived in the same apartment/condo building but on different floors.)
~~Friday
WARNING: This is about to get really confusing. Throughout the weekend there were three different Paulo's. To try and keep this as not confusing as possible they will be "Mini Paulo" for the rebound from Santa Barbara, "Coordinator Paulo" or just "Paulo" for the one who is the Inbound Coordinator and "Host Paulo" for the one who's land we stayed on while camping.
The next day, around 10:00 (10am), the Rotarian I stayed with drove me to Paulo's house where some of the other exchange students were already waiting. Once everyone arrived, we went to have a lunch along with ice cream afterwards. After that, it was about 14:00 (2pm) and we all packed our bags into a trailer and piled onto a bus that took us to where we were camping. Once there, we were all introduced to Host Paulo and his wife and were told the random rules a such we had to go by since we were camping on their land. Then we set up all our tents, had dinner, hung out listening and dancing to music and then had a fire and went to bed.
(Happily, one of the other exchange students had a two person tent and I was able to camp with them, as well as another student had an extra sleeping bag!)
P.S. ALSO, we went on a trek through the woods while it was pitch black. It was really cool!! Though a bunch of the other exchange students kept getting spooked pretty easily.
~~Saturday
On Saturday, we all woke up about an hour before we had to. (I'm not sure how because I don't think anyone had an alarm set.) We then went about preparing for the day. The whole weekend was scheduled and so we knew that on this particular day we were going to a park. This particular park had rock climbing, as well as tree paths and zip lining. As well as lots, and lots of evil caterpillars. The first thing we did once we arrived was that we went on a sort of scavenger hunt. We had a map with locations of different posts around the park and with the use of a compass, we and our partner had to go to each one and stamp a paper with the stamp from each one. During this hunt, we had to cross a small creek/river. I might have taken a slight dip with one of my feet and got my shoe soaked through.
Next, everyone tried rock climbing for a while, and after that, everyone got harnessed up to go on the tree paths. While waiting for the chance to go up, one of the evil caterpillars got onto my back, right behind my arm. Once I accidentally moved it with my arm, I finally realized it was there because it started hurting me. (This is why they are evil.) I had also been stung by one the previous day, but it wasn't as bad because we were at the camp site. (Some info I learned last night about these evil creatures. They are perfectly calm until disturbed, aka when you touch or try to move them, when this happens they inject you with a small amount of poison which is why it hurts. This poison is deadly, but happily, only in large doses.) These things hurt, it feels like constant pinching all in one small area where the caterpillar is and was for a short while after it happens.
Now, when I finally got to go on the tree paths it was really cool. Terrifying because we were like 20-30 feet in the air, but cool. There were different parts of the path that were easier or harder to get through. The first was just a regular path but the beams were farther than a regular bridge. Then the next was the same but the beams were only like an inch and a half thick. The third part, was a single wire. On the previous two we had ropes to either side to help steady ourselves. On this part, there was only one rope on one side, then we had to balance and cross a smaller gap to the next part. The final part was the same as the previous, except it was longer and had rope on both sides. Once more, terrifying but really fun. Finally, the way to get off the tree paths was a zip-line. Not much to say about that, it was really fast.
After that, we went back to camp. We had some dinner, and a few of us jumped into the pool that was there! IT WAS FREEZING, but we didn't care. (Not actually freezing but it felt like it.) After that, a ton of us all had to wait on the single bathroom so that we could shower.
~~Sunday
Sunday, we all got up at about 07:00 (7am) and started getting ready for the day. We were going to a water part for the first three quarters of the day and then an archaeological site during the last part. While at the water park, we hung out, took TONS of video on both my, and Jan's GoPro memory cards (Jan is one of the two from Germany.), and I ended up trying a zip-line they had going from one side of the pool to the other.
The entire way was safe, it was over water and at the end they had stuff wrapped around the wire to prevent people from getting hurt. However they made sure it was safe for the majority of people, the ones that made it at least halfway down the zip-line. For some reason though, they had the water part set up so that the beginning half of the pool was only about 3-4 feet deep and the last half was deeper. Don't ask me why, I have no idea.
Well, the reason for me somehow trying this zip-line is that Mini Paulo went up the tower at the beginning and started not wanting to do it anymore. So I told him that if he did it, I would try it too. He did it, and so I had to uphold my part. Now, this zip-line is not the same kind we had gone on the previous day. It was just the kind you hold onto with your hands, and so.... After finally pushing off the beginning platform, I went down about five feet from the start and my grip slipped. I fell into the shallow half of the pool. I had managed to kind of roll back so that instead of my legs going in first, it was my back that hit the water first. After that my arm was the only thing to hit the floor below that. When I got back above the water I realized what all the books I've read meant by the air being forced out of you. I started sucking in air as fast as possible and moved towards the edge of the pool. It was not a fun day.
After that, I ended up getting out of my swimsuit and into dry cloths, though it hurt quite a lot for anything to touch my back, even if it was just clothing. Then Coordinator Paulo took me to the city and to a hospital to make sure that nothing was injured internally. After the doctor confirmed that nothing was wrong internally he prescribed me some pain medicine and we headed back to the water park. Having taken the pain medicine, I felt a lot better than I had before.
Afterwards, we headed to the archaeological site. It was an AMAZING site. It was an old castle-like building that we were able to walk through and take pictures of. After being there for a short while, going to dinner nearby, we came back after dark. They had a light show going on at the castle/building. I'm not sure exactly what it was about (There was talking to go along with the lights.) but I would guess it was about the history of the building. However, half way through the show I started tuning out, the pain medicine had started wearing off and it was REALLY cold outside, like constant shivers-down-your-spine cold. Which when you have a messed up back that keeps shivering, it's not fun. Once the show was over, we headed back to camp, to get some well needed sleep.
These two happened as we were walking back to the bus to gather for dinner.
~~Monday
Monday wasn't very eventful. Once everyone woke up at 07:00 (7am) we started packing everything up. Suitcases, tents and all. We had breakfast and Coordinator Paulo took me and a few others to the Police station in Santo Angelo to get our Brazillian IDs! FINALLY!!! After that, we all hung out at his house for a short while before we had to go on our bus home. Mini Paulo and I's bus was at 10:00 (10am) and it ended up being the same bus that two of the other exchange students had to ride!
After we finally got home, I unpacked my suit case and ended up sleeping for nearly three hours. Which, upon waking, I went and hung out at Cipex for two hours.
~~Tuesday
HALLOWEEN!!!!!!!!!
Tuesday wasn't very special at first, school ya-da ya-da. But afterwards, I got to go to Panambi with a bunch of the students from Santa Barbara-Cipex as well as Camila and Andrea for a Halloween party. (There is also a Cipex in Panambi, which is where the party was, thus the specification.) The party went by pretty fast, and shortly after 19:00 (7pm) I was home.
~~Wednesday
There isn't really anything special to today. However, we did end up having a free class instead of Math. I went outside and ended up playing basketball for a short while before getting too hot. Then after school, nothing happened. Just been sitting around relaxing my back. (We were suppose to have a party for one of the students at Cipex but it has been postponed.)
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