Day 16 - Last Day with Group

This morning I woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. This was a free day where we could do what we wanted.  I stayed back for the morning and then met up with Brittney and Peyton to go to the mall.  This will be the 2nd time I’ve been to the mall this trip and I'm looking forward to it.

I'm going to miss hanging out with these two amazing people!  Tomorrow is travel day!

The city of Belém is pretty spectacular.  I am definitely coming back here and I am going to bring some of my family as well.

I picked up these treats at a pharmacy around the corner from our hotel.  

I’ve been really practicing my Portuguese today and talking with anyone I can. I find it so refreshing how patient all the people are with me. Once they see that I’m trying to learn their language they are so kind. I actually had Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch, which was not the same as the states.  They didn’t have any ketchup for my fries and their bread is completely different.  We got some ice cream after and it was glorious.

I found a book store and it was amazing!  I want to go back and spend hours in that store!  Once I learn to speak Portuguese more fluently I’m going to read all the books that I can.

For dinner a group of us went to a very nice restaurant.  I love the atmosphere there.

My dinner was eclectic but marvelous!  It was fun trying new things.

I can never have too much Açai!  I'm going to miss this so much!

I sat next to a large family. I talked to the children and got their names & ages. Before they left the children came over to give me a hug and say goodbye. These are the types of experiences I was hoping to have here. I really wanted to connect with the people. Human to human, person to person. I was able to do that a little bit but sometimes the language barrier can be hard. The more I have learned the language the easier it is to connect. 

This is Victor (pronounced Vee-toe) and Gabriel.  They made this trip super special!  They helped translate and were just a joy to be around.  I'm so grateful I got to know them a little bit better.