Reached the Big City

Just spent a week in São Luis, a city that was a colonial town founded back in the 1600’s. Prior to Sao Luis, I was on the road for a few weeks from Jericoacoara to Sao Luis. It was hard, hot, sunny riding. I was exhausted and my knees were feeling strange. Not pain just a form of fragilness when I bent down. In Sao Luis I met a girl named Prescila who invited me to go with her to the beach to meet up with some of her friends. I first I said no because I was lovin’ the time alone then I said yes because I need to be social if I’m going to make friends and find a girlfriend/wife. The beach was great and even though the people there were drinking I only drank sodas or juice. One of the guys lit up a joint and even though I decided to take a break from marijuana I joined in. 

Beach Conversations

A few days later Prescila invited me again to the beach. So a bunch of us were sitting around a table at an open-air beach restaurant eating and drinking and one of the girls who looked to be a mixture of African, European, and American Indian began talking about how people of African descent were marginalized. I listened but didn’t take part in the conversation. They were speaking in Portuguese and my Portuguese isn’t that good but I’m able to understand more than I can speak. Or let’s just say that when I speak it’s very slow and my vocabulary is limited. And even in English I tend to stay out of the conversations, especially controversial ones. Don’t want to rock the boat and get people mad at me. Eventually the conversation morphed into another subject but she always came back to the same topic: the Europeans/whites control all life and the people of African descent are victims. No matter what the subject turned into she always found a segway back to blacks are victims in this world and whites/ Europeans are the victimizers. Since I was sitting at the table, I felt trapped to listen to her speeches. It was getting dark and we had been at the beach for hours and I was eager to return to the city and get back to my duties, which including editing video. She was getting drunk and angry. She was mad that feminism was only feminism for white women, and she was mad how European religions were being forced on non-europeans. I stayed quiet and just waited for the time to depart the beach. We left the restaurant and stopped off the beach house of one of girl’s friends. While on the front porch we called an Uber and the angry girl said to me with enthusiastic anger, “Don’t tell me you voted for Trump!” Whenever Trump is brought up I don’t answer or try to change the conversation but this time I felt I had to say something. “No I didn’t vote for Trump, but I will say that I’m not a Democrat.” “Who I vote for is a private decision, but if you really want to know, I didn’t vote for him, I haven’t voted in years, but I am a Republican.” I was going to continue to talk but I realized that that might be liking throwing fuel on the fire. So I said, “Do you have another question?” The girl was kinda shocked. Prescila went to talk to her and I don’t know what they said but I could understand the emotions. The girl started to cry but got herself back to a calm state. Anyways, things calmed down.

Covert Business

We all were about to leave and the girl was like,”What? You guys are going to leave?! You’re not going to sleep here?” With a ting of sadness. Then we all started feeling guilty because we didn’t want to leave her. One by one each person lost their will to leave and agreed to stay and sleep over. I was the last one still insisting on going home. It was dark, though. And I didn’t have the app for Uber. I was feeling their sadness in their puppy dog eyes. I broke and said I would stay. As I stepped up on the front porch deck of the beach bungalow, they said,“He’s staying!”. Everyone was happy. Later, we were all just chillin’ on the porch and the girl announces that the head of the house would like us all to pay 20 reais(Brazilian currency) to stay over. We were all surprised but nobody protested. Ha ha, she was planning this all along. We were hoodwinked. 

But we all paid and had a pleasant time at the bungalow. I got to see some fishermen return that night with a bunch of fish. We bought some and had a fish dinner with rice.  

Departure

I took the boat out of São Luis heading north-east to the town of Alcantara, a colonial town surrounded by jungle. It was raining off and on the day I arrived. The next day I departed at 10am. The ride was up and down hills and rainy. I had to stop and wait out the rain 4 times that day. At dark I made my destination: Boquimao. Rained all night….the jungle has begun.