  hello! allison and i are still doing well. we are going to be leaving for salvador on sunday, a 26 hour bus ride. we still are meeting people daily who are incredibly nice and helpful and we are getting confused less and less. however, i am realizing more and more that we are consistently getting ripped off when taking taxi rides. then after charging us an exorbinant amount they drive away saying ´vai com deus´ or `go with god`. i guess that is to be expected, but it doe~sn´t make it feel any better on my wallet! i am kind of getting used to everyone staring at us because we´re the whitest people around , and every other man whistling and whispering telling us we´re beautiful gringos, and homeless and disabled children begging for a bite of our food or for money for food.
but on to the more positive! we are trying all kinds of new and exciting foods that i wish i could bring back for everyone! today we had acai, a amazonian fruit that is dark purple, almost black, that is frozen and then blended and served in a bowl.
better than any ice cream or sorbet i have ever had. we also have tried a ground cooked corn product that is sweetened and wrapped in corn husks and sold on the street. excellent. also, yucca root is cooked in many different ways and is always good, boiled, fried, baked...mmm. despite all of the attractions though, i am very excited to arrive in salvador and see all of the people i met the last time i was there.
also, i think my lungs could definietly use a break from all of the pollution here. i will write again once i am in salvador! i love you all, monique ps. ja, muttichen, die frauen hier rasieren alles. und jeder gooked uns immer an, aber ich glaube es ist weil wir so weiss und kommish aus sehen. ich liebe dich und hoffe das ihr spass gibt bei gieselas! fondu!! oh la la! 
