Vagalumes e Maracuja

Time is quite odd. It fabricates as if it has genuine proportions, but it speeds up and slows down as if to taunt you. Time here does just that. It feels like its has been months since I last stepped on the Patriotic land of America, yet I canñot believe I have been in Brazil for three weeks. The last several days have flown by redick-ally. On thursday, a couple of students and I took a bus to a nearby town by the name of Amargosa. It is a tiny prosperous little town that a student named Jackson politely invivted us to explore. The town was gorgeous and was truly a sweet little town. He lead a fellow researcher and gringo (which is considered despite being from Ethiopia) and I to several places around town to interview people about our research projects. It was really a great experience. We talked to some pretty high up people, including the top regional distributor for all medications, including all antiretrovirals for HIV/AIDS treatment. We talked to some psychiatrists at a local public clinic, and even went into eight classes talking to around 100 students about their thoughts on the public healthcare system as well as their knowledge about HIV transmission and prejudice. It was all great. Got to attempt to save his sister in the morning from a frog that sneaked into her room as she stood shaking atop her bed holding her confused and barely awake one year old Miguel.
We spent the weekend exploring. Went to a town in Valença where we met the local Bahia Police force. They showed us around and we visited a private school they help run. It was great. The sargent/cheif felt I looked like Justin Beber, which I knodded and smiled to, but because I shook his hand and thanked he, he rewarded me with a hat. Boooh yeah! Betta believe I rep that Bahia Po-po force. We went to a paradise island of Moro de Sao Paulo, where we zip-lined into the water, and visited a massive waterfall. It was two very entertaining and beautifully spent days.
But, it is monday afternoon back here in Santo Antonio de Jesus, and we have but five more days left here before heading to Salvador. We are all excited to see Salvidor and explore another town and people, but what I have come to realize is how much I am going to miss this town. Sure it is relatively small and quite conservative, but it is home to such kind and caring people. I have come to love so many people here, and so many have become family that it is hard to imagine the difficulty of seeing them again in the future. Not only will I miss the families that figuratively and literally openned their arms to me, but so many little things. The lanky man that squats and drinks coffee every morning on a pile of brinks four feet tall outside my house, gojaba and maracuja suco, the sound of horses trotting on the cobblestone right outside after several mottos and cars, the fireflies that dance among the grass and trees near our house, and the silent agreement and understanding that comes with a simple thumbs up. It is a great town full of loving and kind people. The next few days will be spend finishing up my research, which has come along quite well. We are presenting the findings of our research to the local college, hoping we can find a median of understanding and bridging the language gap.
Being able to see my two moms, sister, brother in law, two grandmothers, two fathers, hear little umbligas voice and see my nine month old neice recharged my batteries which was greatly needed.