Day 5

“Imagine the burden on your back as your pilgrimage progresses. Many times, the burden that the traveler carries is the heavy load of unasked questions. Those who refuse to ask vital questions along the way pay the consequences, either by getting lost or settling for the superficial loss that is everywhere served up to the tourist on the fly.”
-Phil Cousineau

This morning we woke up and had to check for frost-bite on our fingers and toes. Just kidding, but seriously, coming from Atlanta temperatures in the fifties feel like snow. As we limited ourselves to only two cups of very strong Brazilian coffee, Rob decided to stuff his face with as much of the white bland cheese as possible. We shoved all of our clothes and toiletries back into our “small satchels” in literally three minutes as we hustled out to Paul Caesar and the bus. We went to the Anglican school COLONAR, where the library was currently under construction using government funding. We were impressed by the many computers, one of which was available for John to upload the two previous blogs. We headed across the street and up another hill to Boystown, an orphanage for boys under 18. We met three boys staying at the orphanage.





























We are all very eager to get involved in the program once we return to Atlanta because of our unanswered questions about life at the orphanage. After our tour of Boystown we said goodbye to the seminary and countryside and headed to the urban Petropolis, better known to the pilgrims as P-town.














Our first stop was Santos=Dumont’s home, the Brazilians’ version of the Wright brothers (that is how he signed his name to show the Brazilian-French equality). After learning about the Brazilians’ first flight, we walked down the “Champs-d’Elysees” of Brazil towards the Imperial Museum.


































It is a 19th century Brazilian mansion, which was Don Pedro’s summer home. For forty-five minutes we slid around on mandatory slippers and polished the floors as we toured the beautifully decorated rooms and the exquisite jewels (including the scepter and crown of Brazil’s last emperor), paintings, and outfits. By 2:30 everyone was ready to eat. We drove about twenty minutes and arrived at the gates of heaven, Lago Sul, the Fogo de Chao of Petropolis.
















For about an hour we kept our green cards up as we stuffed our faces with different types of meat, side dishes including fried plantains and onion rings, but most importantly meat, chicken hearts, and more meat. Will Boswell, Jason, Brad, and our very own John Mitchell never refused anything that passed by. Often used was the phrase, “it’s a party in my mouth.” Needless to say, it was a hit, which unfortunately caught up to us later down the mountain as we headed back to the convent. The minute we stepped through the convent door it was dinner time, and we got just what we needed, more rice and beans.

-page zakas, maggie riddell, & a little help from helen harris