(June 19, 2010)

Hello friends, how are we? I hope all is well. As you may know, Tiago and I are still in Brasil. We're still hanging out in Valadares and spending a lot of time with Tiago's family. I'm still working on learning portuguese. I think I now have the ability to communicate on a very, very basic level that involves a lot of grunts and gestures. We've gotten quite a bit of exercise too! We walk at least two hours every day, sometimes much more. We're still watching the "Copa do Mundo" everyday. A few days ago Brasil played Korea and the whole country shut down. Everyone and their mother was watching the game. There were horns and fireworks all day long and everyone was wearing patriotic attire. Tiago and I have been playing futebol as well. We've got a game going that will continue indefinetely. So far Tiago's winning 2-1, but I'm getting better!

We're planning to hike up Mt. Ibituruna on Monday. We were all ready to do it yesterday, but we were asked to attend a family party instead..and Brasil is playing again tomorrow against Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) so Monday it is! We've got a small tent and plan to camp there overnight and then hike back down in the morning. It's about a 4-5 hour hike each way, and we're told that we're going to be very cold. The temperature drops pretty significantly at night time, and even more so on top of the mountain. But it's bound to be a beautiful view ad an amazing trip, so we're going to "rough it". Wish us luck!

....THIS JUST IN! (The last message was written a few hours ago):

This is Tiago speaking - There is a small park about two blocks away from the apartment.  We had intentions on continuing our epic 1 on 1 game.  At the park there is an enclosed outdoor basketball court area that has two goals on each side underneith the basketball hoops.  This is pretty normal in Brasil since most people are more interested in futebol than in basketball.  We began playing our game and Lena scored a goal on me (psst... I let her).  A small boy of about 9 years old, named Rafael, walked into the court and asked if he could play with us and we agreed.  The game turned into a 2 on 1 (Lena and Rafael vs. Me).  Let´s just say that I am about as good as Lena combined with a full-blooded 9 year-old Brazilian boy.  He was quick, clever and had a strong shot.  And even though she never knew what to do with it, He made wonderful passes to Lena.  They scored five goals and I scored five goals, making our cumulative game 7-7.  Afterward his mother came over and talked to us for a while.  We made a friend, Yay!

Lastly, Next weekend on the 26th, we're planning to travel to Teresopolis to visit my cousin, Diogo.  It´s said to my the most gorgeous mountain town and I highly recommend looking it up for yourself.  We´ll let you know how that goes later on.  Thanks for reading.

With love,

Tiago and Len-er