Meet Chris: She tells me what to do.

We were in Itapiranga. We (the team) had spent the afternoon inviting people of the small town to a church service we were having that night in the main square. All of us then returned to the boat for dinner and to freshen up. I showered, dressed in a skirt, felt fresh as a daisy after the afternoon of grimy sweat. It was such a cool night, comparatively. About as cool as you can get in the amazon. To get to the main square from the boat, we had about 75 feet of stairs to walk up. Pastor Djard announces "ok! as a group, we run up stairs!!" I was feeling so great, I'm like yeah! Lets do this! And I did, and it was awesome!

 Here's the thing. that little burst of exercise made me start to perspire. And having started, it's difficult for me to stop. My freshness was gone. Sigh. Many many minutes later, Chris walks up in jeans (!!!) and looks at me. "Why you sweat so much?" 

"I ran up the stairs to get here."

Chris leveled her gaze at me. "Never. Ever. Do this."

"Well where were you? You know I'm a mess when you aren't around to tell me what to do!"

Chris just sighed. And shook head. 

This is my friend Chris.

She's 25 years old. Don't do the math! Let's just say she's younger than me. When I first met Chris last year on my short term trip with Bel Air, she spoke a little bit of English. But we connected over our mutual love of television and music. 

When I returned this year, I found she's become nearly completely fluent in English. And we've become even closer friends on the several boat trips we've been on together. Chris likes to tell me what to do a lot. 

On my first trip, I would wake up maybe RIGHT before breakfast and I made full use of siesta time's two and a half hours. Of course, I would be groggy all afternoon and not able to get back into gear. 

One day, Chris shook her head at me. "You sleep too much." Since this day, I've learned Brazilians can be a little blunt. 

"I do not!" I retorted. 

"Yes," Chris said calmly, "You'd feel better if you don't sleep so much." 

I blinked a little. "Ok," I said, "anything else?" 

Chris grinned, "Yes, don't drink so much soda. For good life, drink juice, not soda. Wake up early. And don't eat so much sugar."

I bristled. This is my friend by the way. But I took it on the chin and the next day I got up early and had time to get ready and even read a little bit, had a great morning. At siesta (actually the brazilians call it soneca) time, I again read and sat quietly with a couple other brazilians. When the afternoon came, I was wide awake and ready to go. Chris was right about the sleeping. 

But my rebellious streak hung on to soda for dear life. She would laugh and shake her head and say "You'll feel better without it. Drink juice." And I began to notice that the other brazilians on the boat would rarely drink soda and most of the time devoured the juice. 

"But that doesn't make any sense," I said. "I'm drinking Coke Zero with no calories or sugar and juice is loaded with both!"

"Doesn't matter," Chris said with a Cheshire Cat grin and a tinkling voice, "is better." 

I've now done 5 boat trips with Chris. On this last one, I gave up soda for the week. Or tried to. I broke down a couple times, but for the most part I went for the juice instead. I also ate less sugar, less dessert. I felt great. Chris was right. Chris is always right. 

"Yes, I am," she says. "I tell my mother this and first time, she don't believe me. But later she say I was right. And I say I know. When you listen to me, you have better life."

E verdade. 

My flip flops on the left; Chris' on the right.