May 14th 2013

First if all, Happy Birthday to my dear RFFL, Cammie!

I have never been on a long-distance kind of bus... So the following is a description of just any normal bus ride. It coulda been a bus from anywhere in the world. Just a normal Mercedes-Benz bus. Just so happened t be in Brazil.
We boarded the bus at 7pm. It was initially extremely comfortable. The seats were about a million times better than those aboard the airplane. They laid back farther. There was air conditioning and big windows and I was quite comfy. So I sat there next to Dr. Fragaszy. Then- we took off!
We made our first stop three hours after boarding. Then another some time after that. Then we took several others all along the way. At 4 am we stopped at a big bus station and were all required to get off the bus. Apparently they had to pull the buss around back to wash it. So we all exited like a bunch of sleepy mummies. Some people bought food and such from the stores within the bus stop. Some people, like me, just hung around like a literal dead people. Then we got back up on the huge bus.
Soon we made the real breakfast stop. I didn't need to eat at that time! So I just hung around.
FINALLY I was light enough outside that I was able to see where we were going and what we were passing!! Um, wilderness. That's it. The whooooole way! Not jungle, y'all. But what Dr. Fragaszy said resembles the African savannah (shout out to my baby sister, hi Savvy!)
It was very beautiful... But after two hours of it I became quite sleepy. So I slept (in a position that is still affecting me now, about 24 hours after). I listened to Yuna. My new Malaysian love.
I was nervous about meeting people here.... So I wasn't ready to get off the bus when we finally made it to Gilbues. Alas, I was forced to.
We got off and retrieved our luggage from where they had thrown it under the bus in Brasilia (rude). Then we got into the back of a very rugged old truck.

The back of the truck, of course. And we proceeded down the main road of Gilbues. Um, the town is BEAUTIFUL!! The houses and shops were all so cute and painted soft colors. Or they were made of bri is that are a strange version of those we are familiar with.
We had to make a stop at the farmácia to buy shampoo. BUT GUESS WHAT ELSE I GOT!! A banana popsicle!! Omgggg it was so delicious that I was bouncing with laughter as I was getting back into the back of the truck! Apparently a girl my age thought my reaction to the popsicle was special. I saw her smiling and giggling and watching me from across the road. I would say that we are friends now.

Basically, Gilbues is equivalent to any small town in Mississippi, says Dr. Fragaszy. In addition, all of the residents are familiar with the foreigners that are always in town to study the monkeys. So we might have been a sort of spectacle.
We stopped on our way out of town to pick up rice, melons, and a boy. I think his name is Marcio. He is very cute. He is younger than me, and enjoying life with braces. He said i looked like a brazilian singer named Maria Gadu. Thanks! Then, we were on our way!
The trip the the research site, AKA Boa Vista, was only 30-40 minutes long. We had to stop on the side if the road once to pick up some stones that Dr. Fragaszy thought would be perfect for the monkeys to use as hammers. Then, we completed our journey and arrived at our new home!!!