February 10, 2007
Day 500
I cooked up one last lunch in my suite today and attempted to say goodbye to the owner, but it didn't quite work out. He was a very nice man, but, like almost every Brazilian I've ever met, he only speaks Portuguese. It's getting frustrating not being able to converse with anyone. This is quite different from countries like Chile and Argentina where everyone seems to know at least a little English.
I was hoping to go directly from Salinopolis to Sao Luis, but there were no direct buses, so first I had to ride back to Belem. From there, I boarded my second overnight bus in Brazil, with many more to come. This country is really big!
In the middle of the night, I woke up and was pleasantly surprised to see that the lady sitting next to me had left, leaving two seats for me. I started contorting myself to get as comfortable as possible and started thinking: "This is the perfect position. Legs curled up so not blocking the hallway, body stretched over both seats, arm under head to act as a pillow, jacket draped over torso to neutralize horrible bus air conditioning, earplugs and eye mask to block out all senses." Then I started thinking: "If this is the perfect sleeping position, then why am I thinking and not sleeping?"
