Thursday in Parana

Today was mostly a "down day" and Nalini took Floyd, Justin,and me into Londrina (half hour from Arapongas). We had lunch at the Mall (expensive) and looked around there before heading downtown to stores that were more of our style. Visited the jewelry store of the Rotary Foundation chair (Floyd bought some things). Once downtown, one of the first orders of business was for each of guys to get a real shoeshine on the pedestrian mall. the kids are part of a program where they go to school inthe morning, shine shoes in the afternoon (average perhaps 5 per day) and get breakfast and lunch. They are required to go to a meeting and to church on Sunday. Justin got the $2 shine while Floyd and I got the $6 shine (we're not as cheap as Justin!). Justin said it was the bestshine he'd ever gotten.

Then went to a downtown counterpart of the Shipshewana flea market with lots of knock-offs. I bought a pair of Brazilian shoes for 80.00 Reais, under $50 US. Seem pretty nice. Then stopped fo a pastry before heading back to Arapongas. Dinner in the homes tonight. Doug transferred to anew family, Luis Enrique and Rota Quessado and their 9-year-old daught Ana Carolina. Pizza for dinner. stayed up talking until after 11:00pm. Luis would be watching Fox New Channel if he lived inthe US! Weather had been great, though dry.