I´ve been keeping a mental list of the interesting and curious things that I have observed and experienced in Brazil, so I thought I would jot down a few before they escape me:

• Don´t flush toilet paper; instead, put it in the small trash can next to the toilet.
• Speedos are in style, and men of all ages and sizes wear them on the beach and beachfront streets unabashedly.
• Avoid riding in the back of a pickup on a dirt road (good advice in any country, but particularly on muddy, winding, pot-holey roads in Brazil).
• Three words that begin with “Gu” sound similar but are very different:

1. Guaraná is a fabulous soft drink that tastes kind of like a fruity Mountain Dew.
2. Guarapari is a local town with open-air markets and streets full of shops.
3. Guanabara is the rural community where the new church is located.

• Winter here is like Autumn in Texas; it is breezy and cool. Such wonderful weather, even with the rain!
• I heard that 80% of the population lives on the coast!
• People are friendly and will almost always respond when you greet them in Portuguese.
• Tile is cheap and abundant; there is little/no carpet.