Twins

My sister made it here safe and sound and we're having fun exploring all the different sides of Rio...going to the beach (almost the first time in a year for me!), playing cards under the stars, stares, and far-away gunfire of the favela, trying sugarcane juice and fried pastels as a late breakfast, hanging at Praça XV with street kids, and much more...Walking down the street today after church we ran into Elias, who takes off his glasses and looks at us with the most confused expression: am I seeing double??? Two foreign women? Everyone thinks we're twins, which is immensly humorous, considering the four year difference in our ages. But it's fun to turn heads...

Anna's also playing spy for the family and Junior and his family are earning some serious points with her...I think! We spent three, four? hours playing cards last night and during a course of that famous lying-through-your-teeth game, "Bull%*$&*," she managed to learn to count from one to ten in Portuguese!!! We're both a little fried from our time at the beach the other day, which isn't surprising because the thermometer measured 102 degrees yesterday. Summer's here!