So, for some reason this post vanished on me, I'm reposting it now.
Ola.
So, yeah, first things first, don't expect anymore pictures, I'll explain why in a bit.
Okay, yesterday, Celina (from Germany), Andriea (a Brazilian who lived in the states for a while) and I all went shopping at the Historical District in Sao Luis. We were dropped off at the bank there to meet up with Andriea (Celina spent the last week at my house). We walked around and looked at lots of things, eventually finding ourselves in a store that sold everything that had anything to do with hand care. It sold every kind of nail polish you could think of. (It even had camouflage nail polish! I kid you not!) We spent some time there, picking up lots of polish (Celina got upwards of twenty bottles... I got six.) We then walked around some more and picked up some paint (I also got a couple of hair clips that were kind of cool.)
We walked to the other side of the district and then, sitting in front of a police outpost, painted our faces to look like the Brazilian flag. (We looked ridiculous...) Just as we finished painting our faces (and were taking pictures) and bunch of other people came up to us and asked if they could take their pictures with us. We took the photos (much to our amusement...) and then using the two cameras that we brought with us (mine and Andreia's) we took lots of other photos. Eventually we decided to go home and called our families to come pick us up after washing the paint off of our faces. We crossed the street and sat on some benches that were close to the bus terminal.
They say hindsight is 20:20 and now, looking back, I rather wish we had gone INto the terminal, or at least near the entrance closer to the police. Andriea was painting her nails, Celina was looking at photos on Andriea's camera and I was telling them about the Hudson River Gorge and rafting, when three men came up and took our stuff before running across the street. I ended up with the only 'injury' (though you can barely call it that...) as I had been pushed down and had ripped my jeans and scrapped my knee. The police showed up rather quickly but they needed one of us to go with them to help point out the robbers. Seeing as I was the one who was the calmest (something I'm rather proud of myself for...), I jumped into the SUV with the four policemen and we took off after the men. If I wasn't so freaked out it would have been rather cool, considering that I was being involved in a police chase but I was a little bit freaked at the moment. The three men split up, one (the one holding my bag, of course...) ran towards the interior of the island, one (holding Celina's bag) ran towards the shore (which was near the bus terminal) and the last one (with Andriea's bag) ran a bit further before heading the same way. One by one the three policemen that weren't driving would say pare (which means stop) and one would jump out of the car to go chase a robber. Soon it was only me and the policeman who was driving in the car, he drove to the area behind a restaurant and after telling me to go to the restaurant, took off to help the other policemen.
I went to the restaurant and explained what happened in rather poor and panicky Portuguese. (I must admit to saying things like 'Eles tem o meu bolsa!' which means 'They have my purse!' along with the one that I think anyone would say, 'Eu quero a minha mamãe.' which means 'I want my mommy.') They got me a bottle of water and helped my calm down a bit. The officer soon came back and drove me back to the terminal where I went to the small guard station where Celina and Andriea already were. Andriea was crying and claiming that it was all her fault, to which I forced her to look in my eyes and told her that it was not her fault it was the robbers fault and we we just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Celina was also crying and I gave them both hugs and sang a little bit (okay, I sang a lot, but it seemed to help them and it passed the time...). Andriea had her phone, it was the only thing of value that wasn't taken because it was in her pocket, and she called her mom asking her to come and get her, originally she was going to go home on the bus but none of us wanted to be alone for that long.
It took a while but eventually my host parents came, they weren't aware that we had been robbed, Celina's phone had been taken and no one remembered their number, so they had to be told by people who had seen the robbery that we were in the guard station. When we saw my host mother, Celina and I gave her a big hug and then she went to go and get my host father who was still in the car. We were very happy to see both of them. We then waited for Andriea's mother to come on the bus.
While we were waiting for her, the police brought a man in that they had caught and asked us if he was one of the robbers. However, because I had only caught a brief glance of them, I couldn't be sure, it was a rather nerve-racking experience. We then sat just outside the station, in the terminal waiting for Andriea's mother.
After she arrived, all of us (including Andriea and her mother) piled into the car and went to the nearest police station (that was not an outpost or a guard station) to report what happened. Of all of us, Celina lost the most, including her exchange student ID, along with her phone, nail polish, credit card and money. Andriea lost her camera, money and nail polish. And I lost my nail polish, my hair clips, my boater's license (which I have never used...), my money, my credit card, (my library card, too, now that I think about it...) along with my camera which is why I won't be able to upload all of the stupid photos that I took of me with my face painted. I really wish I could redo yesterday but no such luck...
We took Andriea and her mother to their house before going home ourselves. When we got their, Celina said that she was seriously considering going home, I told her that I would be staying to finish out my year, even if it was just to prove to myself that I could. And when I Skyped with my family earlier today, my dad had a good point, I shouldn't allow one bad experience to ruin what has been an awesome time so far. She has since then decided to finish out her year, I have to admit I'm proud of her, she is only fifteen and it is a powerful experience to go through at that age. (In fact, now that I think about it, I was the oldest one of our small group yesterday. Andriea turned seventeen in December.)
Later that day, we went out to Pizza One for dinner and we had a good time. We then went home and went to bed, but due to the shock that was just starting to really catch up with us, we weren't able to sleep for a while. It had been a very interesting day.
It was a lesson hard learned but learned it we did: never stray from the beaten path, danger haunts the edges. I could have easily found myself on the way to the hospital yesterday and the realization that I'm all right, that neither my friends nor I was hurt, has taken a while to sink in. I am proud of myself for keeping my head in that situation and not breaking down. It was a scary experience but now, I'm safe at my host families' home and I am a fair bit wiser than I was before.
This is Kiki, signing off.
Tchau.
