History

Yesterday was a day of history. We visited the Sítio do Picapau Amarelo ("Yellow Woodpecker Ranch"), which was the old farm of a famous writer of children´s literature named Monteiro Lobato. He was a rich part of Taubate´s history and through his writings created a successful yet cunning way to educate and entertain children for years. One of the characters was a black servant and cook named Tia Nastácia ("Aunt Anastacia"). I bring her up to point out that while we were there, the guide informed us that May 13th, 1888 was the day slaves in Brazil were legally emancipated by Princess Isabel. So our visit was on the 122nd anniversary of emancipation. How exciting! But it doesn´t stop there. Afterwards we were taken to the Museum of Natural History, where we met Dr. Herculano Alvarenga who showed us all the exhibits from dinasours to now. What´s even more interesting is that he, himself, actually restored a lot of the artifacts found in this fairly new museum (only 6 years old). And to top off our day we made our last presentation in Taubate to an all female Rotary Club., where my host mom is the secretary. Can´t wait to see what the conference has to offer us tonight. Ate São Lourenço!

~Candace~