Here are some pictures of me skim boarding at Praia Ribeira in Itacaré.
Here’s a video of me surfing at Praia Engenhoca and also skim boarding at Ribeira.
I got to hold a sloth.
Eating cactus fruit that our tour guide just picked.
Buddah-bot on my mat I wove.
We had an amazing encounter with some sloths! We met, Vera, who cares for injured sloths in her home. It was wild. They are so cuddly and sweet.
March 31
Hang loose! Today I am going to have a surf lesson. We drove into town and arrived at the shop. We had to take three boards with us. Two longboard and one shortboard. We arrived at a beach called, Engenhoca. We first had to hike through the jungle to get to the beach. After a twenty minute walk through the jungle we arrived at Engenhoca. The beach had good long waves. The teacher first showed me how to stand up on the board when you get a wave. Then we were off to the water.The teacher helped me past the break. I got some pretty good waves. I shall always remember that moment.
Story and illustration by Sidney Blumenfeld
Preview of Chapter 2
We arrived at the Pataxó Reserve with our tour guide, Max. The Pataxo Indians are on of the many tribes that live in Brasil. Many of the other tribes lost against the Portuguese when they came. The Pataxó is one the tribes that survived the attack.
So after we waited for little bit, an old Indian man greeted us. He welcomed us into the reserve.
We first had to sign our names in a little hut-type thing where two other Indian men were sitting. Then after we all had signed our names the old Indian man walked us up into the reserve.
The reserve was in a forest. Little mud huts with straw roofs were planted around the reserve. There were little Indian children playing in the sand and other tourists walking around the reserve, too.
The Indian first led us into a bigger hut with no walls and a big straw roof. In the middle of the hut there was an Indian woman carved out of wood that was holding a spear in her right hand and a long cylinder shaker in her left and. The Indian then took a little shaker and started to shake it. He was calling the other Indians. Three Indians came out. One of them was a woman. She explained their rituals and other things about the reserve.
After that another one of the Indians named, Friendly, showed us around.
He showed us the different plants they used for medicine.
He also showed us a replica of a Pataxó house. He showed us the way of communication back then.
Then we came to a trail that would lead us through the forest. We came across five Indian traps. One of them was for catching big animals. It was a big, deep pit covered with leaves and other plants. The animal would come and when it stands on the trap he will fall into the pit.
Another one traps little birds. The Indian would put one piece of bird food on one side of the trap, and one on the other side. The bird would come and eat one of the seeds and then see the one on the other side. So the bird would hop over to the other side, but then the bird would trip on the string that would wrap around the bird and strangle it.
The last trap is where an Indian climbs up tall ladder and waits until the panther comes and then kills the panther with a bow and arrow.
After we finished the trail we went to the souvenir shop
There were whistles and costumes, dream catcher and weapons.
My brother, like he is, picks the whole costume and a bow and arrow.
I picked the spear that was leaning against the table.
At the end of our trip the Pataxó did a little circle dance for us.
One of our bigger successes with homeschooling was that Sidney was able to participate in Prairie Day. It’s when every student in the 4th grader researches a topic related to to the westward expansion in this country and then creates a poster presentation, as well as some type of creative expression. The culmination is a science fair-like morning where all the students stand in front of their presentations and answer questions about their topic. Sidney obviously couldn’t be there, but his teacher (G-d bless her) printed up the materials we emailed and made his poster presentation for him. His good friend Koshi secured some apples and we made this video for his creative presentation. I think Sidney (with wonderful guidance from his mother and tech help from his father) rocked this project.
2/2/15 
I was looking in this book my mom got. It was called, “How to be an Explorer of the World.” Something caught my eye. I was on page 52. The thing that caught my eye on page 52 was that it taught me how to make goggles. You needed cardboard, electric tape, wire, duct tape, acetate and string. Of course we didn’t bring all of that stuff, so we had to use what he had. First we had to cut a cardboard tube in half. Second we cut out a large strip of cardboard. Third we cut two hole for where the tubes would go. You know what, there’s too much more too say. So I made these goggles to help people see the world from a different perspective. What I learned from this project is use what you have.
2/9/15 
This day was great! In the morning we got to play this fun math game called, “Dragon Box.” It secretly teaches algebra. So after we played with this app, me, Ezra and my dad, Barry, went to a bakery. At the bakery we got to pick out one treat. At that time I was very hungry. So I picked the chocolate cake. My brother, Ezra, picked this cotton candy popsicle. Man that was good. It felt good to eat something sweet. When we got back we just hung around. Then my dad picked up his berimbau so I though maybe I should play the berimbau, too, and started playing. My dad played the berimbau, then switched to the pandeiro. It was nice to play berimbau again. During the day my dad met the most feistiest crab. The crab lunged at him with claws ready to strike. In the end, we just left him alone.
2/10/15 
It started raining outside. We were about to go on a snorkeling trip to Recife de Fora. So we were about to get ready when the Arraial Trip Tur guy came and said that we can’t on on the trip because of the rain. Then we really couldn’t go. We went back in to the house. I was really disappointed. After school we went to my capoiera teacher’s house. His name is Deivid. We were going to make berimbaus! First we chose the stick that we thought was right for us. Then we would sandpaper it. There’s a lot of sandpapering in here. Then we picked a gourd to hollow out. Then we would string it. After that we made a baqueta. Then bam! We made our own berimbau! That really changed my day. You can see the whole process in pictures on my dad’s post.
2/20/15 
Today would be the day! We would finally go on a snorkeling trip to Recife De Fora. A reef with many interesting sea creatures. We have been waiting soooo long for this trip. We waited outside for the van to pick us up. We got dropped off at the dock. We had to wait a very long time before the ship arrived. We had to take a boat out to another dock, where we switched to the other boat that would take us out to the reef. When we got there we would climb down a ladder into the water or jump off the boat. Since we had trouble swimming we had to take a mini boat to the reef instead. There was a lake in the middle of the reef where we would snorkel. There was first a little tour before we went. Then we got to go snorkeling. My mom and I swam around the lake. There were big clumps of big fish and little yellow and black striped fish swimming in a school together. When we looked near the top of the water we could see needle fish. After we snorkeled around the whole lake we headed back to the boat and left for Arraial D’Ajuda.
2/23/15 I had the best capoeira class. At capoeira I was having a good time. I was cranking those kicks. It was just the best. The thing that made my class the best in that I made a new friend. He is very good at capoeira and is very nice. Now I have someone I know at capoeira.
Day 3
This day was one of our best days. On this day the same thing happened, but after breakfast and watching TV my dad and I went out to snorkel to the reef. When the tide gets low a long stretch of reef pops out of the water not too far from the shore
. We saw a lot of cool creatures while going to the reef and at the reef. We were looking around for any creatures in the water when my dad spotted a redfish. When we got to
the reef we had to step around some sea urchins. When we got past all the sea urchins. We had to walk up a slanted rock that led us to the top of the reef. My dad and I saw another starfish, but this starfish looked more like a spider. I thought that it was probably slimy, but it was actually than I expected. We got a picture of a big crab in a crack in the reef. We saw a lot of beautiful fish. I snorkeled all the way back to the shore. I didn’t see much stuff but coral and algae. It was still amazing! If there was one lesson I learned it would be…. NEVER EVER GIVE UP!
Day 4
I wa
s playing foosball with my brother when a boy wanted to play with us, then probably his little brother wanted to play too
. They wanted to play two on two foosball. My little brother (Ezra) didn’t want another player on his team because he thought that “Tom” didn’t know how to play, but I knew he did. Ezra tried to push “Tom” off the foosball table. So Ezra pulled me away from them. He said they were mean even though they aren’t. At night time when we were walking back from the hotel I noticed something in the dark. It was moving! It kind of looked like a hamster, but it was moving sideways. I still didn’t know what it was so I showed my dad. He said it was a crab. In fact it was a crab so we took some photos of this crab. It was big. It was cool. It was fast. It even lives in our backyard!
Let Passion Be Your Guide 