As I sit in my hotel room, I can hear several protestors outside in the park as numerous helicopters fill  the air. They sound as if they're right outside my window. I find it difficult to imagine that some of the the same warm, friendly, inviting people are so outraged and fed up with their government.

Today I toured another specialized public school similar to CIL, the CIEF is a school which specializes in physical education. A few of the activities include: swimming, track, weight training, and martial arts. Adults can also pay a small fee and workout there as well, and the rates are less expensive than local gyms. These specialized schools are different from U.S. schools because in the U.S, the extracurricular activities are part of the actual school, whereas in Brasil, a student must travel elsewhere (often times taking a public bus across the city) to engage in extracurricular activities. Also, a Brasilian student's options are more limited because they must travel outside of their local community, and this is often time consuming.