After our final project presentations, we had to let go, the last few days were pretty much a cram fest, so . . .

We had dinner, relaxed for a quick minute, and then headed to the "social gathering place," built by Becky, for our talent show. Becky insisted that the host be costumed, so we "borrowed" Flavio´s very gangster cowboy hat-- brown, suede, and sweaty deliciousness-- and matched with a very eclectic skirt and red, lacey tank. After Hannah and Kelly took their places behind the bar and we finished setting up the sound system and projector, the people started arriving.  With my script in hand, I began to bust a jam on my pimp, faux microphone. I love that I am totally willing to make a fool of myself. If there is no one else around, at least I can keep myself entertained. Heehee. I think I did an o.k. job, though. If I have any talent at all, it is definitely being the comedic relief. Karl gave his slide show first, giving everyone a chance to get a little imbibed. The show was great. Luckily, it was not the last time that we would be able to see the pics he took. He has since uploaded over 900 or so to our Flicker page. Whoo--hoo! Good times. Amber, the cartoonist, did rapid fire caricatures of people in the program. Kind of sad that all she had to draw for me was a disgruntled/angry looking face with curly hair for everyone to guess who it was rather quickly and easily. (not my fault there are so many things in the world that deserve a good "discussion") Jessica and Aaron did a fabulous skit on manioc, reminiscent of Forest Gump´s ability to discuss the wonders of shrimp. Does anyone miss manioc now that you are all back home? Hilary and Tanner were absolutely hilarious. Seriously. They exchanged clothes, Tanner in Hilary´s infamous crotchless pants, and she in his Texan cowboy belt, tight pants and predictable plaid shirt. The whole skit was notably improvised. They went down the list of people in the program and "roasted" everyone, individually. I thought I was going to die of laughter; I am laughing now as I write about it. Screw politics, Hilary; you two should take the act on the road. Just as Kelly thought they had forgotten her, Hilary returned to the stage to do a dead-on impersonation of Kelly´s amazing dancing skills. For those of you who understand my passion for both dancing and making a fool of myself (and for astrology), Kelly has the same birthday as me. Just be happy I am not a twin like she is. Could you guys really handle that? Heehee! Love that girl. Joe blessed us by sharing a four page poem he had written. It was beautiful and very colorful. He doesn´t do open mic back home, so for his first time, he was pretty much perfect. He sat on the floor, with just a candle for light and took his time. Its hard to share all that. Props and snaps to him. Kirsten, Kelly, and Megan performed a rap about IPEC. It was a duel to the death between their group and the hardcore performance that followed. Holly and Adrianne composed a hip-hop song about IPEC that is still stuck in my head. It must be doo--doo! We were not the only ones who participated in the show though. Lucy awed us all, once again and as always, with her amazing fire poi skills. Its easy to see why Andre loves her. We all do too.   

After the talent show and a few drinks to loosen everyone up, Becky played DJ as we danced all night long, some of us until dawn. J The moon was starting to be full again, reminding me of when I arrived the first day at IPEC for Bio with my accidental bus partners, Charlotte and Fabio. The return of the full moon signified that it had been one month since we cautiously swayed across the rope suspension bridge at the entrance to IPEC and stumbled upon a colorfully-lit welcomed office built by hand by volunteers, like we were about to do. None of us needed a flashlight yet to walk around the property; the moonlight was ten times more luminescent than any flashlight could have been. The full cycle, almost complete. Just two more days until we would be leaving the ecovillage, each of us on new paths. Sigh. Just one more day left to party. . .

The next day was Sunday, our relaxation day. We walked to town for a final lunch at Armazen and then finished up some loose ends, walking back just in time for dinner. Relaxing, for real, was priority for the rest of the night. Tomorrow we had a few more lessons, an alternative economy demonstration, and then . . . the plan WAS that Adianne and I were leaving in the evening to grab a bus to Annapolis and then to the Pantanal, meaning we would have to miss the final party, but, I guess that wasn´t in the cards . . .

Adrianne and I had stressed out all day trying to get tickets on-line to get back to our respective destinations after leaving the Pantanal but Brazilian airlines won´t take credit cards that aren´t from within the country on-line. We would have to get them at the airport closest to Pantanal. We rushed to finish packing, and began saying our goodbyes. I found Tiese and thanked her for all her help on-line; Adrianne and I had used a lot of her time that day as she graciously helped us reading through all the Portugese. I said we were leaving, and that´s when she laughed at me and asked me where we were going and how, because apparently, the last bus for Annapolis had left an hour ago. . . The bus times are different for Sunday, which was the day that had offered the latest time, and which we thought was the final bus out for the entire week, not just for Sunday. So, we lugged our rapidly--packed backpacks back to our rooms (it was the fisrt time I had really been in the room I had been assigned to and not in the tent). So, we had dinner with everyone after all. And partied as well, although, I was a little late. I ended up taking my first cultural siesta after dinner and ended up showing up right as most people were heading to bed. Breakfast was being served early the next day so that we could make it to Brasilia on our bus in time for the first flight out. Charlotte, Kirsten, and Becky were still up, as was Goo-goo. Aaron showed up for a second and said good-night. Then, the five of us stayed up as Becky DJ-ed again, with a few reggae interruptions imposed by Charlotte. We danced and danced as the bright light of the full moon peaked through the tree branches that creeped over the open geodesic roof of the bar. The red interior lighting cast reminiscent, intriguing shadows over our faces, our bodies, and our smiles. Chris showed up a little later and joined us for a few rounds, but then left for bed. Around 5 am, the girls decided to hit the sack. Charlotte spent her last night in tent city. I headed to Kirsten´s and my room and took a quick nap. Kirsten still had to finish packing, so she didn´t sleep too much either, but she was up in time to wake me around 5:45 am so that I could run over to Becky´s room and act as her live alarm clock. She woozily awoke and we ran to the kitchen to help prepare the final breakfast for the crew. Ally came by, accustomed to being up early for yoga class, and helped make hashbrowns, a first for our time at IPEC. Becky began cooking up some scrambled eggs, a favorite amoung the crew. Aaron and Jessica showed up to help about 10 minutes later and, together, we had everything ready by 6:30 am, just in time for me to run over and dong the giant gong bell for the last time. Sniffle. I love that thing!

We ate, we talked about the past, the future, each other, and then we had to run to wash our dishes and then run to the bus. It’s a rather funny site to see a group of 20 trying to run across a suspension bridge, huh?

With our luggage in tow, we gave out hugs and kisses to the crew that was awaiting us at the main entrance, and then we hobbled down the seemingly longer than normal dirt road to the main, paved road where the bus was parked. Aaron and Tanner were staying behind, so with a negative count, we boarded and were on our way to Brasilia. The last thing I saw was Aaron, in his familiar and dirty outfit, walking down the red, clay dirt road . . .