Right now I'm on my mission aviation internship with Asas de Socorro. I figured instead of spending hours writing back emails, you can read this post on your own free time! Here's some info in case you want to come down here yourself:
Brazil so far has actually surprised me in how many things are similar to the US. As far as what Brazilians wear, they dress like Americans in the summer. Usually the guys wear shorts (BTW - board shorts or some type of swim trunks will probably come in handy) during the day and pants at night. Body language is almost the exact same too, which helps with the sometimes crippling feeling of not knowing the language. Of course, there's a lot different here, and I'm getting used to some of it, so I might be forgetting a lot that I've observed, but here are some things that might help:
Water - most people I've talked to here said not to drink it from the tap. At restaurants that means if you ask for water (agua) they'll bring a bottle and charge you. The hangar has filtered water in big water coolers. O Ninho (the guest house I'm staying at here, but Ninho means nest) has a deep well, so the tap water here is fine to drink. You'll want to drink a lot here to keep yourself sweating and cooled off.
Food - There are two grocery stores within walking distance: one is two blocks away and the other is about five. Peanut butter is expensive here for some reason. There's plenty of really good Brazilian foods to try, along with some crazy fruits that are really hard to find in the US. The bigger market here in Manaus is about 20-30 minutes by car from here, and I was only driven past it.
The hangar - Right now we're waiting on a big importation of aircraft parts from the U.S. That means in the meantime I've been doing things like getting an overhead hoist ready to be welded, sanding and painting a cabinet, and helping here and there with a 100-hour aircraft inspection. We have work to do at the hangar, but I've remained pretty flexible about what I'm working on. That's one thing I'm really learning from the Brazilian aircraft mechanics... being tranquilo. I've seen my American tendency to get frustrated when I don't know what work to do. This past week I've been chilling out a little enough to enjoy the view while I'm waiting for my next project.
Weather - It's hot (80 - 105 F) and humid here every day, and it hasn't gotten cold at night yet. I've slept every night with the A/C on (no, Brazilians in the city don't live in grass huts). During the evening it cools down enough to eat outside comfortably, especially if there's a breeze. When it rains here, it pours, but so far it's only rained 1 or 2x a week (dry season). If you visit, bring stuff that dries fast.
As far as stories go, I got to copilot for two days of flight a couple of weekends ago. One day we flew some Brazilian congressmen and senators commercially (tent making to subsidize the cost of fuel for the missionaries). I felt super embarrassed as I threw out ropes from the Caravan's floats, only for them to wad up and fall in the water five feet short of the guys waiting for them on shore. The next day we flew some pastors from Sao Paulo into the Indian village of Mapuera. 990 people live there, and we shook hands with about 900 of them for the welcome ceremony. The Indians in Mapuera have the full Bible in their native tongue, and now they want other tribes to know about the good news of God's love!
