Independence Day, Salvador, Round 3: Federal Police

Thursday will be our second national holiday in Brazil as the lab will be
closed for Brazilian Independence Day. Currently, we're in somewhat of a
holding pattern with respect to our projects, as the physical fitness
project should hopefully start in about 1-2 weeks after we receive final
approval from the Institutional Review Board. I'm also working on writing
up a proposal for a project that would involve some vision assessments.
That interests me for a number of reasons, as visual impairment is a huge
problem globally, and I am still considering ophthalmology as a potential
field of medicine (I'm also considering internal
medicine/pediatrics-infectious disease).

The last national holiday occurred on a Tuesday immediately after our
arrival, and so we weren't able to take advantage of the potential four day
weekend to travel elsewhere in Brazil. Given the current delays in our
projects, we have decided to take advantage of this four day weekend to
travel. Early Thursday morning, we'll fly to Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, to
return late Sunday night. Salvador is about a 25 hour bus trip, or in our
case a 3 hour flight down the coast of Eastern Brazil. Salvador is also
home to the other Fogarty Fellows in Brazil, so we should get to spend some
time with Tracey and Ricardo while there. In addition, Salvador is a
beautiful city with a significant African influence. I look forward to four
days to explore the city, and will certainly post some photos on our return.

Finally, today's events included round 3 with the Federal Police. Ben and
Nate successfully registered as foreign students on a temporary visa,
however I will still have to send my passport either to Brasilia or
Washington D.C. for a notation to be added. I hope to complete that process
after returning from Salvador to finally end my struggles with the Brazilian
Bureaucracy...