6/7/12

Today was a long bus ride to Maceio, to visit some of the areas my brother passed through on his mission. The bus ride was around four and a half hours long because of the roads. In some areas the bus wobbled back and forth so much I felt like I was on a boat in the high seas. Brazil is such an amazing country with so much potential, but so many of its problems stem from political corruption. Like the roadways, for example. On our trip, one of the girls commented that if an interstate transport system like in the United States existed here in Brazil, that four hour bus ride would have only taken two hours. Brazil has the sixth biggest world economy, so it does have the resources necessary to maintain nicely paved roads between states. The problem is that most of the money never makes it where it is intended. Brazil is making some changes to decrease corruption, but if politicians don't feel like their are real consequences to their illegal actions, the country's situation will have a hard time changing.