Grocery Store ~ Belem Style

Shopping for groceries is always an adventure here. The grocery stores are very nice. For the most part, they are very clean and orderly. They are well stocked, and they have a wide variety of things to buy. Unfortunately, those things are not exactly the things I think of as "normal."
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One of the things that impressed me the most when I first moved here was how neat everything was in the aisles. That is, until I found out how they get them to be that neat.

As we all know, pasta in a bag usually has air in it. That air makes it very hard to stack, so in order to stack the pasta nice and neat, the stockers at the grocery stores here poke holes in the bottom of each package. This wouldn't be quite so bad if it didn't open up a "freeway" for all the bugs trying to get into the package. The good thing is that the bugs generally float up to the surface when you throw the pasta into boiling water. Ha!
One day when I was getting a couple packages of spaghetti, I picked out my two and about 40 came with them. It was quite funny trying to stop the whole section from going into the aisle. So, as neatly as they are stacked, once they get to a certain level, they enter "the danger zone" for sliding.

Here is our milk department. One plus about this is that you don't feel like you need to wear a coat to walk through it because the cold section is too cold. Ha! The milk comes in boxes and is ultra-pasteurized for a long shelf life. We also have powdered milk. We use both in our home.

Many things come in boxes here. I suppose that makes it easier on the land fill (or lack there of). Boxes burn easier than cans. This is our tomato paste, sauce, and "spaghetti sauce" section.

The fruits and veggies area is very neat. They stack the fruits and veggies in nice, tidy rows with the largest produce on the bottom. Unfortunately, I am always looking for the largest potatoes and onions, and have often created quite an avalanche trying to get what I want.

All fruits and veggies are weighed in their section and then taken to the front for checkout. You can see the people standing in line to have their stuff weighed.

Our fruit section offers a vast array of "exotic" fruits, or as we call them here, regional fruits. In this picture we have coconuts with the outer husks on or off (top row) and mamao (papaya) and maracuja (passion fruit). We are able to get apples for a semi decent price, but they are not the best looking apples. They are shipped in from the south of Brasil. When I get apples, I look each one over VERY carefully for bruises, bird bites, and worm holes. They are Fuji apples and their size is a little smaller than a baseball. I sure do miss the variety and quality of US apples. We can get other "North American" fruits like strawberries, peaches, and nectarines, but they are outrageously priced. A friend once saw raspberries at the grocery store. They were in a tiny package and sold for about US$10 an ounce!

The fish section in this store is behind glass. The fish all look very fresh and if you're a fish lover, I'm sure they taste great too. I personally have never bought any fish from the store. I did, however, buy some frozen fish from a guy who came to my house on a bicycle. It was pretty good fish too.

The meat department is the place where my stomach needs to be strong. This store isn't quite as bad as another one I go to. Here the "strange" things are individually wrapped and in a display case. At the other one, they are all together in a large, glass case.
Here you can see the cow's tongue. Looks like it had been awhile since his last meal of grass. This tongue isn't green. Right next to it is his liver. I just try to avoid this whole meat section.

If you want to try something real interesting, here are some nice sections of cow lung. Uh, yeah! I'm not sure what a person does with that or how it should be cooked, but that only made it into the cart once -- and that was a complete accident. The one that we bought was also in the ground form, which looks a whole lot like ground beef. Dennis bought it once when I was gone. Not an experience we want to repeat, but definitely one we laugh about.

Here's a nice feature in the meat department -- a sink to wash your hands in.
Don't you just hate it when the meat package has some yuck on it and there is no way to wash your hands after touching it? Well, we can just go over and wash our hands at the sink.

This is our deli section. You can get turkey, ham, cheese, and a couple other sliced meats here. The one thing I try to avoid looking at in this section is the gigantic bug zapper up in the corner. While I may successfully make it without looking up, it's rare that I make it without hearing that wonderful "zzch" sounds a bug makes with a close encounter with a zapper.

Next to the deli section (using the same line actually) is where you can buy your margarine and butter in large or small quantities. There are pre-packaged margarines and butters in another section, but many people get it here.
I'm not sure what that stuff is in front of the buckets of margarine and butter. Everytime I look too close, I get grossed out, so I just avoid it. It doesn't smell nice, so that is another good deterant for me.

Cleaning supplies abound at the store. Here is just a small sample of the many kinds of dish soaps available. The liquid ones are fairly recognizable. The bar soaps along the bottom are sticks of soap that you buy and then cut off sections for your use. We buy the liquid and use it for liquid hand soap and the bar kind for washing our dishes.

We also have some items that we recognize, at least for the most part. The brand is the same even though the flavor is different. These granola bars are Banana Almond. There are three units in the box and they cost just under US$3 a box. Needless to say, we don't get these very often.

Even popular TV characters make their appearance down here. Their names are often different from what we are familiar with, but that's okay, we recognize their faces.
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Upon check out, you unload your cart onto the conveyor belt and leave your cart on the store side. The bagger guys bag up your groceries and load them onto a cart to take them to the basement parking garage for you. With a small tip after they are loaded into your car, you are off.
A couple weeks ago, I was at the store with two other gals. We were headed for the car and the bagger guy got ahead of us. He headed for a very nice looking vehicle, which was parked right next to the beater we were driving. Ha! Looks can be deceiving. Americans aren't always the "rich" ones here.
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I am thankful for the grocery store I have to shop in. I miss a good Super Walmart or Meijer's now and again, but this has what we need and for that, I am thankful.

Marajo Island Adventure

Our adventure began very early on Thursday morning. We were taking the ferry to the Island of Marajo and our ferry left at 6:30am at a dock about 30 minutes from school. Depending on the tide and current, the ferry ride could take up to 4 hours.

On the way over to the island the ferry was not very full, but on the way home, the car deck was completely full and the seating area upstairs was crowded too.

Here we are sitting upstairs.

Going to the island we had the tide and current working with us and it only took 3 hours (coming home took 4 hours). None of us got sea sick on our journeys, even though for much of the return trip the waves were very big. Several times I would look out the side rails and at first see only sky and then see only river. There were some pretty big swells out there.
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After arriving on the island, we took a public bus through the city of Salvaterra and then on to our hotel. Marajo is a land mass that sits in the middle of the mouth of the Amazon River. This island is approximately 18,000 square miles of land.

Posada dos Guaras is the name of the place we stayed. There were several cabanas (cabins) situated around the grounds. Each cabana was 4 hotel rooms. They were large enough that we fit our whole family into one room. We took two of the single teachers, Heather Felder (K5 teacher) and Laura Polston (student teacher) from AVA out with us. They had the room next to ours in the same cabana.

There are no phones in the rooms, but if you need to make a phone call, you could come out to this macaw and make your call.

Posada dos Guaras is located right on the Amazon River. The beach is like the ocean with waves and tides. The view straight out was toward the ocean, so we couldn't even see land. We did see a number of ships pass by as they made their way toward Belem, or points beyond.

The kids and Dennis took turns each day between swimming in the river and swimming in the pool.

The pool was very nice and a great way to get refreshed during the heat of the day.

The restaurant was a large open-aired area. When the breeze was blowing, it was a great place to eat. When the breeze stopped, the moquitoes or flies (depending on the time of day) were terrible.

Laura shows us her very pretty Pinapple/Chicken salad.

The food was delicious. Breakfast came with the room and we ate at the restaurant for lunch and supper. The island of Marajo is known for raising cattle, hence, the beef was very tender and tasty.

The kids and Dennis walk through the puddles toward the restaurant.

The first day we arrived, it rained the whole day. This didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves. We pulled out the games and played Yatzee, Bananagrams, Dutch Blitz, and Phase 10. The kids even went swimming.
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There were several "extras" at the hotel that we took part in.
One was "Tree Climbing" -- better known to us as a Ropes Course.

Here is our first group to go "Tree Climbing." It was a fairly simple ropes course (when you just looked at it from the ground). HA! No, seriously, it was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed it so much the kids & Dennis went 2 times. I only went once. :o)

Caleb, Elisabeth, and Nathanael make their way across the swamp to the middle station.

Go, Caleb!

Walking in the trees.

Elisabeth & I wait in the middle for Hannah to join us.

Lizzy looking "scared."
All of the kids would have kept doing the course over and over if given the chance.

Hannah and her "guardian angel" Iran, make their way across. Hannah needed a bit of encouragement her first time over, but was very eager her second time.

Dennis shows us where the "hole" is. The guides had just come up and undid the cable to this step. Something was apparently wrong with it and they didn't want anyone else to step on it. I had just crossed this area 20 minutes before. Hmmm....glad it held up then.

That must be why they have this sign by the initial ladder.
Basically it says, "Don't go up without a guide. You risk your life."

Dennis enjoyed the zip line at the end of the course.

The kids look down from the jump off point for the zip line. That initial jump took a bit of courage for some of us.

What a face, Nathanael!
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There were many animals that wandered aimlessly around the grounds. This horse is right in front of our cabana. At one point there were 5 horses, 3 water buffaloes, dozens of vultures, 5+ dogs, and a couple of cats. It almost made a person feel like they had landed at a veterinarian's vacation getaway. HA!

This horse was around during our whole stay.
Hannah named him Butterfinger and fed him a type of palm nut that he enjoyed.
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Another extra activity that was available was horseback riding.

Riding horses was a highlight for the kids. We "rented" 4 horses for an hour and the kids rode for about 45 minutes. Heather, Laura, and & I finished out the hour with a short ride.

Elisabeth on her little "Island of Marajo" horse, who she named Vanilla.
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Marajo Culture

On Saturday night there was a cultural program with about 10 different songs & dances. The music was unique and the dancing very intricate. The costumes, about 4 different ones in all, were beautiful.

Here are the musicians for the group. Their flute player was phenomenal.

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"Everybody's got a Water Buffalo, Yours is fast, but mine is slow..."
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Maybe you aren't familiar with this particular Silly Song with Larry the Cucumber, but if he lived on Marajo, I think he'd be about right in the part about everyone having a water buffalo. As to the fast part, I did see some kids riding their buffaloes at top speed by the water's edge. Those beasts can really move when they want to. The ones we rode, however, fell into the "mine is slow" category.

It was exciting taking a ride on a water buffalo along the edge of the Amazon River.

Hannah is getting some last words of instruction from the cowboy before she and Elisabeth take off on their ride.

We "rented" the buffaloes for one hour and took turns getting our pictures taken on them or riding them on the beach.

When all was said and done, the kids decided that riding the horses on the beach was better than the buffaloes. They ran faster and were a little easier to control. The buffaloes basically ignored the fact that someone was on them and just plodded along. They definitely seemed like a lumbering beast of burden. However, the experience of riding a water buffalo was great.

Our time at Posada dos Guaras was very relaxing and fun. It was great to see a small area of the Island of Marajo and experience some of the culture from there.