Too Many To Count

I’ve only been back in the states a couple days and already there have been too many you’re definitely back in the states moments to count. Some have been good, some not so good. And I thought I wouldn’t have anything to write about!

I arrived in Atlanta’s airport early on Monday morning after a pleasant flight – if that is possible for a 9 hour flight. However, I sat next to a very nice man. He was a Brazilian citizen currently living in the US. I told him I was a US citizen currently living in Brazil so we had a lot to talk about and he gave some great travel trips.

Once I got through the madness of customs I found myself in terminal C in the airport which is apparently the only terminal in the ATL airport that has no Starbucks. So after 9 hours of dreaming of an Eggnog Latte, I had to settle for a Latte from Seattle’s Best. It was still good; I had just had my hopes up so high.

My first day back, I went to lunch with my brother. We went for BBQ – American (Memphis) BBQ to be exact – the kind with the sauce, much different than Brazilian BBQ. I was asked if I wanted a refill on my Diet Coke in a to-go cup. Of course, I said yes. The waitress came back out with a cup so large I thought it might tip the table over. I told my brother that they don’t even make cups that large in Brazil! That was definitely a reality check that I was back in the US.

Next, I was washing dishes in my parent’s house and I was washing them in cold water. Finally, my brain clicked and I thought – hey, why am I using cold water when I’ve got hot available! I’d completely forgotten that it was even available. We only have cold water in our kitchen at the apartment. We are very lucky to even have hot in our bathrooms there.

I made a grocery run to Wal-Mart yesterday and all I can say is I want the feira back!! The price and quality of produce here, especially with it being winter, is just awful. I had gotten used to putting limão (lime) in my water in Brazil so I thought I would buy some to have here. As I reached for a lime, I looked at the price. It was US$0.44 each – for one!!! That is over R$1.00 each. I pay about R$1.00 for 1 kilo (2.2 lbs) in Brazil. It is pretty unbelievable.

I’m sure these experiences will continue to occur as my month and a half back in the states continues. I’m glad to be back to some more modern conveniences, but I have to say that I’m glad that I’ve broken those unhealthy habits like monster soft drinks (diet or not). I think so far a major lesson I’ve learned in Brazil is realizing how much you actually need. One soda or drink with dinner can really be enough. We are just overloaded with that phenomenon of eating and drinking what is placed before us in the US. Hopefully, I’ll maintain a balance of enjoying the conveniences, but keeping the good habits I’ve picked up in Brazil while I’m here.

Panettone Towers

If you ever find yourself ready to walk into a grocery store in Brazil, prepare to be amazed. They have this ability to create massive display towers with whatever happens to be the special that time of year. They use cases of beer to build archways at the entrance, paper products to stacked 7 feet high at the end of the isle, or wine glasses (yes, glassware) stacked in a pyramid in the middle of the busiest section of the whole store.

While these towers are nothing short of amazing, they honestly scare me. I’m so worried I’m going to accidentally bump one as I go buy and find myself in a mountain of whatever the product might be, with everyone staring at the blondie.

Despite my fear, I still have to shop and the item of choice right now is the popular Christmas bread Panettone. Panettone is actually an Italian product (Milanese) and it most likely came to Brazil with the immigration of Northern Italians. It is a sweet, sourdough-like bread with various dried fruits baked in. Here in Brazil they also have a chocolate variety and goiaba (guava fruit).

I’ve never been to Italy to know how much Panettone is around there during the Christmas season, but I do wonder if they love it as much as Brazilians. This stuff is everywhere. There are towers and arches in every grocery store and there are about 15 brand names to choose from.

So far we’ve tried two different kinds and another is waiting in the kitchen right now to be samples. Excessive, I know, but everyone tells us which one they think is the best and well, we only have two holiday seasons here, so we figure we better get started trying them out. So far we think they are great. It is similar in flavor to a fruitcake without the liquor, but is much less dense. It has light and airy texture like fresh baked bread.

Today I will have to leave the Panettone behind because I’m headed back to the states to celebrate the holiday season with my family. I might write now and then as I continue to make comparisons between the states and Brazil. It will also be interesting to see how long it takes me to stop saying obrigada and sim. I hope what little Portuguese I’ve learned won’t escape me while I’m gone, but I’ll be ready to pick it back up in January. Feliz Natal!!

A Little Taste of Europe

So I’ve been on this quest to find some good chocolate in Brazil. I was given the tip to try a shop in Joinville which was along our drive to Florianopolis. We stumbled upon a shopping center on the drive outside of this city. Although we didn’t find the exact place I was referred to, I found the coolest little chocolate shop I’ve seen so far in Brazil.

The European influence in Brazil becomes very obvious as you drive further south. We saw small villages that had a German feel complete with a German style café. There were Italian restaurants all over Florianopolis as well.
When taking a road trip in the states, the experience isn’t complete without a stop for some roadside shopping. It was interesting to find that this was also the case in Brazil. On our way back to Maringá, along the coast, we saw a sign for Bavarian shopping. It looked different and unique, so we decided to make a quick stop. Inside I found what I’ve been looking for – Cacau Brazil.

It was a colorful little chocolate shop that had hand crafted Christmas chocolates, specialty dark chocolate bars and a variety of bon-bons. Speaking of bon-bon, my Portuguese teacher asked me this week what we call a bon-bon in English. I guess it is a confusing thing because it literally translates to good-good. We got a good laugh about that. We call it a bon-bon in English too. Okay, back to the chocolate. We even got to try chocolate con pimenta (chocolate with pepper). This is something that has become very popular in the states at specialty stores, especially in the west. If you’ve never tried it you are missing out. It is one of the most amazing flavors. The spiciness of the pepper and the sweetness of the chocolate can’t be described with words.

Unfortunately, due to the hot weather we had to pass on buying the artistic little Christmas trees and ornaments made of chocolate. They were beautiful and took much artistic skill to create. I would have loved to bring a whole box home to my family. We settled on a 70% chocolate bar and some chocolates with marzipan. I love marzipan (almond paste). I fell in love with it when we visited Vienna and I was amazed that I could even find it here.

The best part was that all of these chocolates were made right in the state of Santa Catarina. So now I know where to get my chocolate. Next time you can be sure I’ll have a small cooler with ice along so that I can get more back to Maringá to enjoy.

Gotta Love a Rebel

When returning from a trip one always has to go through and find the favorite pictures, the ones that will remind you of fun times and bring a smile to your face. I definitely have some pictures of beautiful scenery, but these are the pictures that top my list. I mentioned I love dogs, right?

As we stepped out onto Ingleses beach to get a look, we noticed this large sign right away. The sign obviously says that dogs are prohibited on the beach. Even someone that doesn’t speak Portuguese can figure this one out. As I looked out on the beach, I realized that the fuzzy little bundle curled up a few feet away was, in fact, a dog. He definitely didn’t care about the sign. I’m not sure if he was being rebellious or maybe he came up from the other side of the beach and didn’t see it. One thing is for sure, he didn’t look like he was leaving anytime soon.

Happy Thanksgiving

I couldn't let this day go by without saying Happy Thanksgiving. It definitely didn't feel like the holiday here. Of course, Brazil doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving, but we have found that some people here who have spent time in the states are aware of it. Despite ingredient barriers, I was able to cook for a traditional celebration. We went with chicken instead of turkey. I did notice in a grocery store ad that some turkeys were available. They were pretty pricey though. About $2.50 per pound versus about $0.25 to $0.80 per pound back home this time of year. The meal was rounded out with apple and onion stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans with bacon, all of which I easily found the ingredients for.

So count your blessings today and tell your friends and loved ones how thankful you are for them. The Lord has truly blessed me in my life and I remember those blessings today especially. Happy Thanksgiving no matter where you are from.

Fear of the Brazilian Bikini

When it comes to picturing Brazil for American’s (or at least this American), media pictures fill our head with visions of Brazilian beaches. Blue skies, sunshine, crashing waves and bikini’s (biquíni). Not just any bikini – Brazilian bikinis. You know, the kind that are not-quite-a-thong and designed to show off the perfect butt that most of us non-Brazilians don’t have. We learned in Portuguese class that slang for this popular beach attire is fio dental (dental floss).

So as an outsider visiting the beaches, I had the fear of the Brazilian Bikini instilled in me. I have to admit that it wasn’t so bad. I’m sure I stood out in my modest, bum covering two-piece, but I didn’t experience the parade of bikini bodies that I was expecting. Now this might not be the case in a place like Rio, but in Florianopolis the beach cover-up was quite popular. In addition, you get the feeling that when it comes to the beach, Brazilian women elude a type of confidence that I think many women could benefit from. I kept telling my husband that it would be so strange to me to grow up knowing that I had to wear a revealing swimsuit to fit in, but to them, it isn’t really revealing, it is normal (at least that is my perception). No one really stands out because they all wear them.

Okay, enough about bikinis. In addition, to many of those, we also saw some amazing beaches. We drove around a lot due to the cloudy weather. We stayed at Praia Brava and really liked the quiet atmosphere there. We took a drive and made our way past Lagoinha one afternoon, but didn’t get to see much of it. Our next stop was Ponta dos Canas. I wasn’t too impressed by the beach there, but there was this great fishing town feel. There were shrimp boats docked in the water and we watched some people coming in for the evening. We also ate quite a bit of this shrimp as we dined at Ocean House and looked out over the water. Two of my favorite combinations – great food and the beach.

We made a short stop at Ingleses and it felt like your typical tourist destination. It was nice to have all of the shopping and restaurants, but it definitely felt like the draw there were these things and not the beauty of the beach as in other areas. We drove past Joaquina. The area was packed with people and tour buses so we passed on stopping there.

We finally decided to settle at Praia Molé for an afternoon. This was probably our favorite area overall. The beach was large as were the waves. I find surfing so intriguing, probably because I don’t have the courage to do it myself. There is this thing with a fear of swimming in open waters. Especially open waters which inhabit sharks. However, I love watching it. The green space at Molé is amazing. There are no hotels around the beach, just beautiful, green hills and smooth picturesque rocks. There are a few beach bars there and since it was raining we basically chose our location by where we could get a seat. We ended up at the Tropical Bar and it was great. We snacked on stuffed crab and shrimp, drank Bohemia and watched the people on the beach who didn’t care about the rain. (Once again, my favorite combination of great food and a beach.) All of this while listening to an interesting mix of both pop rock in English and Samba.

Oh, I want to note something too. The beach bars need to sell t-shirts. The servers had on the coolest shirts with restaurant logos. We would have loved to have the shirts from Kioske do Pirata on Praia Brava and from both places on Praia Molé. There were gift shops attached to the restaurants, but they didn’t appear to sell shirts with their logos.

Well, I’m not sure if I’ll buy a fio dental as a souvenir anytime soon, but I will definitely be back on Brazil’s beaches. We are looking forward to making a closer stop next time, maybe some beaches in Paraná. At some point we’ll make the longer trek to Rio and Bahia.

Camarão na Moranga: Best Brazilian Meal Yet!

We just returned from a road trip to Florianopolis. What a road trip it was! It took 10 hours to get there, all of which my husband had to drive since I’m incapable of driving a stick. Everyone says I can learn, but my brain will only allow one new thing at a time and the language is quite enough right now. It was cool and cloudy with some rain the whole weekend, but it didn’t ruin the trip. It was disappointing not to be out on the beach, but we used the time to drive around and explore the island. I’ll save the details of my impression of the island for later blog content. I thought I would devote this one to the food.

Thanks to a tip from a web forum, I was directed to a restaurant near Cachoeria do Bom Jesus called Antonio’s to try Camarão na Moranga. At first it looks as though this translates to shrimp in strawberry, however, morango is strawberry. Moranga is actually a variety of pumpkin here. We have been told that a restaurant near Maringá serves it as well, but we haven’t been out to try it yet.

This was absolutely the best meal I have had so far in Brazil, and I think it has become one of my favorite dishes ever. I know, it sounds like I’m exaggerating, but I’ve never had anything quite like it. Maybe it was the huge, fresh shrimp or the fact that it is close to Thanksgiving and I’m in mood for pumpkin, but it was amazing. They cook cheeses and shrimp inside a pumpkin and it is all served intact with the top of the pumpkin in place. (Unfortunately this was the one night I forgot my camera). You get to scoop out the shrimp and cheese stew and eat parts of the sweet pumpkin in the process. It was served with rice. No red meat anywhere can top this for me. If I can get my hands on a recipe I’m going to do my best to recreate it, however, with a small pumpkin. Have I mentioned that I have a mini-stove in our apartment? It is really small!

The rest of our meals consisted mainly of shrimp. I think we ate roughly the amount that one of the shrimp boats brings in. I had wanted to go to a fish market and price it per kilo, but never made it. Considering how much we were served and how much we paid, it has to be so much less expensive than in the states.

We were able to try Camarão Sequencia as well; very good. It was for duas pessoas (two people) and it was enough to feed 4 people, so much food. In some cases, Brazil has the US beat on portion sizes as unbelievable as that seems. Luckily we were able to share some with this little girl here. I have a soft spot for dogs, stray and all, so I snuck her some of our food out to the car and let her enjoy some camarão, too.

Saturday it rained, but we managed to find a seat at the Tropical Bar on Praia Mole and had stuffed crab for R$3.50. It was excellent and a nice change from shrimp.

As we had been told, the strong European influence is very evident the more south you go in Brazil. The Italian food (yes, we did without shrimp one night) seemed to be much more authentic than what we get in Maringa. Our poussada even had an Italian theme and we got Tiramisu and Apple Strudel for breakfast!

So, I still don’t have a tan. I’m still branca, as my Portuguese instructor would say, but the great food alone was worth the trip. More about the beaches to come.

Unique Flavors

As a travel lover, I know that I should be interested in local flavors, cultural dishes and ways of preparing food that are unique to the country I’m visiting (or living in). I am interested in all of these things, but I have to admit that I am equally intrigued by commercial products – the flavors offered for local tastes and marketing of these (mostly unhealthy) foods. This is where my nutritionist roots come in to play. I also like taking a look at nutrition labels here and comparing them to our somewhat controversial ones in the US.

When I first moved here we were living in a hotel and my husband was at work all day so I was left to lunches on my own. Since I felt uncomfortable eating out alone, this usually meant a daily trip to the supermarket for a few snacks. One day I decided to try chicken (frango) flavored potato chips. I can’t say that they have become my new favorite, but if I closed my eyes it would be hard to tell if I was eating a chip or an actual piece of chicken.

As if chicken wasn’t enough, this weekend I found another variety of poultry flavored potato chips, Peito de Peru – turkey breast. Unlike the chicken chips which had a picture of a slow roasted chicken leg on the front, this bag had a picture of some rather unappetizing, processed turkey lunchmeat slices. Of course the picture didn’t detour me from giving them a try. In honor of Thanksgiving I picked up a bag of turkey flavored potato chips. I probably should have paid attention my first impression of the picture. They weren’t awful, but if I had to pick one unusual flavor, I’d go with the chicken.
Checking out the nutrition label I found some interesting comparisons. The labels here are pretty easy to decode despite the language barrier. The listing of transfat (gorduras trans) has its place on the label and as advertisement on the front of packages similar to what is happing on products in the states. The confusing part is the serving size. They do list a serving in grams which helps, but have you ever measured your chips by the cup (xícara)? They also don’t list how many servings are in a bag. This would be enough to drive US health professionals crazy especially considering the long time battle to get companies like Coke and PepsiCo to list a snack bag of chips or a 20oz soda as one serving and not the deceptive 2.5 servings per package.
As always we can eliminate this problem by staying away from packaged foods and eating the fresh foods that nature provides. There is no shortage of those around here at all. So now I’ll move on with my quest for cultural, local dishes. However, if I ever need a quick snack the chicken chips will be waiting for me at the checkout line to appeal to my need for a quick impulse buy.

Decking the Halls Early

I saw my first Christmas display in Maringá the last weekend in September. It was in a little corner shop that looks similar to (but smaller than) a Pier One in the US. It took the rest of the city a few weeks to catch up, but walking around this weekend, there is no doubt that Christmas is right around the corner.


I was a little surprised to see things up so early. I guess I am used to that debate in the US where most people think decorating for Christmas shouldn’t happen before 12:01am on the Friday after Thanksgiving. However, with no Halloween or Thanksgiving, I gather that Brazilians have to have a holiday to look forward to, so why not get started decking the halls a little early. I know I probably would. In fact, I got an email yesterday advertising that the holiday music station I always listen to online is back up and running for the season. I was so tempted to start listening.

We went to the mall this weekend and I continue to be amazed at how someplace so different can, at the same time, be exactly the same. You would have no idea you were in Brazil being at the mall. We rounded the corner and there sat a beautifully decorated, huge Christmas tree with the Santa chair right next to it. Pine garland with wreaths holding polar bears (my personal favorite) hung from the ceiling on every floor of the mall. I was really impressed.


I’m still not quite in the holiday spirit. I’m not sure if that is because it feels too early for me, or because it is in the 90s outside. A summertime Christmas is quite an adjustment. Even warmer climates like Florida have cooler weather around the holidays in the states.

I’ll miss most of the holiday season here to know for sure if it will really feel like Christmas to me in Maringá. I head back to the states at the end of November. Despite that, I will enjoy the beautiful decorations that pop out here more and more each day. Maybe I will start listening to my holiday station and I might even go shopping in the city on November 23rd (black Friday), however I kind of doubt the stores will be open for me at 6:00am. Then again, on the bright side, there probably won’t be vicious women out throwing elbows and tackling each other to get to sale items either.

New Addition

The city of Maringá has a new addition to its already long list of eating establishments. It is one that appears to be loved by Brazilians, almost as much as McDonalds. Believe it or not, it is Pizza Hut. Or Pizza Hutch, as it is pronounced in Portuguese. I still can’t make sense of this little language specific where te, and sometimes just t, has the sound of ch in English. So it is Pizza Hutch here in Maringá, Brazil.

We never had an interest in going to Pizza Hut in the U.S. On the long list of our preferred pizza it didn’t even make an appearance. The last time I remember willingly going (except for a few years ago when visiting family) was to redeem my Book It! Certificate for a free personal pan for reading books in school.

Well, due to a lack of tomato sauce and thick crust with the pizzas down here, we decided to try it out while at the mall this past weekend. On our last trip to the states we did try the one in Sao Paulo airport to compare and found that while the pizza was similar to that in the states it was outrageously expensive, about R$50 for a large pizza. So we were giving Pizza Hut Brazil a second chance.

The restaurant itself was actually really nice, nicer and more modern than any Pizza Hut we’ve seen at home. At first glance of the menu, we were happy to see that the food and drinks were along the same lines in price as other restaurants in the area. The crust is right on, the pan pizza was a great change from the thin crusts found all over town. The meats are a little unusual, some of them diced, but other than that the taste is the same. The breadsticks were similar to those in the US, but the sauces much different. The choices of dipping sauces were BBQ and Rosé. Rosé is a combination of mustard, mayonnaise and ketchup. Despite offending someone, I do have to say that the sound of that makes me a little sick to my stomach. I’ve never been anywhere in the world where they put mayonnaise on pizza except here in Brazil.

The service, for lack of a better term, completely sucked. The food came quickly, but after that our waitresses were no where to be found. We are used to and enjoy the simple differences here in eating out, such as asking for your bill and not feeling like you are rushed, but when it comes to drink refills we want some better service. It seems crazy that they wouldn’t provide it considering that here you pay for each drink. There are no unlimited refills like in the states.

So I’m noticing a theme with myself here. I keep visiting these US chain restaurants in Brazil that I hardly went to while in the US. There is just something about wanting to compare the experience I guess. I hear they have Burger King in Curitiba…

Braving the Storm

We are originally from an area in the US that is considered part of the Midwest so we are used to some pretty major thunderstorms. Storms range from lightening, thunder, hail, and almost every storm that comes through carries at least a Tornado Watch with it. I’ve always been glad that my family has a basement in our house. There is nothing like the comfort and safety of a basement when the weather acts up.

We’ve been experiencing some pretty intense storms here in Maringá lately, the worst of which occurred yesterday. I was in Portuguese class and was very happy that I was with other people. Experiencing storms in a high rise apartment in the middle of a city by yourself can rattle the nerves a bit. Storms seem to vary here. On Tuesday we experienced one that had a lot of lightening, yesterday it was all wind. I find the city to be very scary during the slightest bit of wind. I’m not sure if it is the structure of the types of trees here, or a lack of pruning dead limbs by the city, but even a small storm produces tons of debris all over the streets. I never want to be out walking or driving in a storm here. As I walked home, I saw limbs twice my size lying all over the roads. I walked past one house that had a mango tree in the yard. There were unripe mangos strewn all over the place. I’d hate to get hit in the head with one of those during a big wind storm.

When a storm blows in here, the sky is so interesting. Clouds form that look a lot like our wall clouds in the US, however, we are lucky that no funnel clouds drop from them. They simply blow in and bring a lot of rain.

Despite how much the wind scares me here, I love the rain (chuva). The main reason is because it brings with it cooler air. As good as sunlight is for the soul, a person can only take so much sunshine, especially when that sunshine is so hot that you can get a vacation tan by walking from here to the next block.

I love how people react to the rain here too. It is no big deal. I walked from the grocery store back to the apartment yesterday and was completely drenched. The rain actually felt pretty good. Some people pull out umbrellas, but most just make their way trying to stay under building canopies. In the US, people typically scramble to open their umbrellas to walk two feet into the store from that close parking spot they spent 20 minutes circling to find. Of course, you know from previous posts that I wouldn’t be one to care about getting my hair wet. Considering how hot it is when that sun is out, a nice cool shower is the best thing around. So rain, I don’t mind, but give me a safe place when that wind starts.

Happy Halloween!!

I never made a big deal about Halloween in the past, but I’m finding that I kind of miss it this year. To my knowledge they don’t celebrate Halloween here in Brazil, at least not the same way we do. We did notice a few stores around town that had some Halloween decorations up. A coworker of my husband’s also had us bring back cards and decorations for the holiday when we returned from our DC trip. In addition to that we brought back some Halloween candy – Twizzlers, Nerds, Starbursts and SweetTarts – and shared some with people we’ve met here.

By this time in the US, all the kids are dressed up and knocking on doors for their candy. I did try to keep with the pumpkin theme this year and I made an Abobora (pumpkin) pie. I used my grandma’s recipe. I bet in all her life she never thought that her pumpkin pie would be made in Brazil! The pumpkins here are very different in looks than those in the states, so we’ll see how it tastes.

I doubt we will see any kids dressed like the latest pop star or action figure in the streets and there will be no knocks on the door tonight, but we’ll celebrate in our own way – pumpkin pie and I am wearing my black and orange bat shirt. Happy Halloween!

Even Walking is an Adventure

Walking is one of the most preferred forms of physical activity. A lot of people walk for exercise. Half the city of Maringá included. Since we moved here we’ve taken advantage of a large 1.8 mile walking trail that circles the Parque do Inga in the center of the city. The Parque do Inga is actually the city’s zoo.
The trail is packed from about 7:00am to 8:00am and 5:30pm to 8:00pm. There are two lanes for walkers or runners to go in either direction. The ideal situation would be for everyone to treat it as if they were driving and choose the correct side to walk on considering the direction, but this of course isn’t the case. People tend to walk on whatever side they choose which leads to a lot of weaving during the busy hours. This can get bothersome, but it is still a great place to jog or walk.

Now there is one thing that I get to see on my walk that most other people probably do not, monkeys. Yes, monkeys. The zoo is open to visitors during the day so you can cut through the area, past the obese, caged lion and around the lake. I wouldn’t call this a main attraction considering zoos in the states and in other countries. It is pretty barren and the animals don’t look very comfortable, but it offers a change of scenery for walking. We’ve walked through a couple of times on Sunday afternoons and you are guaranteed to see Sagui (sag-wee), tiny little monkeys that roam free in the zoo. They readily come up to people who offer food. In this picture below they are enjoying a popsicle that someone left behind.

Despite what appears to be a tame nature, I wouldn’t exactly call them friendly. The zoo is surrounded by a fence and you never see the Sagui on or near the fence, just inside the zoo. That is, except for one quiet morning that I decided to take a stroll. I was walking on the track outside the zoo and noticed something out of the corner of my eye to the right. It made me jump before I realized what it was. Someone had put a half eaten apple in the chain-link fence and several Saguis had discovered it. They were hanging on the outside of the fence eating the apple. When I jumped, I must have scared them too, because one turned and looked right at me. He hissed, showing me his fangs which were quite scary considering his whole body is about the same length as my size 8.5 foot. I quickly walked by and let them enjoy the apple in peace. He apparently didn’t want me to have any.
So here in Maringa, even simple walking for exercise is an adventure. Between monkeys and mobs of people things are never boring for long.

Chocolate in Brazil

Before moving to Brazil one of the things I thought would be easy to find here was good chocolate. Although, most of today’s cocoa comes from Africa there is still some produced in Brazil and other countries in South America. Unfortunately, I’ve been very disappointed so far.

First we’ll start with cocoa. I can’t find it anywhere in the grocery store. Granted I haven’t looked in every supermarket in Maringá, but so far it is no where to be found. They have to have something similar because they bake chocolate cakes in the bakeries here. (We’ll discuss those later.) So I’m disappointed that I can’t even make some brownies to satisfy my chocolate craving.

Believe it or not, I could live without cocoa, but what I’m struggling with the most is the quality of chocolate, as in chocolate bars. They all taste like candy chocolate. You know, the kind of chocolate that coats peanut butter cups and is found inside M&Ms. It is good in those candies, but if enjoyed alone it would be really sweet and without real chocolate flavor. They aren’t lacking in variety here. There are all kinds, most of which are milk or white chocolate. Cashew, raisins and cashew (my favorite of what I have to choose from), crispies and peanuts are all available in the chocolate bars.

The problem is that I consider myself a true chocolate lover. Most of the time, I would rather have one small square of quality dark chocolate than a whole chocolate dessert. I like the really dark stuff. The kind that is good for your heart. The less sugar and fat added the better. I love chocolate that is between 70 and 80% cacao solids. I won’t break the bank on it, but I will pay a little more for quality. So far the best dark chocolate bar I’ve found down here is one from Hershey. Yikes, I know, Hershey! They sell their Special Dark fancy addition chocolate down here.

Perhaps I’ll get lucky in traveling to other areas of the country. Maybe it is more available in the north, more near the Amazon where some is produced. There is a chance I might go there next summer.

As for the chocolate desserts here, I can pass on them. We recently attended a birthday party which had an elaborate cake from a local bakery. It really was beautiful, covered in chocolate shavings and strawberries. After we had a piece the first question we got was, “Did you like it or was it too sweet?” I guess a common response to desserts here from foreigners is that they are too sweet. At first we thought it was a strange question, the cake was very good. However, after having some more chocolate cake creations for my recent birthday and at a BBQ, I understand the question. There is no rich chocolate flavor to the cakes, they are just sweet. So, either they don’t like rich, dark chocolate here, or they don’t have good cocoa to make it.

So, I’ll continue my quest for good chocolate in South America. I’ll let you know what I find. Now, don’t think I’m starved for desserts here. That is hardly the case. Nothing can beat the passion fruit mousse; the chocolate cake just needs a little help.

Churrasco, Take 2

We took part in our 2nd churrasco this past weekend. I’ll be honest. I really wasn’t looking forward to it. Saturday had been a long day of shopping for some remaining items needed in the apartment. It was wild and crazy out too. I think the whole city was out shopping. I thought this might be because it had rained a lot during the week and maybe people were just starting to get out. I was just prepared to do nothing and stay in pajamas on Sunday.

We were invited to this festa by my Portuguese teacher. She is a college student herself and aside from the presence of her parents the group was a mix of people in their 20s. We ended up having a wonderful time. It was actually much better than our first BBQ. We find that we are at one of those in between ages in life. We don’t really fit in well with families because we don’t have any kids of our own. We don’t always fit in the college group because it has been a few years since those days and we’ve experienced some real life (bills, mortgage, jobs, etc.). I have to say this is a group I felt much more comfortable with. Maybe we like reliving the college days a little more than imagining the days of diapers ahead.

Most of my Portuguese teachers were there, so they forced us to speak Portuguese which was stressful, but helpful. They also translated things for us so we felt a little more involved in the conversations. We got to meet some new people who spoke a little English. So between our limited Portuguese and their limited English we were actually able to communicate quite well.

There were a lot of differences in this churrasco and the first one we attended. It is probably just the difference in hosts, similar to parties in the US. First the meat selection was very small. This definitely pointed to the fact that we were with college students. The meat was good, but we only had 2 kinds as opposed to the 5-6 varieties at our last event. The salads on the other hand were very good with more variety. We had vinagrete – similar to a homemade salsa in the states – cebola (onions), pepino (cucumber), tomate (tomatoes), cebolinha (scallions or chives) and salsinha (similar to our parsley). This is then covered in lime juice and olive oil. By the way, their limão translates to lemon in English, but it is not like our lemon at all. It is our lime. They don’t have anything in Brazil that is like our yellow lemon. The potato salad was great and we had rice here as well. This was followed up by a huge chocolate cake from a local supermarket. (I’ll comment on the chocolate in Brazil in a later entry.)

What we find interesting about the dessert is that at both churrascos we have been to, the person manning the grill has left to go get it. The dessert has never been ready to get out and serve at the end of the meal. I don’t know if this is tradition or consequence, or what the reason might be.

The biggest difference was that we had a host at this event. This might just have to do with personality types, but at our first BBQ we were expected to go get our own drinks. After the first offer for a drink, we didn’t receive anymore. I guess we were expected to get them ourselves at the point. This is a little uncomfortable considering that you are a guest in a place you’ve never been before, not to mention new to the country. At Sunday’s churrasco, every time our drink was empty the host brought us a new one. It was really kind of nice and made us feel much more comfortable.

Well, I guess it is clear that we had a really good time. I was expecting to be there only about 3 hours and we stayed 7! We hope to have a party for all of our new friends once our apartment is completed. We are thinking a SuperBowl party thanks to TiVo and I will try my best to recreate some of the foods we have at parties in the states.

Trip Research In Brazil

Most people who know me, know that I love to do trip research. In my opinion, it is almost as much fun as the trip itself - all that anticipation, reading reviews, scoping out the best places to eat. Now once I’m on the trip, I’m not an only stick to the agenda kind of a person. I just use all my research for ideas and to learn about the area.

I’m usually pretty successful at finding good places to stay and eat with a few minor exceptions along the way. So far in Brazil I’ve researched two places for visits. One was Foz do Iguaçu, a trip we’ve already taken. The other is Florianopolis, a trip we are taking in November. Researching vacations in Brazil is seriously doing me in. I walk away from the computer every time with a pounding headache! All the options and not knowing if I’m making the right decision makes my brain hurt.

It isn’t the language barrier. I can usually decode most info on hotel web-sites and many have an English option. It is more of not knowing what I’m getting us into. I rely heavily on reviews on the web for trip planning and I’m usually very happy I do. Unfortunately, very little of Brazil has good solid reviews to rely on. In addition, before moving here, I thought we were in for lots of inexpensive travel. I knew I’d have to lower my expectations a bit for luxury as I’ve had to in Europe, but travel accommodations here are really surprising. We are definitely budget travelers, but we search hard to find the best deals so we don’t have to settle with bad accommodations or food. I want to see a lot of unique things while we are here so I know I have to get myself away from the great hotel chains with the super comfy beds. One thing remains though; I have to have a clean hotel room. So far this is quite a gamble in Brazil and I’ve heard in most of South America. Fresh, clean, comfy linens just aren’t common.

What I’ve found in Brazil is that you can pay about US$150 a night for a hotel we would rate at about a 2 star in the US. The $50 a night hotels exist, but they scare me little, even if they are in a beautiful location. On the flip side, you can have luxury in Brazil, but it is going to cost you about US$1000 a night. I’m not kidding. I thought for sure I’d get to experience some relaxing, yet rustic resorts on the coast for reasonable prices. Not so. I mean, we only pay about $300 a night for wonderful all-inclusive, couples-only resorts in the Caribbean, which also allows us to experience local culture. You can definitely forget that in Brazil. I’ve just been really surprised.

So I’ve been researching the island of Santa Catarina and our trip to Florianopolis for November. There are so many beaches there and each one seems to be for a different personality or age. At first thought, one would think it great to have so many options. I’m having the opposite experience. I’ve looked at enough hotel web-sites to make my head spin. We finally have it narrowed down to two areas and we are still trying to decide. Unfortunately, our friends here haven’t been much help. Their response is usually – it is all beautiful.

Well, I’m sure once we get there it will be a great experience. I’m hoping and praying that the lodging we choose provides us with at least a clean hotel room. I guess even if it isn’t, the beautiful island and fresh seafood might make up for it. It is a long shot for me, but it might. One thing is for sure, there will be reviews on the web from me on all the places we visit in Brazil to help out those lost researchers like myself.

Everything In Moderation

I’m finding more and more that the one thing most cultures have in common is their love of food. Brazil is no exception. This past week another feira has been held in the center of town in front of the cathedral. This time it was a fair focused on the foods of the world which looked to be sponsored by the Lions Club. In addition, there were multiple craft vendors there.

We attended the feira three times and had dinner there twice. We had been told about this feira by my husband’s coworkers and had been looking forward to it. We had some good food, but it was Brazilian. There were really only a few booths that offered different cuisines such as German, but all seemed to have their Brazilian touch. I don’t think I would have called any of it truly authentic.

We’ve found that one of our favorite foods here is Pastel. I’m sure my arteries aren’t quite as fond of them, but everything in moderation. Pastel is a pastry like dough which holds a variety of fillings both savory and sweet. My favorite so far is Frango e Catipury (chicken and a cheese that is unique to Brazil). These pastries are then deep fried to a light golden brown. They aren’t too greasy which is probably why I like them. We've been told that this is actually a Japanese food, really Brazilian. There are several Pastel shops around the city, but we are told repeatedly by locals that there is nothing like ‘special event pastel.’ I have to agree. I’ve had them at the weekly feira and they are great. I think we found the best one so far at this past week’s event. We had Pastelão, which was a larger pastel filled with mozzarella, tomato, onion and several spices. They were so good. We had this for dinner on Thursday and Sunday – so much for moderation.

Although incredibly sweet, the desserts are great too. We usually stick with Doce de Leite which is similar in texture to our fudge, but in caramel flavor. We branched out this week though and tried a few different things. First, there were the large chucks of coconut that had been candied in a sugar mixture (this was my favorite), then there was shredded coconut that had been stirred into a caramel like-filling. It was like eating the filling of a thick pecan pie with coconut instead of nuts. We also tried a large round toffee-like candy that was covered in peanuts. It looks a lot like our peanut brittle, but is soft and tasted like a Payday candy bar.

For the crafts, it was great to see some local art. There was a lot of jewelry, leather and woodworking. I picked up a few unique Christmas gifts. However, just like craft shows at home, there was a fair share of things that were a bit on the tacky side. It was still fun to look at.

So for the most part I think it is safe to say that we like the food down here, especially the feira food. I think the problem is that there are too many ferias! Moderation is a hard thing to stick to, but I better start. We've got less than a month until our trip to Florianopolis on the coast among all those Brazilian bikinis!

The Big 2-9

Happy Birthday to Me. Today I am spending my 29th birthday in a place that I never could have even imaged I would be, Brazil. It is crazy where life takes us. I’m finding that life is more fun if you don’t plan. Goals and achievements have their place in life, but it is much more fun to let life and the Lord take you where they want to.

Although, I hate turning 29 (sorry, I’m not an embrace your age person – I liked my 20s), I look back and realize I’ve seen some pretty amazing places so far, more than many people will see in their lifetime. I am thankful for those blessings, and I know there is so much left to see and do.

I miss my family (and my pug) so much today, but I’ve been able to spend my birthday with my best friend in the world (my husband) and see Maringá some together. So it has been a good day and there is still a lot left of it to celebrate!

Foreigners vs. the Brazilian Embassy, DC

I haven’t posted for a while because we spent the last week in Washington, DC trying to get our temporary visa stamped into our passports. This would allow us to stay in Brazil for 2 years without having to leave every 90 days. I have to say that I was very excited to be back in the states. Before moving I was determined to forget about our conveniences and franchises and embrace local culture. Unfortunately, I think I failed at accomplishing this goal. I just never thought I could miss Target so much! I jumped for joy when I saw my first Caribou and Starbucks Coffees and loved the familiar smell of walking back into a Gap. It took me almost the full week to realize that everyone around me would understand me when I spoke English.

So I guess it is clear that I was glad to be back to the familiar. I recently received a comment (from a Brazilian) on my blog telling me that I also needed to discuss what I don’t like about Brazil as well as what I do. I don’t like to come across as though I’m not understanding of other cultures, but I’m beginning to realize that understanding is a lot easier when you are traveling there for a short trip versus living in that culture. After the trip to DC and the Brazilian Embassy my understanding went out the window.

Stepping into the Brazilian Embassy in DC was like we took a several thousand mile step back into Brazil itself. First off, they don’t use computers. That alone makes for a very slow process. We waited for 2.5 hours to simply turn in forms for Visas that were already approved. They had a number system for order of service, but didn’t follow it, allowing people to walk in and jump the line to ask questions that would stall the progress for 5 – 10 minutes. We were there to get our Type V Visa and the people at the desk didn’t even know what a type V was. It was hard to believe that they can even survive in the DC area with their lack of technology and order.

One thing is overwhelming clear to me and I warn that this is going to sound negative. Brazil (as a country) does not want other people in their country. It appears that their goal is to make things so difficult that people decide not to even come in. (We actually witnessed 2 people at the Embassy that simply changed their plans and chose not to go.) It is very sad in my opinion. All this beauty and nature and they don’t want to share it. You would think the revenue the country would get from tourism alone would be a motivator to encourage people to visit. That being said maybe it is just as difficult for a Brazilian to come to the US, I don’t know. This is purely my opinion and I’m sure many disagree.

I’ll make a long story short and just say that we were supposed to drop off the passports on Monday and get them back by Wednesday. When we turned them in they said they couldn’t be ready until Friday. This was a problem due to an appointment we had at the US Passport office. By the way, I never thought I would say this about the US government, but the service at the US passport office was excellent - quick, organized and helpful. It was like night and day compared to the Brazilian Embassy. The kicker was that the Visa was already approved. They just had to stamp it. It was basically a power trip. They told us that they wouldn’t stamp it until Friday. They just didn’t want to do it before.

In the end, things did work out. I guess that is obvious because we are back in Brazil. This is after about 40 phone calls (I’m serious), explaining our situation each time. Not to mention 4 trips to the Brazilian Embassy which was an hour commute on metro and bus. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t ever have to go there again.

What we found funny was that when we checked in at the Delta desk to fly out of DC back to Brazil, the clerk was a Brazilian. Noticing that we didn’t have a return trip to the US, she asked if we lived in Brazil. We told her about all our problems and she said, “Yes, my country is not very good at paperwork.” Ha, ha! That probably sums up the whole week. Perhaps if they used the great world of technology instead of paper if would make for a much more pleasant experience.

High Maintenance

High maintenance is definitely not a term that can be used to describe me. About the age of 13 I started down the path of curling my hair everyday and carefully applying makeup to enhance my features. By high school, I pretty much gave it up for good. My thought - when the makeup is gone by noon and the hair flat much earlier – what a waste of time. So from that point on, I’ve been spending my extra hour in the morning sleeping. I think I still end up looking okay and I’m much more rested.

Brazil is interesting because the women here seem to mix, wash & go with what I would consider high maintenance. Because of the warm weather you can wash your hair and walk outside and it is dry in about 10 min. I love this and take advantage of it everyday. You see very little makeup during the day as well which helps me to fit in. However, I’m not exactly sure if this because of the cost or the heat.

Then there are the acts of high maintenance beauty. It is common practice for women to have a manicure each week and a pedicure every two weeks. I know there are plenty of women in the states who regularly partake in these beauty rituals, but this comes from one of those women that views manicures and pedicures as a true indulgences. I take care of things on my own, but aside from my acrylic nails (which no one has down here) for my wedding I have had no professional manicures and two pedicures in my lifetime. I love them, but I have better uses for my money. I’d much rather travel than spend the money on something I can do pretty decently myself.

Well, it appears that this is all about to change. If you come from a place like I do where the cheapest manicure and pedicure will cost you about US$50+, you’d probably feel the same way I did when I first saw the prices in Brazil. I’ve been going to a place in the local mall and I pay a whopping US$13 – total. I’ve even been told that this is expensive for here. A coworker of my husband’s, who lives in a smaller town, pays about US$2.50 for her manicures.

I know, it is pretty unbelievable, however, if I was getting them every week I would probably need them to be that inexpensive. You do have to have a little bit of an open mind when getting nails done here. They do cut your cuticles, which is supposedly a bit of a no-no in the US. I figure, if millions of women do it here and they are okay, I probably will be too.

So, I’m going to be enjoying these beauty rituals while I can. I still don’t think I can get on the weekly schedule, but once every few weeks wouldn’t be bad. Who knows, maybe there is hope for this sporty girl after all.

Wednesday Feira Part Two

I attended the Wednesday night feira again this week and I couldn’t pass up writing about the experience. The first time we went it was after my husband came home from work and we got there about 8:00pm after many things were sold out and people were beginning to close up shop. Rumor had it that the event started at about 5:30pm. With the longer days coming on, this allowed me to walk out there when it started and still get back before dark.

I arrived at the feira at about 5:20pm and it was already packed. There were about double the amount of people as there had been the last time and the stands were overflowing. People were already beginning to pick out their produce. I went directly to the peanut stand to get some amendoim doce, sweet peanuts. They are the better than honey roasted by far. I picked out the pack I wanted and began to hand the guy the money. He started telling me something that I couldn’t quite understand. It took me a while because of the language barrier, but then I realized he was telling me that they couldn’t begin until 5:30pm. It was 5:26pm.

So I said okay and walked away, planning to come back later. At that point I began to look around and realized that people weren’t actually buying things yet as it had appeared at first. They were all standing over their selection as if they were ready to hear the word 'go.' At one quick moment, things started to roll. Money was passed, fruit was picked out, lettuce bagged – it was crazy. As I looked at my watch I realized that a siren was going off in the distance. It was similar to our 12:00 storm siren test here in the states. So I guess this is their cue to begin selling at the market. I’d like to learn more as to whether this is law or just practice.

Attending the feira earlier in the evening was a completely different experience. There was so much more produce. I also couldn’t believe the amount of great looking baked goods and sushi. Yep, sushi. It looked wonderful actually.

By the way, I went back and got the peanuts. The guy had them waiting for me. They were great as always.

Back to School

The minute I was finished with graduate school, I was ecstatic that a lifetime of going to school was finally over. I always did well in school, but I can’t say that I really liked it. I like to learn, but I don’t like doing it on other people's terms. I like learning about what I want to know and to the extent to which I want to know it.

Well, I’ve found myself back in school, this time in Brazil. I began Portuguese classes a few weeks ago at the university here in Maringá. The classes are taught by students in the language program who plan to become English teachers. The classes are composed of mostly 17 year old Rotary exchange students from various countries. In addition, there are a few old folks like myself who are living here for a few years. The number of countries represented does make it an interesting environment. There are students from the U.S., U.K., Australia, Denmark, Holland, Russia, Mexico, Finland, Germany and Japan.
I want to comment on the university itself. The differences and similarities are each striking in their own way. Let’s start with the differences. The campus itself isn’t all that appealing. It is unique. There are some beautiful palm trees and green space, but other than that the buildings are run down and dated, especially for a place that is less than 50 years old. It does look like they are adding on to some buildings though. The classrooms themselves aren’t quite as bad as I thought they would be. They even have a couple rooms that are set up theater style with comfortable chairs. The similarities lie with the students themselves. Despite the look of the campus, it feels like I am back at UK or Purdue. The actions and characteristics of a ‘student’ seems to be the same across cultures. I realized this when leaving class at 3:30pm one Thursday afternoon. The local bars were buzzing with students starting the weekend because, as everyone knows, weekends start on Thursdays in college. College campuses seem to have the same feel no matter where you are.


So far I find Portuguese very difficult to learn. I attribute it to the fact that my brain is full. I hit this point in grad school where I felt as though I could fit no more new information in my head. It sounds ridiculous, but I always feel this way when I’m trying to learn new information. I’m hoping I can get rid of some unnecessary stored information (such as the words to that random song) to make way for learning a little Portuguese over the next 2 years.

Churrasco

About 8:00pm on Saturday night my husband received a phone call inviting us to lunch on Sunday at a coworker’s home. We accepted the offer and laughed about the short notice we have come to expect from Brazilians. Actually having about 15 hours notice was better than usual. We are often invited to things that start within two hours. We weren’t sure what to expect for the lunch and upon arriving at the house we realized we had been invited to a Brazilian barbecue. Churrasco is the appropriate term. My husband had already had the opportunity to attend such an event, but this was my first one.

If you’ve been to a Brazilian Restaurant, it is likely that you’ve enjoyed the meats of a churrasco. However, a churrasco at a person’s home will spoil you. You won’t enjoy the meats of a restaurant quite the same again.

First, it is good to be prepared for a long afternoon. The traditional time line is for guests to arrive before the cooking starts. The outdoor grill, which is a bricked oven/grill pit, is heated and the bread sticks are put on to begin toasting. Meanwhile, the men congregate outdoors at the grill preparing the meats. Most of the meats are marinated in a type of mixture that is still a secret to me. It is heavy on the salt and gives the meat a lot of flavor. There is definitely no BBQ sauce here. There was lombo (pork loin) cut into pieces and wrapped in bacon, skewed with fresh pineapple. Chicken hearts, lingüiça (sausage), filet, and the most popular cut of meat for Brazilians, picanha. After doing a little research, I have learned that picanha is a whole, untrimmed Tri-Tip of beef. It is usually cut into smaller pieces which have other names in the US.

As the meat is prepared, the women congregate in the kitchen to make salads. This usually includes a bowl of lettuce, a bowl of tomatoes with lime squeezed over them and a potato salad. Most people who know me, know that I don’t typically fit in with the traditions of the women duties and the men duties. Needless to say, I found it much more enjoyable to stand out at the grill and watch the meat preparation.

During the prep, drinks begin to flow. Of course there is beer, cerveja. We also got to try a really interesting drink concoction, - red wine, coconut fruit, coconut milk and condensed milk blended together. It was great, but way too sweet to have more than a small glass. This is likely a good thing since it isn’t one of the healthiest recipes around. The traditional caipirinha was made using limes, sugar and cachaça – a liquor made from sugarcane. We have had these before, but we found it interesting that at this event, one large one was made and everyone simply took drinks from this large glass. We passed on this. There were really only a few men who were drinking it anyway.

The meal starts with the salads. The meats are served as they come off the grill. They are cut into small pieces which are piled onto platters to be passed around. You simply grab a few pieces each time it circles. It is definitely hard to pace yourself. We were full before the filet was even put on the grill. It is an enjoyable eating process that takes several hours.

The afternoon goes on with lots of conversation and finally everyone helps clean up. The joke is apparently that since the men have done the grilling it is time for the women to work, cleaning the dishes.

This is definitely one of the unique cultural experiences we have taken part in during our time here. We are looking forward to many more.

You’re Never Too Far from the Golden Arches

No matter where you go in this world, there seems to be one thing you can't get away from – McDonald’s. From a business perspective you have to hand it to them, they have quite a following. While I don't agree with the ethics of their advertising and branding, of all the fast food restaurants, I do give them some credit for their effort to add healthy options to their menus. I'm not fooled by their attempt to mask their true intentions, but at least you can order something halfway healthy if you go there. Most people don't, but you can.



Towering high in the sky next to Maringá's most well known landmark, the Cathedral, you will find those familiar golden arches glowing like a beacon for the hungry. Now if you think McDonald's is busy, say at 5:00 on a week night, or lunchtime on Saturday, oh you haven't seen anything yet. My husband and I usually attend mass at either 6:00 or 7:30pm on Sunday evenings. When mass lets out everyone in the city goes to McDonald's (Mac-Donald's as they say here). It is busier than any place I have seen before. Cars aren’t just lined up at the drive thru. They have to form two lines and alternate entering because the drive thru line literally causes a traffic jam on one of the main roads through the city. Brazilians appear to love McDonald's. I dare say more than Americans, simply because there are only a few other choices for this kind of food.

I have to say that when it comes to fast food, McDonald's is my favorite. Despite this fact, I care very much about my health and I eat there an average of about two times per year. I've definitely broken my record here in Maringá. I have eaten there three times in the past month. With the transition and the move, it was just easier to go with the familiar. Brazilians claim it is much different from the McDonald's in the states. There are a few different options, but it tastes the same to me.

They do have some healthier options here, but they come at a high price. In fact, we’ve been told that McDonald's is really more for people with money here. That was surprising to hear, because with the value menu in the U.S., it appears that income level is not a factor in eating there. I would think that most would consider it fairly cheap food. At least in the health field that is one thing we are up against regarding decreasing the consumption of fast food. It is too cheap and convenient to grab an extra value meal vs. choosing a healthier option.

They do have some different desserts here, branching out from the traditional sundae, shake, cone and McFlurry. The best thing they have here is the Top Sundae. Surprisingly, it is much larger than those in the states (most things are smaller here). They load it up with toppings and then sprinkle it with farofa doce. It is a sweet, fine, cookie crumb type topping. It is so good. It is also a nice variation to have the option of a coconut milk shake.

Although, I plan to continue with only my semi-annual stops at McDonald's it is not so bad to have it to fall back on. The challenge is to find a time to go when it isn’t standing room only.

I Want My Bubble Back...

Ever wonder how many people you can fit in an elevator? Come to Brazil to find out. I’ve never been crammed in with so many people. I’ve routinely been in a crowded elevator when the door opens at the next floor and think, there is no way one more person could fit in here. This thought goes through my head just as the person squeezes in.

We all have our own personal bubble. Some have a small one and don’t mind close contact with strangers in public. Others have a large one and really want people to keep their space, especially those whom they consider strangers. This varies from culture to culture, of course, and from person to person. In dealing with people I know, even acquaintances, my bubble is relatively small. However, in public situations, I need my space!

Unfortunately for me Brazilians have virtually no bubble at all. First let me say that the cheek kiss/hug greeting really doesn’t bother me, even with people I’ve just met. It does get quite annoying when you have to do it to every person who walks in, though. We recently went to a birthday party and many people arrived fashionably late. Every time someone walked in we had to stand up and greet them. It got a little ridiculous after a while. After you have been someplace for an hour and are into conversations, I kind of like the simple ‘hello’, myself. That is just my opinion though.

Okay, back to the point. What does bother me is people standing so close to me in line at the supermarket that I can feel them breathing on my neck and leaning on my backpack. Strangers walk up to you and start asking you question after question getting uncomfortably close to your face. There is no ‘excuse me’ before starting in on their questions. I find this hard to handle.

I guess it goes without saying that I just don’t think this is something I’ll get used to in two years. I just really want my bubble back!

Oh the Germs!!!

It is time for a little venting. It is often surprising to find someone in the States that coughs and sneezes without covering their mouth in some way. Normally, when we do, we assume that person has no manners or no mother to teach them the appropriate way to act in public. I have no problem cringing or even verbally saying 'ugh' when someone commits this horrible germ-spreading crime in public.

When I visited here before our move, I noticed two things that I thought were a victory for public health. First, there are sinks everywhere for washing your hands. They are usually outside the bathrooms so you can easily wash your hands before eating. Score one for public health! Then, I noticed that they don't touch their food with their hands. They use napkins or eat everything with a fork and knife. I thought, okay, maybe this could be a new way to stop spreading germs. Score two for public heath!

Well, once I moved down I started to look around. Sorry, but germs have just won the game. The score for public health just plummeted into the negatives. Hardly anyone here covers their mouths when they cough or sneeze. Needless to say they aren't even close to approaching the further step of sneezing into the inside of their elbows which has become a new public health recommendation in the States. We are talking, hacking on everyone walking down the street, sneezing all over the table. To add to it, there are no sneeze guards on buffets here. Yep, you guessed it. I rarely touch a buffet here. I made that promise as I watched a lady cough all over the breakfast buffet at the hotel one morning.

Lord knows I'm trying hard to embrace this cultural experience. I'm also pretty proud of the fact that my germ phobia has come down a bit since moving here. I'm trying to get over my mild OCD regarding germs. But when it comes to coughing and sneezing all over me and my food, sorry but I can't handle that. Please cover your mouth!!!

Road Trip

We embarked on our first road trip across Brazil this past weekend. After living here a little over a month, and my husband a little over 3 months, we decided to make the 5 hour drive to the city of Foz do Iguaçu so we could view the famous Cataratas do Iguaçu - some amazing waterfalls at the point where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet.

I was actually a little surprised that the drive wasn't quite as adventurous as I was expecting. In fact, there were many times that it felt as if we were driving right through the country towns of Indiana. We saw so many corn and wheat fields that if felt like US 41. However, we would then pass coffee plants, banana trees or kids playing futbol barefoot by the highway and be reminded that we were, in fact, in Brazil. It was also pretty interesting to see a few palm trees out in the middle of a corn field. You definitely don't see that at home.

The road was mainly two lane with a few areas that provided passing lanes. I wish I had a little information on the litter laws in Brazil, if there are any. We were pretty surprised on the drive when a glass beer bottle flew out of the window in front of us and shattered to pieces on the side of the highway. We aren't sure if these were just bad citizens or if this is a common practice. At first, you might think that it had to be someone disobeying the law, however, let me fill you in on a few of the other things that are okay when driving in Brazil. It is apparently no big deal for a passenger, or even the driver, to have a beer on the drive home from work. In addition, there is no need to wear your seat belt in the back seat of a car, and so far from what I've seen, child car seats are non-existent. It is seriously like driving around in the late 70s. It is unbelievable to me that all the research on the topic and the dangers have not reached Brazil. It is a bit unsettling, especially when you see a 18 month old standing in the front of a truck at the dash board with one hand on the steering wheel to brace himself during a drive through downtown. Anyway, the most interesting thing that came flying out of a window was a coconut. You can get the coconut water straight out of the coconut almost anywhere here. We were driving along and one went flying through the air. Good thing he got a good heave on it.

Foz was a fairly small city and really didn't have much to offer. I'm glad we weren't there to actually visit the city, but to visit the waterfalls. The Cataratas do Iguaçu were about 15 min from the city in the National Park. They don't allow you to drive in the park which is nice. You park and take a bus in. You exit the bus and head to the trails to view some beautiful natural wonders. The falls were amazing. We only got to see the Brazil side. Everyone says that the Argentina side is much better. Hopefully, next time we'll be able to venture there. We did drive over to Argentina, but didn't have enough time to go to the falls there.

So the first Brazilian road trip was a success. We are looking forward to the next one which will be a little bit further. We hope to head to the coast in Florianopolis in November.

Happy Birthday, Macy Mae!

I think I mentioned before that I had to leave my precious Pug at home in the States during this adventure. It was a very tough decision to make, but one that was best for her. People own dogs down here, but it is obvious that the level of care is no where near what it is in the States. Although I miss her terribly, she is in good hands and happy. She is living with my husband's parents and has fit in well with the pack which includes an aging, somewhat grumpy Dalmatian and a happy, yet insecure Golden Retriever. She makes the occasional overnight visit to my parent's house where she gets to visit with goats and run a little in the country.

I'm writing about her today because it is her 5th Birthday. She's had a few celebrations and seems to be content with turning five. Aging doesn't seem to bother her a bit. She takes her graying chin in stride.

Happy Birthday, Macy Mae! I can't wait to see you in December.

Mega Farmer's Market

We attended the weekly feira (fair) last night. When we think of fairs it is usually rides, games, a few farm animals and fried food. The fairs here are a little different. First of all, they are more like a farmer's market. There are still a few booths of fried food - all nationalities like their fried foods - but this is the place where the community goes to buy their produce. The feira is open on Wednesday nights behind the futbol (soccer only to Americans) stadium and then again on Saturdays at another place in the city.

I'll be the first to say I love a good farmer's market. It is a combination of getting quality, locally grown produce and the fact that I like supporting local, small farmers. I'm not sure about your farmer's market at home, but the one in Lexington is a bit high priced on some things. This isn't to say it's not worth it. Some things are worth the extra money because they are a little rare or the quality is a lot better than the grocery store. Well, this isn't the case here at all. Have I mentioned that food here is really inexpensive?

First, it seems a bit odd to be shopping at the farmer's market at night. I'm used to early Saturday mornings to be the first in line to get the best selection. I got over it though, it was actually kind of nice. I'd been told to buy my produce at the feira because the quality is better. Wow, was that good advice. This fair was amazing. The place was full of stands overflowing with green. There were so many varieties of leafy greens - it was a nutritional paradise. Napa cabbage (or something similar), lettuce, arugula, and spinach. Beautiful
tomatoes, squash, potatoes and peppers. Now for the things you probably wouldn't find at your farmer's market. Passion fruit, guava, bananas - several varieties, papaya, mango, oranges, limes and avocado. In addition, there were cheese stands and a stand with all kinds of varieties of meats and sausages. The best part, however, was coffee. You could by roasted coffee beans from plants that grow right outside the city. The smell was wonderful. The whole event was pretty amazing.

So, how much for all of this rare goodness? Well, not much. Most things were less than R$2.00 per kg. Other things were R$1.00 each. Now, to put that into perspective. First of all, R$1.00 is about $0.50 US. A kg is 2.2 lbs. So some of the best tomatoes I've seen (except for those in my Dad's garden, of course) were US$0.75 for 2.2 lbs!! A huge head of napa cabbage - US$0.50! Six miniature mangos for US$0.50. It was almost unbelievable. Even considering the extremely low salaries of most of the people here, this produce would be considered inexpensive. Finally, a place where it is cheap to eat healthy! No more excuses. What would we do in the US if we didn't have the excuse of it being too expensive to get out of eating a healthy diet?

Spring Flowers In September

Here in Maringá we are headed out of winter and into the summer so this would be the beginning of spring right now. You wouldn't know it by the weather. It is already 85+ F on a regular basis. There are some other signs of spring, though. We spent some time this weekend visiting a garden event (Expo Verde e Flor) in the center of town (centro). It was pretty amazing. There were so many varieties of flowers and trees. There were beautiful orchids, mini-palm trees and flowering cacti. What was more amazing was the price. We went away with a apartment-full of plants and flowers for about US$20. I still can't get over how inexpensive some things are here. We are ready to go with some great color for the apartment. Now if we only had a couch.

There was one thing at the event that was much better than any flower, though. I went to pick out the best peace plant I could find while my husband waited with our overflowing cart. As I returned back to where he was, I saw him frantically waving for me to come over. When I reached him, he said, "Listen." Above the birds chirping and crowds talking, I heard some really heaving breathing. It was the heaving breathing, snorting type sound that could only belong to one creature on earth. Yep, you guessed it, it was a pug!!!!

I rounded the corner and followed the sound. My eyes were greeted with an overheated, slightly overweight, smashed-nosed dog with a curly tail who was graying around the face. She was precious! I only wish I spoke Portuguese better so I could have asked to pet her, but instead I just watched. I've only seen one other pug in the city. They are rare and you could tell by the way people were looking to see what was making that horrible noise. A little girl started to approach the pug, but when she breathed loudly at her, the girl jumped back. It was quite a sight. Finally, they took the pug out because it was just too hot under the tent and I would guess she might have been embarrassing them a bit. I was able to snap a picture while we were checking out. The highlight of my weekend!!!

I Need That To Go, Por Favor

When I was first introduced to the concept of no to-go cups for coffee I embraced the idea. It was in the context of Europe and I thought, wow, what an awesome concept to sit, soak up the local scene and enjoy my coffee. Such a difference from the normal hustle and bustle in the states. This also went well with my recent love of the mindful eating movement. Well, that was Europe, this is Brazil.

The coffee, well the coffee here is great. You can't get it much fresher than when you can actually see the coffee plants on the side of the road about 10 min outside of the city. It is a beautiful site. I do my share of sitting to enjoy an espresso and soaking things up. (Especially on days like today. We are having some unusually cool and rainy weather. I've loving it.) However, I have to admit the views aren't quite as beautiful as those in the few cities of Europe I've visited, or even parts of Lexington for that matter.

I am dying for a to-go cup! I can't find one anywhere in the city. After almost a month of morning walks from the hotel to our apartment that is under minor construction, I'm desperate for a cappuccino to go. I'm actually beginning to miss Starbucks a bit even though I want part of my experience here to be consuming local products. Is it too much to ask to sip my coffee while I window shop?!

PS. By the way, I just recently returned from Ireland and you can definitely get to-go cups. I'm not sure about Italy, but hey, there are Starbucks everywhere now (except here) if you are desperate.