Abby, Zoë and Enzo

We met with an expat friend and his family today.  This is the same man that came by to help Chris file the police report.  After Abby and Zoë (and Daddy) were done napping, we gave them a call and Richard came to pick us up, as he didn't want us to have to take the bus.  Their house is pretty close by, and when we got there we heard his daughters running to hide.  We told him not to worry about it, that it was the same thing our girls would have done.  His wife, Irene greeted us and then we all went to see if we could get their two girls, Anabelle, who just turned 5, and Talita, who is 7, to come out of their shell.  Abby and Zoë had no problems going in to play with all the girly toys without Talita and Anabelle and after a while all of the girls began playing together.

We had a nice time chatting with Richard and Irene while all of the girls played, and pretty soon Talita had them out in the living room to watch Barbie and the 12 dancing princesses, so our girls were quite pleased about the visit.  When it was time to go, Zoë was the first to go right up and give both girls a hug good-bye.  Abby hid her face in my pants at first, but then went and gave hugs too.  They also invited them all to come play at our apartment sometime.

Yesterday afternoon we went down to talk with one of the doormen and asked some questions about how different things work in the area.  We brought our Portuguese-English dictionary and struggled our way through trying to have a conversation with him.  One of the things we asked about was Marmitas and how it all functions.  We know that people go to different marmitas restaurants for lunch and either eat there or have it brought to them, or they take it out themselves.  For having it delivered or taking it out yourself, you have to have these containers that all stack on top of each other and latch together.  We were still confused as to the whole process, so the doorman offered to meet us today and noon and go all together to the nearby marmitas place (we have a photo of it in one of the albums)  I'd write to you the doorman's name, but it was hard enough to understand and pronounce correctly when he was telling us, and now I can't exactly remember.  He's the youngest of the doormen, 23 years old and will turn 24 next month.

So, we got to the place and our doorman friend went up and brought back three pieces of paper and each of us (adults) were to check off some choices on this list.  It appeared that you were to choose between a couple of bean choices, then between a couple of rice choices, noodle choices, vegetable choices, and meat choices. We're still not entirely sure exactly what it was we ordered, but it was all tasty.  I checked off the following from my sheet: Feijão Mulatinho, Arroz Branco, Macarrão ao molho de cenoura, salada verde, and frango.  Chris checked off : Feijão preto ao alho, rosoto a grega, macarroão na manteiga, legumes, and frango.  Abby and Zoë shared eagerly, and probably drank most of the juice that came out too.

Zoë has become fond of telling us that she can't remember certain things about home.  Such as the house itself, or her toys or bed, or other things around town.  I'm not sure where she got this from, as I know that she hasn't actually forgotten where things are or what things look like, we haven't even been gone two weeks.  Nonetheless, pretty much daily, Zoë will tell us that she can't remember one thing or another.

This morning we walked down to the bus stop for a trip to the mall.  We caught some random bus number that had Manaíra shopping on the front, knowing it would get us close, as we had already waited ten minutes, and this was the first bus we spotted.  This was a nicer bus than usual, and cost 10 centavos more than the regular bus, so R$1.80 = $1.18.  We have come to the conclusion, that if you need to take more than one bus trip per day, a car would be a more economical solution, especially for more than one ticket cost.  Gas or Ethanol is expensive here, but for short trips of less than 1 or 2 miles, you could easily purchase a liter of fuel and have some left over.  Of course the upfront cost of the car, the continued maintenance and the insurance are factors to consider, but so is the safety and freedom a car provides, coming and going where and when you like.  We had hoped to not have a need/desire for costs and complexities of a car.  While the mass transit system is large an encompassing, the regularity isn't there, although there is a published time table, no published map/route information.  Buses that are supposed to be 10 - 15 minutes apart, catch up with one another during the route, so that all the buses come around the same time.  Stops are not marked, and unless you know exactly where you are going, and which would be the closest stop to get off at, or to catch the bus at, it is hit or miss.  It would not take much for the city to revamp the bus system, with marked stops with signs, available bus routes, color coded routes plotted on maps, and most importantly information for tourists, or even a monthly bus pass would be a huge help.  I had asked Laura's friend Raissa (born and raised in JP and uses the buses) about bus information, and she also could not find anything useful on their websites.  The tourist office also does not have much information, and nothing they can put into your hands.  You however can tell them where you want to go, and they can tell you which bus number would service that area, and also point on an artists rendering of the city map where you would catch that bus, and indicate where about it would drop you off, if you can recognize the stop and signal you want off should there be no one waiting to get on at that stop, obviously for a tourist, this is less than ideal or even pratical, and without enough language, next to impossible to navigate.  Ok, enough of my rant about the bus system. :(  On to the mall.

We arrived at the mall without incident, having made the trip once before, and been by the mall 4 times now, as the Hiper BomPreço route passes the mall.  The mall was less crowded this morning than on our previous trip.  The girls immediately went to the restroom, the rocket ship of a bus ride must ring out the liquid.  We first checked out Americanas Lojas, a cheaper discount store, for cameras.  There were one of the two "junkier make do" camera models we found on their website that were advertised as R$199.99 = US$125.  I don't want to purchase a nice camera here, as they are 2 - 4 times the cost of the same camera in the US.  I had resolved to spend the $125 on a junky no name camera to at least chronicle some of the things happening here, but upon arrival at the store, the tag was marked R$299.99.  I wasn't mentally prepared for $185 so we walked out of the store. US$185 was too much to pay before investing in a new SD card, batteries and such.  We walked all around the odd shaped mall, looking at each camera store.  I saw little digital cameras for almost US$800.  It was a US$200 - $US250 Olympus SW770 - 790, I can't remember the exact model, had I had my camera, I would have photographed it. :(  Memory cards, that sell for US$10 - US$20 on Amazon.com can run up to and beyond US$50, for the same exact product.  We walked the top and bottom floor of the mall, didn't see anything else cheaper than the Americanas Loja store, and decided to hold off.  Laura really wants to have some photos of the hospital, doctor and delivery, so I will have to grin and bare it eventually and purchase an overpriced junky camera.  The fact that there isn't very much variety and availability or accessibility of products is a concern.  Almost all stores, only had no more than 5 cameras to choose from, and between the 4 or 5 stores at the mall, no more than 15 different models to choose from.  It is like living in a world where only 15 cameras exist, your choices are limited severely. :( You are also unable to import into the country these goods without incurring a duty tax, which could cost as much as the product itself, if not more than the product + shipping costs, if the product would arrive at all depending on the post.  I am slowly coming to terms that I will be required to purchase a camera here that will cost more than the camera I want to purchase upon return to the US, and that these two cameras will be on opposite extremes of the spectrum. This thought makes me depressed.