Abby, Zoë and Enzo

I wish I could have taken photos on this trip, maybe by next trip we will have replaced the camera.  We didn't buy much, only what I could carry the 6 blocks home.  We have not figured out if the porters who delivery your groceries cost money or not.  We tried to ask the young doorman at the apartment, and he said it was gratis, but I am not sure he understood exactly what we meant.  The good news is that he is going to show us how the marmitas work at a local lunch place Wednesday.  It should be a good time, we will bring the dictionary so that we can try to communicate.  As for the groceries, we spent around US$20.  We bought potatoes, beans, onions, a cucumber, 3 liters of liquid yogurt, some bananas, mustard, 2 soup mixes, 2 ramen noodle packs, and the most expensive items of the trip, a package of cookies Zoë picked out, made by Nestle and had coconut in them, and a package that Abby picked out, that looked like donut cookies, and a Hershey's candy bar with cashews that Laura picked out.  Those last 3 items cost 33% of the whole bill.

We ran out of bread, and Chris has been promising to take the girls to the bakery if they have good night time behavior for a couple of days now.  The girls did well last night, so they were ready to go early in the morning.  Chris had some errands to do so I ventured out to the bakery with the girls.  It is only two blocks down our street, and I had my eye on a cake for a couple of days now.  They were all out of most items by the time we showed up, shortly before lunch time.  I bought 2 packages of rolls, 10 rolls in each package for R$ 2.91 = US$1.80 each and one small round bundt type of pound cake with prunes in it weighing 1.35 pounds.  Chris was teasing me, saying that I was so hungry for cake, that I bought the only cake left, with prunes in it.  That was R$5.52 = US$3.40.  It was very tastey and we proceded to eat half of the cake for afternoon snack.

We met with Dr. Eduardo this evening at 6:00 p.m.  We arrived by taxi, R$12.50 = US$7.67.  Raissa met us at the office building and we all went up.  We began by talking about the different options of where to deliver and went over the records from both this pregnancy and last.  He also informed us that I'd be able to try delivering naturally, which we didn't think was going to be an option.  Next he took my blood pressure, weight, and listened for the heartbeat.  Enzo was moving as usual, 'running' away from the doppler, but we finally got a good listen.  Everything is looking just as it should and we'll see Dr. Eduardo again on the 1st of September.

After the meeting with the doctor, we walked the little ways to CLIM, the women's hospital, nearby.  We were wanting to get a tour, but apparently this was their busy time so we got a sheet of package prices and we'll go back again next time we see the doctor, this time beforehand.  The taxi home cost R$13.00 = US$7.98, the bus would have cost only R$3.40 = US$2.09, but Laura felt more comfortable with the girls at night on this direct route.

Prices from CLIM:

• Cesarean Delivery (2 Days)
  • Infirmary R$1242 = US$ 765.96
  • Apartment R$ 1436.40 = US$ 885.85
• Normal Delivery (1 Day)
  • Infirmary R$718.20 = US$ 442.92
  • Apartment R$ 912.60 = US$ 562.44
• Normal Delivery with Anesthesia (1 Day)
  • Infirmary R$ 912.60 = US$ 562.44
  • Apartment R$ 1112.40 = US$ 686.03

After Sunday's drama and events, today we had to get back to business today.  This is afterall a business trip.  We had to order a new 20 liters of water and have it delivered.  Laura went downstairs to the door man with our prepared note.  She is still nervous and shy about using her Portuguese.  The guy called the water order in, and it was delivered within the hour or so.  I met up with an expat in the morning who helped me fill out a police report, detailing the events regarding my stolen camera.  At least there is a report on record now, not that anything will come of it.  I also did the long walk to the store for some supplies, like salt, 1 KG $R0.65 = US$0.40.

Firstly, EVERYONE IS SAFE AND OK.

Yesterday afternoon, close to 5 PM, on our walk back from the Tambau area where we enjoyed some Tapioca for dinner. We got our camera stolen at gun point. This happened one block from the McDonalds we walked past so many times before on Av. Gen Édson Ramalho and Av. Sen. Ruy Carneiro. Some guy passed us on a motorcycle while we were walking along Ramalho toward home, he turned the corner onto R. Augusto Belmont, left his bike running, and ran the 25 feet or so in front of us all, and held a gun at me, and said something. Not sure what he said, but he grabbed my camera and ripped the strap from my wrist and took back off on his bike. The whole thing lasting less than one minute at the most.  There were people on the street at a little local bar about 25 feet in front of us, with two workers outside, who saw this take place. The bar owner came out and took Laura and the girls inside, Laura was still in shock and crying. They called the police.  The bar owner took us into his house and gave the girls crackers and juice. They were very hospitable and regretted this happening. They seemed to be in shock as well. They used their cell phones to call other English speakers to make sure we understood what they were saying, and were very nice. The family drove us home the 4 blocks around 6:30 or so, after waiting more than an hour for the police to show up, no one showed up.  We thanked them for everything. They said we should file a police report at the tourist police office in the morning.

No more photos until we figure out a camera solution. :(

Abby and Zoë are not used to just hanging out.  They always have something to do, so this is a big adjustment for them.  Laura is taking it easy, and getting around much less.  So it is up to me to get the girls out and about.  This is a new responsibility for me.  So this afternoon, around 4 PM we headed out for a walk.  We took the stairs, down all 9 flights before heading into Tambau.  It is probably about 0.6 miles there, and we made a big loop and walked back.  The girls got to see the beach and stores along the way.  At about mid point they both wanted to relax and sit down, tired from walking, plus it was getting dark.  So we rounded the corner walked back home.  The wanted to take the stairs up the 9 flights, even though the stairwells were dark and unlit.  It was a good idea as they still had a tiny bit of energy to burn.

We didn't order one, but received one just the same.  When the sun gets up at 5:30 AM, people feel that everyone should also get up, and the city comes to life, bustling with all sorts of noise.  This morning, a car was honking in big long honks, like trying to summon someone out of their home.  Not sure why that took more than 20 minutes of honking, but maybe the person they were picking up was asleep, I was until that honking.  And since 6 AM, there has been loud music playing from the street.  I am not sure it's source, a local home, or another apartment, but it is big booming sound like a sound truck that drives the streets, but I can't see the truck, and this music is constant.  If it isn't the early soccer matches in the park at sunrise, it is something else.  The sun is so strong and direct in the morning, that it fills our room completely, even with curtains drawn.  There is no blocking it out, the sun, the sound, the noise, Brasil.  I plan on sleeping in upon return.

P.S.  Did I mention the night time birds that are very loud, and sound like a car alarm when they are chirping...

We've been here just over a week and I discovered that we have a hammock.  It's been in the closet, in plain sight, but the way it was wrapped up and in it's clear zip up bag, I had thought it was a blanket.  I was quite excited and came out to the balcony to set it up right away.  We have hammock hooks, which we've just been using to hand towels and such to dry, so after Chris checked to make sure everything was safe, I tried it out and then the girls tried it out.  Later on it was quite nice to be able to lie in it and have my sore feet up.  I'm very happy with this discovery.

We just browsed this store.  It was right next to the fruit/produce store, same building.  We only bought a bag of rice and a bag of beans.  They had everything in this supermarket though.  A fresh meat section, a bakery section, dairy, everything.  They even had quail eggs, single packaged hamburgers (R$0.39) and hershey's chocolate, many varieties not sold in the US. 

R$7.34 = US$4.53

From the bakery, we went another block or two to the local produce stand.  It was an interesting experience. Items were not that much more expensive than the big box stores, and only slightly more expensive than the huge central market. We love to compare the prices and take photos of prices. Here are some things for the comparison.

At the produce market, this is what we bought: (see photos)
QTY 4 Tomatoes 0.45 kg @ R$0.99/kg = R$0.45 = US$ 0.275
QTY 1 Pumpkin 0.87 kg @ R$0.79/kg = R$0.69 = US$ 0.42
QTY 1 Avocado 0.60 kg @ R$1.24/kg = R$0.74 = US$ 0.45  (Yeah, one super large avocado)
QTY 6 Potatoes 0.47 kg @ R$1.69/kg = R$0.80 = US$ 0.49
QTY 1 Rapadura Tradicional = R$3.79 = US$2.32
QTY 1 Maracuja fruit 0.20 kg @ R$1.99 = R$0.40 = US$0.25

Total: R$6.87 = US$4.20

We went on an afternoon walk to the bakery and around the 4 sqaure blocks from our apartment. We stopped in at the bakery to sample some treats. We got four or five things to sample. They were all delicious. Tiny little snacks.  While there, fresh hot bread came out of this chute in the wall.  It was a great experience.  Laura has her eye on this cake there, and might go back for one in the morning.  They have some great looking stuff here.  Aunt Elizabeth would be a millionaire here with a little shop along the beach. 

Total R$4.10 = $2.50. 

We took the bus, 5605, to Manaira Shopping (map), which is a large mall.  As we were walking to the bus stop we needed, we saw our bus pass us and ended up having to wait a lot longer than usual for the next one, which meant we got to the mall later than we'd hoped.  The lay out of the mall is pretty confusing and I'm not sure we've figured it out still, we didn't even get up to the top floor as all of us were ready to get back and get some dinner.  The food court was large and had lots of choices, though most more pricey than home and definitely more pricey than elsewhere in the area.  Abby and Zoë begged and begged to eat at the mall, but we put it off for another time.  We checked out a few stores, a department type store with bedding and cooking stuff on the bottom floor and all sorts of baby gear as well as towels and such on the top floor.  We also went into the Hello Kitty store and saw a bunch of cute things, very overpriced - a pencil cost more than bus fare for one - and finally found the store we'd come for.  It was a book store called 'Siciliano'.  Abby and Zoë enjoyed the little chairs and table and I saw some really cute children's books and work books, but we'd come for an English-Portuguese dictionary and phrase book so we had to be done with the cute kiddie stuff and pick something out.  I've noticed at many stores that things don't have prices on them, and it was the same at the book store.  We had three little dictionaries and one regular sized Portuguese dictionary for kids that we were contemplating getting as well so we took them all to get the prices checked.  The kids dictionary was over R$40, so I decided that was out.  The little dictionaries were all pretty close in price to each other so we chose the one we liked best and went to pay for it, for R$19.90 = US$12.17.  Books are very, very, expensive here. 

We ended up taking the 511 bus back towards the apartment, simply because it showed up first and we knew it would take us close to the apartment and we didn't want to wait for the 5605.  With it being dark, Chris was having a hard time seeing far enough ahead to figure out where we needed to be left off and when we did get left off he was a little uncertain at first if we'd gotten off too soon.  All was well though, we spotted our apartment building and ended up that we were just a couple of blocks away.

We've been enjoying juice made from frozen juice pulp while here.  There are many, many, different flavors, which come in these little packs that you cut open and add to water in a blender then just blend it up and and add sugar to taste.  Some flavors we've found you don't need to add any sugar at all to, like the tangerine, but others do well with a bit of sugar to bring out the flavor.  It's really easy to make, the juice pulp is just that, with no additives or preservatives, and we can add more or less water and control the sugar ourselves, so we're really liking it.

This morning after the girls and I got back from our morning beach time, hot from our yoga, wave jumping, and walk back, we made some gaviola juice.

Shortly after 6:00 this evening, we walked to get some ice cream.  The walk ended up being 3,150 feet (960 meters).  Abby, Zoë and I all got an ice cream cone, with two scoops.  It was self serve and cost by weight, the total price being R$4.70... pretty good for three cones.  You'd pay almost that much just for one cone in Portsmouth.  We sat down to enjoy our cones and the scenery.  Zoë had a yellow as her top scoop,  can't remember the flavor, and melon as her bottom scoop.  Abby had piña as one scoop and strawberry with chocolate chips as another.  I had a triple chocolate as my first scoop and tiramisu as my second.  Mine were definitely the best tasting in my opinion.  Afterwards we walked back along the beach, with wonderful temperatures and delightful breeze.

Daddy and Nonno Ernie went out to run a couple of errands this morning and then the girls and I met Nonno down in the park, where he was waiting with some goodies.  Firstly, he had picked up a coconut, which had been opened, and the girls got to drink the coconut water out of it... they loved it!  He also had a little sachet for each of them with a bracelet, tank top, and gumdrops inside.  Nonno went back inside to get ready for his taxi pick up,which was to take him to the airport to fly to Bolivia, and the girls and I stayed out for a little bit, running off some energy.  When we went back in, Nonno was just getting his bags out into the hallway, as his taxi arrived earlier than planned.  The girls gave hugs and kisses, and Zoë was weepy for the rest of the day.  She'd calm down a bit and then start crying again about some thing or another... Nonno's room not being his anymore, the blinds in his room weren't his blinds.  She said to me, "Everything in this apartment reminds me of Nonno".

In the apartment there is a big water cooler, which holds 20 liters (a little over 5 gallons) of water.  We ran out yesterday, so today when Vanda, the land lady came by with our new, working, telephone, we told her that it was empty and she called to get another one brought to us.  We have the number here, but asking for a delivery next time we run out should be interesting. 

The guy with the new water was here in 10 or 15 minutes.  He brought the container to the sink, scrubbed it down and rinsed it off, then cut off the seal and set it in the holder.  The cost was $R 3.50, around $2.00 U.S.  That seems like a pretty good deal to us, especially for the convenience of having cold mineral water right here in the house, delivered to us so that we don't have to lug it from a store to the apartment.

Nonno Ernie Treated us to dinner tonight.  This time we tried one called Giramundo right on the beach.  We got settled with menus and were happy to see they had many many pictures.  Abby and Zoë had both chosen plates from a photo that looked good to them, and it happened to be the same thing, so we got that for them to share.  It was a plate with eight mini sausages, different types, with fries and veggies.  Nonno Ernie ordered a shrimp appetizer that came with caramelized onions and it was really tasty.  For dinner he had some sort of sausage and french fries.  Laura just asked the waiter what was good and not spicy and went with his recommendation, which ended up being two pieces of steak (very well done) with some flavored butter over top, along with veggies and french fries.  I was in much need of some greens and ordered a plate with a salad and one chicken and one meat skewer. 

To drink we got a jar of juice pulp made with mineral water, then during dinner we got another jar (750 ml) for R$6.00.  The first was Goiaba and the second was Cajá, they were very good.  After dinner we walked a few blocks and saw a little ice cream place (Sorveteria e Pastelaria Fika Frio) so we stopped in.  It was self serve, so we grabbed a cone for each of the girls, got them each two scoops of their choice and then brought it up to be weighed.  Nonno Ernie got a couple of scoops of something like sherbet and had his in a waffle cone type dish.  All three ice-creams came to a total of about R$7.00.  Very reasonably priced compared to prices at home.

We've been having issues with the telephone here in the apartment.  To start off, we didn't have one at all.  The first phone that Vanda brought by ended up not being able to dial, something was wrong with the buttons.  When someone would call here the connection was awful.  We let Vanda know this and so she brought a new phone, but we still couldn't dial out.  However, when we got a call in, it sounded fine.  Vanda had a technician come out to check the lines.  She just made the call today and we didn't expect to see the guy until sometime tomorrow, but he showed up late this afternoon. 

I was in the apartment alone with the girls, as Chris and Ernie were out getting some things, when the guy downstairs called up to say that the phone man was here.  I didn't understand exactly what the security guy downstairs was saying, and I asked him if I needed to go downstairs and he said yes so I grabbed the girls and locked the door and started towards the elevators.  When we got to them I saw that someone was coming up and it ended up being the service guy, so back to the apartment we went.  He checked out the phone, and I used the computer set up to call Ernie's cell phone and tell him that the telephone man was here, luckily they were in the garage on their way up.  I told the service guy that my husband was on his way up and asked if he could wait a moment.  He said something about just needing to go to the garage and then he'd be back.  It didn't take all that long, although the DSL went out and then came back a couple of times while he was working in the basement, but he determined that the line was fine and it was just the phone so we yet again had to have Vanda bring us a different phone.  The new phone should be here tomorrow morning.

Do not flush the toilet paper at all, for anything.  At first we thought maybe it was just our apartment, that the land lady didn't want us blocking up the system or something.  Then we noticed out at some public restrooms that there were trashes beside the toilets, which were filled with toilet paper.  Laura asked Raissa about it and she said that it was normal for everyone not to put toilet paper into the toilet... ever. 

You would've thought that the girls would've been used to this, since we have old pipes at home and haven't been throwing toilet paper in the toilet for tinkles.  They forget at least once a day though. 

The toilet paper isn't soft and thick.  We looked at the Hiper store for something more comparable to what we get at home, but we were not successful in finding a solution.  The paper here is very expensive, thin and has the texture of almost like pastry tissue.  The tissue paper you get when you self sever pick out bagels or pastries at the supermarket.  It is so thin it is almost translucent.  I am surprised with the lack of bidets.  My solution is to take a nice relaxing shower afterward.

We finally got to the store for some much needed items.  Raissa met us at our apartment around 4:00 p.m. and we took the bus to Hiper Bom Preço, which is the equivilant of Wal-Mart, and owned by Wal-Mart.  The place is huge, and it was busy.  We were glad to have Raissa with us to tell us what some things were that we couldn't tell with our limited Portuguese.  We weren't used to the set-up and Laura's disorganized list didn't help in the new store, she promised to make a compartmentalized list as soon as we got home.

Laura thinks that during the week would be a much better time to go, and was a little flustered I think.  There are many things that she will rather get at the market than here, due to the price mostly.  It will definitely be better once we get better accustomed with where to get what and when.  The store had a pizza hut in it, as well as a couple of other little food shops, and then a buffet type place where you can get more like sit down restaurant food.  There was also a child play area, a hair salon, pharmacy, and a couple of other set in stores that sold some 'finer' items like purses, shoes and electronics.

It took us far too long to get the amount of items we purchased, and we hadn't eaten dinner and were all beat when we got home.  Luckily Nonno arrived back to the apartment just after us and had some leftovers with him, that we sat right down to enjoy.  Laura complained of very sore feet, but was happy to finally be able to wash and condition her hair before bed.