Abby, Zoë and Enzo

Here we are on Saturday, our first weekend here.  Abby and Zoë woke up kind of early this morning, after not going to sleep until after 9:00 last night.  Both of the girls enjoyed some bananas and strawberries with graviola flavored yogurt for breakfast, with caja juice (mixed with water) to drink. 

We have been encouraged to try the bus system.  They don't have any bus maps, but rather a list of streets certain routes go on, which is less than ideal.  I would love to have a couple bus route maps, and will keep asking for them.  We took bus 511 which we caught 2 blocks or so from our apartment.  It was super easy.  The kids are free, and each ticket is R$1.70, which is slightly over 1 US$ at current exchange rates.  The busses are very fast starting and stopping, as if the drivers are all practicing for the formula 1, and each stop is super fast like a pit stop.  Also, the traffic lights are set up like racing lights, so it all makes sense.

The market was great.  Large and busy with people and activity.  We saw tons of produce, meats, nuts, grains, eggs, clothes, dvds, etc...  Zoë was scared of the bugs, as there were some bees on the super sweet fruit like the cashew and such.  I had to carry her at one point.  Laura was experiencing massive culture shock while using the public bathroom at the market. Her culture shock seemed to pass after we found a kiosk to have lunch.  The girls started off with ice cream, including Laura.  I had a cheese pastry type of thing.  Then me and Laura got the Brazilian version of a cheeseburger.  I didn't taste any cheese, but maybe it was a special soft cheese and not what we are used to.  The meat was seasoned ground meat made into a paddy and grilled.  The bun was grilled which we liked and it had lettuce and tomatoe.  I thought it tasted great, we were super hungry.  The girls had some of ours but were happy to get something to eat and drink after the market.  We took bus 510 back, which brought us through Tambau and near Cabo Branco neighborhoods, then up along the beach coming back into Manaira.