Point, Grunt, Laugh, Smile… (whatever it takes!)

Although I don ´t believe in traveling in foreign countries with expensive things like video cameras, sometimes I really wish we had one.   Because it would be *so* funny to show everyone back home what it ´s like just to try and get a meal or god forbid… check into a hotel when you don ´t speak the language.   Hilarious!

Example – yesterday, after we left the internet café, we happened across an ice cream vendor.   YUM!   I ´ve decided it ´s best to start each interaction with “Não falo portugês.   Você fala inglês o espanhol?” – I don ´t speak  Portuguese.   Do you speak  English or  Spanish?   Usually whomever we are speaking to gets this sort of “oh-crap-I-don ´t-think-I-can-help-you” look, and I just start speaking in  Spanish and hope they get what I mean.   However at the ice cream machine, next to the woman serving, was a young man on the sidewalk.   He jumps up and starts shouting/blurting out random things in English: “You no speak Portuguese, eh!?   Ha ha ha ha!   You like!!  *gestures at ice cream*   Good, good!   Hey!   This kind!   *gestures towards syrup flavors*    Hey!   Hey!   Mmmm!!!   You like!   Ha ha ha ha ha!   Okay!   One Reais (their currency)!   Ha ha ha ha!   One!   Chocolate!!!”     SO funny… we laughed for the next block.   And the ice cream was delicious!

That night we decided to hunt for the grocery store for dinner.   We found our way, but it was located in a shopping center.   We passed a Sushi place first and ended up each  indulging our Sushi-tooth.   After puzzling over the portuguese menu for four or five minutes, the waiter walked up.   This kind of situation is always a panic moment for both of us; we know we won ´t know what they ´re saying and won ´t know how to tell them that.   So they say, “asdfij aklsdnmf lçiha sfnaw ioçdhjtoij”   And we say, “uh….”   Turns out the guy spoke excellent English, explained the menu, and hooked us up with some incredible sushi AND free beer!   It was *so* good, and cheaper than the U.S.   Still out of our budget range, though, so we made up for it the next day by eating eggs, bread (not toast), and liquid yogurt for both breakfast and lunch.

Today was the day of getting up early, researching trip options, and further exploring language-school options.   The first place we found, the receptionist only spoke Portuguese, and a resident spoke both Portuguese and Spanish, so we had this really funny chain of translating going on.   The receptionist would tell Hosana, Hosana would tell me, and I would tell Pat.   Then Pat would tell me, I would tell Hosana, and Hosana would tell the receptionist.   The second place had a guy who spoke (and taught) English, so that was much easier, and they gave us a better price.   Next week is going to be a major brain blow-out.   We are going to spend all day from 8-8 studying, going to class, and doing homework.   It ´s okay to go to school all day when you study different things.   I hope we can handle the same subject for 12 hours!

We ´ve moved hostels.   The last place we stayed at – Pousada dos Franceses – was about $5 more a night than Hotel Joamar where we are staying now.   The bonus was the Pousada had a kitchen where we could cook our own meals (usually cheaper), but hardly any dishes/pans and they weren ´t very friendly.   I think it was more of a residential place, because people had their names on shelves and lockers and there were lots of signs telling you not to use a certain frigde or cupboard or bathroom or set of dishes.     “For Pousada Only” ~- which we finally understood meant “do not use” after the lady picked up Pat ´s bread cutting dish and put it away three times.   Joamar is cheaper and really ritzy – the bathroom is glorious… all 12×12 tile floor to ceiling with a real shower!   And the room is really nice as well.   And the front desk people are really nice.

About the shower bit – my experience is that showers in South America in general are very different than showers in the U.S.   For one, they usually don ´t have curtains.   Most the time it ´s just a shower head coming out of the wall/ceiling with lukewarm water.   In the case of the Pousada, the Bathroom was a tiny 3×5 room.   To take a shower, you stood in front of the toilet like a man would, made sure the toilet lid was closed, and then turned on the water.   Of course the whole bathroom gets soaked.   Fortunately you have a convenient squee-gee in the corner to push all the water towards the drain.   Really, now that I think about it, the bathroom was more like a large shower stall  complete with toilet.   Fortunately for Pat, most of the shower heads are mounted really high up on the wall or in the ceiling.   He ´s 6 ´7″ and doesn ´t fare well under most U.S. shower heads, to say the least.

Last but not least was our farmer ´s market adventure.   We were hunting down a hotel recommended to us by our language-school and after ten minutes of searching with our packs on our backs through the bustling city (we were moving hostels) we decided to give up.   On our way back, though, we saw this market full of delicious fruits and vegetables and somehow ended up getting talked into three mangos and two pinhas.   I don ´t know what a pinha is either.   But this vendor just kept barking at us in Portuguese and handing us pieces of fruit to try.   Meanwhile another guy is trying to edge in on the sale by dangling grapes inches in front of Pat ´s face.   The first vendor could tell I sort of understood him, so he just kept shouting out different bargains – telling me to tell Pat the prices.   We kept saying no, and he kept going lower and shouting in Portuguese, “Tell him!   Tell him I say 5 for 15!   Tell him!   5 for 15!   Should be 20!   Tell him that!   Should be 20, I say 15!   Tell him!   Tell him!”   The pinhas are a really exotic, but awesome fruit.   So delicious, like a mix between mango and pineapple with a fuzzy texture.   They look like an artichoke but the skin is sealed and tough/leathery – kind of like an orange peel.   There are fat black seeds – like a giant watermelon seed and each is surrounded by a glob of fruit.   Okay… I found a picture!   They were mondo bueno!

Anyway… our plan for tomorrow is to go to an Asian market in the Liberade district (the biggest population of Japanese outside of Japan) and to start studying the tools in our Brazilian Portuguese phrase book to prepare ourselves for class on Monday!