MEGAMART

Ah... MEGAMART! Don't you just love the sound of it? Ronauld, our project driver/my personal body guard, introduced us to a very-scaled down version of Costco yesterday. Essentially, Megamart offers you slightly reduced prices than other fancy grocery stores and sometimes in larger proportions. Being that I didn't want to start my very own Megamart membership for the remaining 6 weeks here, I entertained myself wandering the aisles (well, Ronauld was there to make sure no one snatched me). So of course, I headed over to the chocolate/other imported goodies section, and found the Lindor Truffles.

Tempted to buy the bag (as a reward for good behavior that week), I was soon alerted by some native shoppers that this little bag was pushing $27 American dollars. $27 bucks for a small bag of chocolate. $27 !!!??? (But if you buy three, they're only 25 bucks a pop). That's about a family of five's monthly salary around here. I decided to hold off on the Lindor obsession until the States.

You'll pardon the very random nature of this post. It's kind of train of thought-- So outside, I spotted some more of my friends from the UN. Normally, I'd pass em by. But I happened to notice that this squad was from Brazil. So I just had to strike up a conversation and see if any of my Portuguese was still up there in the old ticker.

You won't catch me dead speaking in front of a crowd, class, or even small group in normal life (I do not do public speaking), but out on the streets, I've got no reservations whatsoever. Funny how that works.

Here I am with my new friend "Joao-Pedro." As I was thanking JP for the picture, I realized I was still saying "merci." I couldn't for the life of me remember how to say "thank-you" in Portuguese. I even pulled out "gracias" (I don't speak Spanish) and "spaceba" (I even got the Russian up there still). I was racking my brain in the car for several minutes, and sweating bullets of frustration, until the magic words finally appeared "OBRIGADA." Great. My "Franco-Porto-Pigeon" has taken a turn for the worse.


So driving back home, I thoroughly relished in the opporunity to drive through some new areas of town. Areas where we double check if our doors are locked. Since I can't get out and explore these areas for myself, I'm stuck doing it from the window of a car. But I'll take it over nothing! Here were some of the folks I caught a glimpse of today----I just LOVE people-watching! And especially in world that is so dang colorful. I can't get enough of it-- definately a concept we miss out on back home.

People are out in mass selling all their goodies. You could find just about anything you could want or need. Like big straw hats and metal bowls,

table linens, boxers or briefs,

rainbow-colored umbrellas and "Digicel" t-shirts ( below-I don't know what's up with these tees. Everybody and their dog has 'em. I've gotta figure out how to snag one for the road),

toothbrushes and onions,

lemons,

baseball caps, you name it.

Oh, and bananas of course.

I like the philosophy of these guys. Sometimes its good to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride.

If you don't keep your eyes wide-open, or your face peeled to the glass of a very fast-moving automobile (that I call life), you might miss out on some of the best things out there, period. Digicel Tees included.