Adventure to Get Movies

One little glitch with our housing is that the TV that we thought was here as per the website we rented the house from (there was even a picture of it) is not here.  We thought no problem, just watch shows on TV.  Litle problem, Brazil has not agreed to the U.S.'s copyright laws, so nothing on US TV can be downloaded to an Brazilian IP address.  Bummer. 

As I am know to say, there is always more than one way to skin a cat.  We have learned that most American movies are shown here with Brazilian sub titles.  Over my trips to school and back, I had seen people selling copies of movies on the street.  We decided to go in search of movies.  The colorful round about in Itapau was full of activity.  The center of the round about is filled with vendors selling food under beach unbrellas.  Each vendor has their own set of colorful plactic chairs that match their umbrella, very festive.  We found a spot to park and paid the man to "watch our car."  Then we started walking around.  The movie men are very creative.  They are wearing what looks like a sandwhich board made of pig wire.  The plasctic cases of the movies are clipped to the wire with clothes pins.  On the first man we found Real Steele.  Gareth was elated.  On the next man we found 6 other movies including Tin Tin and the last Eclipse movie.  Enough to keep us happy for a couple weeks.  The movies are $2 a piece. 

With that accomplished, we decided to find food.  We chose a vendor that was making these folded things that looked like chalupas sort of.  She started with dry tapioca flour that she scooped into a metal ring on a griddle.  Then she put fresh mozzeralla on top of it.  The grease from the melting cheese bound the flour together.  She then covered this with all sorts of things.  We got a chicken one, a ham one, and a proscutto one to share.  The proscutto one was really nice. 

We walked to the beach wall to eat of food.  We found a 15 foot section of the wall to spread out.  As long as we ignored the smell of sewage entering the ocean right there, the smell of dead fish from the vedors cleaning their fish, and the man who chose to pee on the wall 8 feet below us behind the rock next to the wall, the area was great.  We figured out quickly why no locals were sitting there.  Thank goodness the breeze was mostly blowing the smells out to sea.

Once we finished our dinner we went back to the vendor for dessert, the real treat.  She used the same base of flour and fresh mozzeralla which is more like cream cheese.  Then added thin sliced bananas.  Once this was hot she slathered on cameralized condensed milk and dusted heavily with powder sugar.  This sicky gooey treat was wonderful.

As we were riding home, we all talked about our adventure.  To John and I it was a fun day in the sun soaking up the local culture.  We have been in sooo many similar places in our married life that is old hat on how to act and enjoy.  To Gareth it was little uncomfortable.  I forgot he was too little to remember the street markets in Singapore or Cancun or Belize.  I guess we had over prepared him for the opportunity for trouble.  He said he had fun but he couldn't relax.  He also said he wanted to go back again, a good sign.

My goal for him is that he will be able to travel the world and enjoy all that is available to experience.  As a parent I need to teach him to be smart in his actions, but not be afraid to experience all that this wide world has to offer.  This Sunday trip to get movies was the beginning.  I can't wait to see where we got next in our learning and experiencing.         

FYI on a side note, if you read my earlier post about our fun the bird, we have now had 6 birds fly through the house in 4 days.  One even stayed on the light fixture while Gareth watched the end of Toy Story 3.  Oh well, part of the advenure.