Die Fish Die!!!

1700 Colonial Fixer-upers on sale!
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Day 3 – Wow it sure was great to finally have seven hours of sleep. Andrew, Andre, and I had breakfast at 8AM.  Andre Gastolini had to go to work. You ask what kind of name is that for a Brazilian. Hate to break it to you but the Brazilian’s got us beat hands down when it comes to this “mixing bowl “thing. Andre is second generation Italian. It seems like a lot of Germans and Italians came here in the 1940’s. I wonder why that was. So the country is full of Europeans, locals (Indians) and Blacks from Africa. Guess you call them Afro – Brazilians. I will have to check that out. All seem to get along great.

The Finished Product Next Door across from the Market
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What kind of of devil fish is that?

Anyway I snuck up to rooftop to check out the skyline. Here is a link for the video: http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/paulbaker8/?action=view&current=VID00039.flv

Belem (pronounced Bee- Lem) is a very complex place. Over 1.4 million folks. The city is colony from the 1600’s. The minimum wage is about 300 dollars per month if you can find work here but there seems to be some serious money in this town. That speaks for the Holiday Crowne that goes for $ 200 plus per night.

Food Market Booth Store front of Dried Fish, Eggs, and Meats
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Andrew finished up some emails after breakfast and we were off solo to see the city. We did our map recon and headed off for a two miler to the river front. I was not in Savannah in the 1960’s but this place kind of reminds of what it would have been like. We saw over two hundred run down colony 1700 -1800 homes that were in sad shape. The government has wisely protected them now so you can not raze them. I would say about 10% have been restored. When we got down on the river front we saw at least 50 that would qualify as two million plus potential in Savannah. No idea the cost but if I had to make a guess less than 20,000 bucks. A real bargain if you want to get in the ground floor.

Scary!!
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By the way you can click on the pictures to see the big size and some that are not shown.

We hit the flea market which was pretty standard fair for a bit.  Then headed over to the food market. This place was the "real deal" if you wanted to  get down with the locals. No Kroger’s here – everyman for himself in an area about the size of a football field with about 300 stalls. Unbelievable the sights and smells. Live chickens, rows of shrimp stations fifty feet long, rows of flour and meal in 200 lb bags being rationed out, Dried fish that seem to have more salt then meat. A herb and spice row where they were grinding and chopping all sorts of stuff, and off course every kind of fresh fruit you could think of. Here is a link for quick video going through the shrimp section: http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/paulbaker8/?action=view&current=PICT0024.flv

Fresh off the Boat!
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Next door came the fish market. This place blew me away. There must have been 100 different types of fish in a building about the size of basketball court. Some of these guys looked prehistoric while some weighed in over fifty pounds. Here is quick link to a video of one local taking out his anger on one fish: http://s76.photobucket.com/albums/j6/paulbaker8/?action=view&current=PICT0035.flv

How good would it be to live here
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Next to the market came the harbor. Go figure. About 50 wooden boats from 20 to 40 feet packed in a harbor three deep. Sort of like the Dutch Island Dock on a holiday in the 1800’s I guess. They were decked out in many colors which made it look very nice. Next to harbor are these colonial three stories just like in Savannah—but just open and rotting. What potential this place has.

We looked across the harbor and the old fort was looking good. Seems the Portuguese were worried the Dutch were going to steal their stuff. Amazing how they could not “duke it out” back in Europe. The screwy thing was the 50 buzzards loitering on the fort ledge. I finally figured it out six hours later. You think we have tides – This place has 15 footers. The boats that evening were high and dry with 50 buzzards hard at work servicing the rotten fish guts left on the harbor bottom.

Rough night for this guy!!
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We moved over to do the Catholic Church homage thing and to call it quits. We met Andre back at the hotel at 12:00. We headed over to a currency exchange. I was not sure on the credit card deal so I brought cash. For all you would be travelers out there- beware the airports and hotels “screw you” big time on the exchange rates. Anyway we bypassed the banks since they add all sorts of taxes and fees also. We ended up in the back alley currency exchange but they came through with a rate better than the Wall Street. Not sure how but it made me happy. I am now “all in” with the Brazilian money. Guess I have to stay a while now.

Buzzards await the low tide
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Andre and Andrew headed out at two for the airport back to Sao Paulo. Before leaving Andre “gave me the riot act”. He said do not go out after dark or I will die. “Right Andre whatever you say” with eyes rolled. So I headed out once again at 4 PM solo back to the river front to “bond “with the locals. I figured it was a good preseason warm-up of what was to come. With Andre there all the time I have not been able to make "an ass" out of myself attempting to speak Portuguese. So now was the time. I made it the river front local’s “blue collar “flea market bar area. It was very nice-- just  tents with a few chairs and tables under them with about 500 of my closest local friends having a laid back time on the river. I pulled up a chair and “una garrafa grande Skol “later I was enjoying life.

Not what you are thinking -Skol is a beer not a chew here.

Not what you are thinking. No it is not me. I am camera boy here.

After one I cashed out. No really I did. Only one but it was 600 milliliters at 5%. Besides it was getting dark and I was starting to think about what Andre said earlier. That picture in today’s paper of the ten year kid with a wooden stack driven through his skull did not help either. Being a savvy world traveler a figured I would stick to the main roads. As I has made my way I noticed a lot of the locals were shuttering their shops in a hurry. Sort of reminded of Will Smith in the movie “Legend”. Damn I better pick up the pace.

At the midway point a noticed a small department store so I jumped in to grab a 12 pack for my next days camping trip. Made it home and shuttered up by 6 were you find pounding out this blog. Thank God my dog, Buster is not with me. You know the end of the story there.

So I am out of here tomorrow morning. Would love some calls. Just text my cell 912 228-1130 leave the phone you are using and I will Skype back if at the laptop. Evening’s best.

Tchau!!