To the market

Today was the dropoff. We were sent away in groups of four to different areas of the city to explore and record what we saw. My group got sent far away to the Feria de San Joaquim, an all black market on the far side of the city. We had absolutely no idea what it was until we got inside - from the outside it looked like a rundown nondescript building. But wow when we got in there it was a complete sensory overload. First off we were literally the ONLY gringas in the entire market. There was no hiding or being discrete about it, wherever we went everyone was watching us. And unfortunately the only pictures I took were mental ones because this was not a place you could so much as consider taking a camera out to snap photos (a digital camera makes a pretty enticing target for a hungry child.)

Minus the slightly awkward and sometimes uncomfortable stares and comments, exploring the market was absolutely fascinating. My nose got a serious workout as we passed from rows and rows of neatly stacked fruits, vegetables and herbs into the meat and animal section. Salted tongues, livers and flanks were laid out on tables. Grandmothers and young men stood side by side picking up pieces of meat, scrutinizing them and then throwing them back on the piles. A bit different from the styrofoam and saran-wrapped meat section at American supermarkets but extremely interesting to watch.

This market is supposedly the best place to go so that the greatest amount of money goes to the producers. Fisherman, farmers and butchers all bring their products and line them up to sell right to the public. Entire stalls were filled with pineapples, sugar cane, mangoes and tomatoes just waiting to be sold, not to mention the stacked cages of chickens and pens of goats. And the interior stalls held just about everything you could possibly need for the well-supplied life. Toiletries, kitchen utensils, furniture and Candomble (the afro-brazilian religion) ritual supplies. Not to mention plenty of men willing to sell us whatever we wanted for a big discount if we would just come over and talk to them. And with the size of this market, no wonder you could buy anything. We got lost multiple times (always seeming to end up at the meat stand with the cows' eyes) in the zigagging tight aisles.

At times we were followed by children - sometimes in play, sometimes in the way that makes you highly aware of your purse and inclined to secure it against your body as tight as possible. But at one point Anna and I were being followed by a couple young boys in a decidedly non-playful manner and were able to watch (grateful and amazed) as a young man tsked at them and told them to back off and leave us alone.

Also quite interesting to note was the vaccination program that we witnessed while in the market. Three women walked around with white government employee shirts promoting irradication of polio in Brazil. One of them carried a cooler and they passed through the crowd asking children and young adults in partcular if they had been vaccinated. If they got a no they were prepared to do it right there in San Joaquim. This is as a part of the government's plan to eliminate polio and rubella from the entire country - just an example of them taking the vaccines to where the people are. These are the people who can't take time out of their days to take their kids to the doctor because there would be no money to subsist on for that day.

Quite a new and exciting experience altogether. And on the way back a fight almost broke out on our bus between the fare collector and a passenger who refused to pay. And unlike such an uncomfortable situation on an American bus where most people would just sit and look forward, pretending to ignore the commotion at the back, everyone on the bus was turned around watching and adding their own opinions to the conflict. It was quite a sight. And it finally ended when another (uninvolved) passenger yelled at the two men that they had said everything they needed to say and it was over.

On a completely different note we got our homestay assignments for the next two months. And there are no little kids involved in my house whatsoever - just a woman and her twenty-nine year old son. A little disappointing at first but the letter she wrote seems extremely sweet and welcoming. (In short she says she is poor materially but feels rich in the Lord and wants me to be as welcome as I possibly can be in her home. Also that my parents should not worry (mom, this is for you) because she will take care of me.) And who knows, maybe the neighbors will have kids.