Some More Beaches and Food

It seems like I don't do anything but go to the beach and eat... this week is no exception. On Sunday, I went to Praia do Forte with my host family. This small, beachy town is 2 hour drive along the coast from Salvador and has quite the collection of shops, restaurants, and wildlife. 

view from TAMAR (the turtle center)

I spent a majority of my time at Praia do Forte with my host cousin Luis (10), and my host brother Vini (28) wandering through the outdoor turtle center-aquarium-museum area, taking pictures in front of every turtle-related item. I think I may have miscommunicated about having aquariums in the US, and so my family thought that I had never seen one before, so they were REALLY into the pictures. I have never felt like such a tourist, but now I have quite the collection of awkward pictures of me posing with brazilian turtle paraphernalia. 

awkward picture 1: Me in a turtle 

awkward picture 2: Me and a turtle (we're making the same face, so this one is actually kind of cool)

awkward picture 3: me in a human sized turtle egg

my host cousin Luis is such a natural when it comes to egg pictures. 

 One quick thing slightly related academics before I get to the food (to prove that I actually work sometimes)... This week we visited a Maternidade (maternity hospital) that is part of the public health system. We toured a bunch of post-delivery rooms, the "kangaroo" room (where mothers have constant contact with their babies using those kangaroo sac things), and the hospital's breast milk bank. In the hour we spent walking around, I saw at least 20 babies fresh out of the womb (like really no more than a day or two old), and more breast milk than the average person sees in a lifetime. 

AND on to food. Highlights from Ciara's bakery this week included a bolo de milho (corn bread in the shape of a cake), chocolate and coconut crusted strawberries, and homemade sweet bread (the equivalent to Brazilian french toast). 

chocolate and coconut covered strawberries

sweet bread

I also managed to venture beyond the bakery for some special treats and went out for sushi with a couple friends this weekend. We feasted on incredibly fresh fish, and because we didn't quite understand or recognize most of the items on the menu, we were pleasantly surprised by our choices. Clearly, I am sticking with the beach and food theme. 

freshly made acai (and maybe blueberry) drink 

salmon and some other things (I really have no idea what this was called but it was incredible)

Cachoeira

This week, we spent five days in Cachoeira, a small town about 2 hours inland from Salvador. The suburbs of Cachoeira are rural areas with an occasional "town center" including a bar, maybe a gas station or a school, and a couple organized trees. All of our host families for this short stay reside in compounds with the rest of their family (I am pretty sure that everyone within a 5 mile radius is somehow related). My host family followed this set up and lives an incredibly simple life. Every time I returned for a meal, I would ask them what they did during the day and each time the response was "eh not much, maybe watch tv, relax and cook a little for you". Safe to say that I got a little stir crazy after the third novela on the first night.

My host family in Cachoeira (this was the only time I saw my host mom smile and I promise those kids usually were not miserable...)

the most luxurious mosquito net I will ever use

The main point of this Cachoeira excursion was to experience health care in a rural setting (which is pretty bad). My placement within the health care system was at the mental health clinic called CAPS. Originally, I was under the impression that this CAPS location was for mental illnesses like depression or schizophrenia, but, much to my surprise, this location is prime real estate for addiction. All of the patients had a slew of addictions, as well as an occasional mix of developmental disorders. Because CAPS does not require sobriety, a majority of the patients would come and go, using a collection of drugs as they pleased. On our first day with CAPS, we participated in an art therapy session, and also went on a field trip to a cigar factory with the woman who runs CAPS as well as all of the patients who participated in art therapy that morning (I couldn't make this stuff up). The second day, we participated in a group therapy session with about 10 patients. This therapy included a mirror exercise, a surprisingly heated argument on religion, and a couple of small fights among the patients. Safe to say my time at CAPS was a once in a lifetime kind of thing.

cigar factory

view from the bridge on the way to the cigar factory

Because I was not home for much of this week, there were only a few treats. This one is by far the funniest so far and was delivered to me while I was doing my homework this afternoon. Ciara said it was a leftover from one of the parties she catered this weekend which was appropriately princess themed.