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Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I must admit that today I am a little jealous of everyone back home. One of my favorite holidays is Thanksgiving and I not only love the food, but I love to cook it too. So traveling is a bit different. Today it started raining again at the beach and we hopped on a bus to Rio. We joined an online network/community called couchsurfing, at the prompting of other travelers and good friends, and so instead of a hostel, we will be staying for the next few nights with a friend of a friend in Rio. I am hoping desperately that there is a good supermarket nearby and that after a quick trip there I can conjure up a few of our holiday favorites to enjoy and share. :)


Paraty...how cute!



Brazilians may not have Thanksgiving, but they do have the sweetest sweets in the world I think. I have been buying the brigadeiro from street vendors, which are chocolate balls of some mixture with sweetened condensed milk and some other sugary substances, covered in chocolate sprinkles. Aside from that, they have about a million cakes (which they also eat for breakfast) and coconut treats galore (many also consisting of combinations with condensed milk and dulce de leche). YUMMY! It is a wonder that Brazilians are not fat. Everything is so delicious if you have a sweet tooth like mine. :)

So we did finally get sun for two days in Paraty, and one of those days we took advantage of it right off and went on a boat tour of some of the nearby islands. We had a huge boat to ourselves and three other tourists, and we definitely got our share of sun. Good news is that I had bought some more sunscreen in Argentina. Bad news is I found out later that it is neither waterproof nor sweatproof. Luckily I caught it before I went from pink to lobster red, and the pink has now faded into a bit of a brown. Just right for before we head off to a winter in Europe!


We also met a lovely Irish gal, Amanda, who is on holiday in Brazil for another week or so, but who will be going home to Ireland for Christmas and offered to have us spend the holidays with her and her family in Cork, Ireland. How fun! I think we will definitely take her up on it, seeing as how holidays are always more fun if you are around a bunch of people, and Irish folks sure know how to enjoy themselves!

So on this Thanksgiving, I am thankful for so many things. I hope you all take a moment to realize how good we have it. :) Sending you lots of love and hoping you all eat a second helping of EVERYTHING in my honor...

5 comments:

Jeni said...

Happy Turkey day my dear!

Much love,
Jeni

Shelly said...

I hope you found the supermarket and maybe there was some kind of white meat that you could have with some kind of strach.

Of course we miss having you at our table this year, considering J brought home a 19+ pound turkey and he wanted the fixings... so just the 2 of us with green bean casorol, sweet potato canied, pumpkin banana muffins and the bird. So when you come back, there may just be some left overs.

If you do end up in Ireland I have a friend there that I can put you in touch with, in case you want someone else to hang with.

The Desperate Gambler said...

Happy Thanksgiving!

All of us were thinking of you today, and with Ben in town, we're catching him up on your adventures. Stay safe!!

maria rosa said...

Happy day after Thanksgiving. I would consider a yummy feijoada an alternative to turkey. Have you tried one yet? Indulge, and of course go for those coconut and dulce de leche treats. They are the best. Isn't it amazing that Argentine and Brazilian women have amazing svlete bodies and they eat and DRINK so much? Of course both countries have the market cornered on liposuction, tummy tucks and face lifts. Hmmm maybe I should return to my roots for some body work. Another aside, there are more psychotherapists in both of those countries than any other country in the Americas. Continue having fun.
besos
m.r.

Anonymous said...

if you can't spend xmas at home, spending it with an irish family is probably the next-best thing!