Wrapping It Up

 As I write we are at home waiting to hear from Alessandro who will WhatsApp us when GANNET2 is ready for pick up. The wind deflector was going on yesterday in front of the solar panel array: 

We were at the shop yesterday cleaning and sorting our possessions as we are going to pack the van using new spaces built by Guará Motorhomes’ crew. Our Brazilian flagged drawers and the carpenter who built them: 

We figured if we couldn’t replicate the wood finish let’s go a little wild and the crew loved the idea of the Brazilian national colors…

The words on the Brazilian flag read “order and progress” which suits me. We too seek order and progress so our plan is to toss out stuff we haven’t used. There are deep dark corners in the storage areas that hold things we don’t need to reload, so we are filling garbage bags as we go. 

Starlink is installed on the roof and the modem will be mounted inside as they see fit.

The dish was cut open by Alessandro and fit into the frame he built.  

We discussed options for locating the modem and they will pick whichever spot works. 

The dish is set on the fiberglass frame behind the new 12 volt Dometic air conditioner. We also have a new electrical monitoring panel: 

Plus I have an app on my phone, that’s old hat for many but new for me. So much new stuff…Layne got a haircut while we wait. In Amazonia she spent $1:50 as we waited for a ferry across the Amazon River to Manaus. In Brasilia she spent $60 and said that was half the price in the US. 

Alessandro took us out to dinner Thursday night. He wanted us to taste the Brazilian food he likes including the dreaded tapioca:

It’s a spongy tortilla with no real flavor of its own so it depends on what you put in, in our case cheese and dried beef which gave it flavor. 

Then we tried empanadas and chicken stuffed balls, which we both agreed could have used some salsa or hot sauce. Good enough but Brazilians don’t enhance their food with sauces much. If you like chiles Brazil will not agree with you. 

Don’t get me wrong we had lots of leftovers and we took them home. 

We didn’t even taste this one before boxing up a meat and couscous pie covered in melted cheese. 

Brazil is different, I’m telling you with a cuisine all their own and it’s much broader than the classic grilled meat restaurants you see in the States.

First you take a barcode on a token and feed it…

…into an electronic turnstile. Weird? You bet but luckily we had a Brazilian guide. 

Cakes, pastries, breads, dishes cooked to order in the promised land behind the turnstile. Oh and cops.

They just took their place in line like everyone else except they had lots of armor and guns. No fear necessary. 

And for one last treat Alessandro insisted we delay calling our Uber and walked us down the streets of Paranoá:

And there she was selling some milky concoction from a pot on the side of the road. We took a to go container with Slessandri grinning like a Cheshire Cat as he exposed us to Brazilian food as he knows it. It was only polite to accept his gift…

A walking eating tour of Brazil like one rarely sees. Interesting.