Our Favorite Store

This morning, our family joined a few other people from the American Embassy community to go shopping. We went to a few shops with African art, a grocery store called Eco Marche, and to what is known as the local dollar store (except almost everything there is a little over three dollars for what might be found at a dollar store in the US). After finishing up there, we went to eat at a pizzeria inside a new supermarket called Euro Marche (Marche is the French word for Market). Our family had gone there a few times previously, and we recommended it as a good place to get lunch. This place just opened a few weeks ago, and it is awesome!!! It is run by a middle-aged Italian gentleman who seems to double as the main cook at the pizzeria and the manager of the supermarket section. We had calzone, lasagna with potatoes and eggplant en lieu de pasta, and some ham, lettuce, and tomato sandwiches on freshly toasted flatbread. It was fabulous! They have great service, very yummy and safe food, and the prices are really good too. The meal options are only around two dollars a plate! We sat on the upper level of the restaurant, and our whole group fit at one table. This place is the big car comfort! Just down the street there's another pizzeria that seems to have had the corner on the local pizza market, and they usually charged nearly twenty dollars for one pizza. We had it once, and it wasn't very good... So we found a great place to eat and to shop for German corn flakes and Italian pasta (and some Nutella every now and then).

And here are a couple of pics for the week:

Andrew LOVES bananas, as does Claire. Too bad Joshua doesn't like them because they are plentiful and cheap here. All the bananas on this shelf were cut down from our banana tree in the backyard. Banana trees actually work on several bunches at a time, but they become ready at different times. Once a bunch is taken down, the whole limb that supported that bunch is cut as it will no longer produce fruit. New stalks grow up from the ground as fast as the bunches grow and ripen. This picture was taken in our basement pantry, which will be REALLY useful when our HHE shipment arrives!



The neighborhood in which we live is called Bastos, which happens to be the nicest part of town and also where most of the expatriates from foreign countries live and work. I took this picture while walking around the block with the kids. It gave a fairly good view of part of our neighborhood. This was at a vacant lot, and right in the front you will see a huge pile of sand. I asked one of our embassy drivers about a different pile of sand I saw further down this same street, and he said that it was going to be used in the construction of a new house. When we walk around the streets near our home, we pass by dozens of embassies of foreign countries, as well as their residences.



This picture was taken just down the street from our home. We live right on the north side of town, and as you can see, there isn't too much obstructing our view. There is one more street down the hill to the north, which is where this motorcycle came from. This view reminds Emily of her favorite area of her mission, Coban, because of the rolling hills covered with beautiful vegetation.