More ramblings

I have the screen saver on my laptop set to randomly play from a folder of my favorite pictures of the outdoors and my family. In the past several days three people have noticed the pictures and told me they were very good. Two of the three said that they were worth trying to sell. I can’t take all the credit because some of the pictures were taken by Ariele too. Maybe when I get settled in somewhere I’ll ask Ariele to send me some paper copies that I can hang up in my space. I am eagerly awaiting my return home and a chance to go out and get new pictures.

I have continued to sample as much of the local culture and area as possible in my situation. Last night I was able to visit the port and enjoyed the scenery along the way. Everything here seems to have been well planned. The road system is similar to that of the US, on the population is only a fraction of what would use similar highways at home. The result is very low traffic. There are huge arrays of power lines, that sometimes seem to go nowhere. The land, is flat, and very slightly rolling, but greener than I had expected, especially because it is spring. There are many merchants that I have had the opportunity to interact with. They mostly sell jewelry, clothing, and souvenirs particular to the area. I picked up a few very nice mink blankets for a bargain price that I plan to mail home. One thing I have noticed about all of the merchants is that they are all very polite, but they are all very eager to make a sale, and at times pushy. It must be something with the culture. They are also willing to haggle over the price, but I’m not much of a haggler.

I have not been too successful in sampling much of the local food. All that I have been able to get is what I could buy at the store. I’m not even sure if it’s local or not, I just know it’s not American. I really like Galaxy chocolate. My favorites are the flutes. They are crunchy on the inside, and chocolate covered on the outside. Like those tube things that they sell at Starbucks to dip in the coffee, only thicker and with more chocolate.
A few days ago I was at the store and saw a brand of iced tea that I had never seen before. It was called San Bendetto, and came in Green, Lemon and Peach flavors. I bought the Peach. It turned out to be the best iced tea I have ever bought. Had I a fridge I would have bought a case. It is even very reasonable priced, I think. As I was drinking it, I was intrigued to notice that there was no writing in the local language on it. On closer inspection, I was amused to find out that such a good drink came from….

To be continued….