Bravo, Market, One Way

I found out the hard way not to shop at Bravo (supermarket) on Tuesday mornings! It was packed wall to wall. Once I saw the produce section I turned myself right around. I was not about to fight Dominicans over produce :) I have started giving Darton goat's milk (it's more similar to human milk than cow's) and the Bravo that is located about 30minutes from us is the only store that carries it. Unfornately it wasn't there yesterday or today when I went back.

The busy produce section at Bravo prompted me to finally go to the open market. Here are a couple of photos from the market. It is located at the fairgrounds and right now they are having what I would call a stockshow. I am so thankful for the small blessings of new things to do to distract me now that family has left.

I made sure to take Ana so the Gringa wasn't taken advantage of with higher prices.
Darton enjoying an orange. Fresh fruit vendors are found along all the streets and at many intersections. Men come up to your car with the rind peeled off of the orange and cut in half to eat. They leave the white part of the rind on and you suck out the juice.

I have found that I really enjoy Bravo on Churchill. They carry things that I'm used to seeing at grocery stores in the States. I discovered they have SweetnLow (sorry Dad I didn't know this before you came), shredded coconut, and organic juices. A few weeks ago I was so excited to find organic juices that I bought a small (under a 1/2 gallon) bottle of Pomegranate juice. This week I looked at the price.....I paid $500RD ($15) for that little baby. It was good while I was ignorant, but now that I know the price I can't bring myself to drink juice at that price without feeling guilty!

Dominicans are ones to do things one way and when someone asks for it another way it throws them for a loop. Coffee here is very strong, in fact it's probably expresso. I'm thinking this is why they only sell coffee in small cups...small as in half the size of a small Starbucks cup. I finally found a lady who was willing to do something out of the norm when I bought coffee at the cafe in Bravo!! My first attempt to get coffee in a larger cup was to ask for 2 cafe con leches and then ask for her to pour them into a large juice cup. Thankfully she was smart enough to make the coffee directly into the juice cup...and I say smart enough, because the way that I tried to order it is how most servers would have given it to me. No joke, it's really hard for them to do something that they aren't used to doing. So YEAH for yesterday and the lady at the cafe...I should have gotten her name...I know that going the next time doesn't mean I'll get my cafe grande.

I went on a hunt for food coloring today...no luck. Only went to 2 grocery stores though. It's one of the challenges of living here. You never know where to get little things like that. I through the Super Pola (grocery store) men for a loop when I was asking for color por comida. They had to bring down the big boss who speaks English...it was pretty funny. He suggested Carrefour, a French department store. I thought his recommendation was interesting. I'll check it out next time I'm out that way. P.S. wasted time looking for food coloring...I HAD SOME IN MY PANTRY!