"It's a small New York City. While walking down the sidewalk within a matter of half a block, I heard Arabic, Spanish, Guarani, Portuguese, German, and even Chinese!"Twenty five different nationalities are represented in the small city.
They came back with lots of interesting stories and details, but more importantly...
DORITOS!
Yes, I know you are all as excited as we are! In order to procure such a dietary delight, they had to cross the border into Brazil. They drove across the river into Brazil to check out a store owned by Wal-Mart. Once there they discovered that it is closed on Sunday. My husband called me from Brazil to sadly report that he would not be able to purchase the zip lock baggies I so desperately wanted. Oh well.
Once they had returned to Paraguay, they were told of a store owned by Brazilians who had imported Doritos and Ruffles and cake mixes. No zip locks, but that's ok! Maybe next time, but in the meant time...we have ...
Once they had returned to Paraguay, they were told of a store owned by Brazilians who had imported Doritos and Ruffles and cake mixes. No zip locks, but that's ok! Maybe next time, but in the meant time...we have ...
30 comments:
I´m so jealous!
Nice....I still can't find taco flavor doritos anywhere!
When I was in the middle east, all of the frito lay products had to be halal....made with sheep milk.
MMM. The nacho cheese doritos in Mexico are yummier than in the States-the Mexicans like them spicy! Is Brazil that close?
Oh no!!! We don't even have Doritos in Europe and we're in the old land!
Oh well, enjoy!
Yum!
I miss Doritos too!
ahhhh...just the sound of Doritos, and a strawberry Betty Crocker cake mix...makes my mouth water. Wonder if those Brazilians want to move their store to Portugal?
There are Doritos in Belgium and it is very easy to find them in many places, including usual movie theatres (although they can be strong on those not eating them during a film).
Only some things are harder to get: it is difficult to find the right maize to prepare Venezuelan Cachapas (JM: do they do something like cachapas in Paraguay?), even if we can get Harina pan and other stuff without problem.
We have BELGIAN chocolateS (only real cocoa butter used, no cheap oils, world of difference, specially the specialties from each Flemish region) and real beer (even if I am not such a beer drinker, it is quite different from most other places but Germany-Czechia).
US pizzas are the best (better than Italian ones), but it is not possible to export them, which is a tragedy.
Kepler
We got also the famous US calorie bombs Oreos (c) now. I remember how I bought Oreos galore in Canada and when arriving in Britain (shortly after the air flight alarms) I was forced to leave them at Heathrow airport to board another plane because of the security measures, I could it only so much on one go. It was heart-breaking, really.
But now we have them in the supermarkets!
Kepler
Kepler,
Once , while in Germany visiting my father in law, I did get a chance to eat a bit of Belgium chocolate. Not sure if it was a good thing or not, as no other chocolate has since lived up to it.
I can relate to your Oreo loss! We experienced something similar while trying to take frozen hallacas to Costa Rica one Christmas. They took them from us, cut them open and painted them with a poison! Before our very eyes! My youngest daughter said it looked like murder to her!!!
we can not get even Harina Pan, but we did bring several kilos with us. As to cachapas, they make a bread of sorts, much thicker, but the taste is reminiscent to cachapa, they call it Chipa guazu.
Why would they do that to some innocent hallacas that had surrendered without resistance? That must be against the Geneva Convention!
Once when I was a child we were arriving at some airport in the North of the US and the family in front of us got their suitcases opened. The officers looked inside and found some yellow packages with some white powder! They got very excited about it and other officers came in. It was Harina Pan, but probably the first Harina Pan to arrive there (it was the seventies). They started checking it, sniffling it, anything and it took a lot of time. When the family passed, it was our turn. We, of course, also had Harina Pan (on a 30-day trip). The agents opened our suitcases, found the Harina Pan and this time they just waved us to continue right away.
Perhaps you can find Harina pan at supermarkets owned by Chinese or small shops of Pakistanis in Asunción? (I am just guessing)
Kepler
SCORE! Enjoy each and every bite!....then you won't need to zip lock the rest of the bag:)
oops! Still waiting for coffee, that should be 'Belgian' chocolates. As for the typos, that's just par for the course with me!
Your life makes my life sound boring by comparison. I enjoy your posts very much.
BTW the Cool Ranch Doritos rule!
It's the smallest blessing that matter sometimes.
I'm doing the happy dance for you!! :)
The US food that I missed while working in Latin America was peanut butter. The gain of mangoes versus the loss of Doritos or potato chips: mangoes win in a landslide.
A cross cultural point about Doritos and corn products. In the US we eat Doritos w salsa. In Latin America in the US, corn products help cut the sting of chili peppers. Just like cranberries and turkey, chili peppers ( chiles) and corn go very well together.
Off topic, there is right now on BBC a discussion on Christianity and persecution.
Take a look
Kepler
BBC Radio World news
Kepler
LOL! You're in South America, and you want nachos with cheese dust? ;)
Seriously, I'm glad you guys were able to find Doritos. I don't keep them around because the entire bag would be going straight to my butt at one sitting.
They're THAT good! :)
kepler, My internet here it too slow to listen in to anything, bu thanks for the heads up.
Sarah Joy,
My husband was in eastern Paraguay, about 5 hours from here. It tri-border area with Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. Paraguay is rather small.
Once many years ago, when we were pretty broke, I was driving home from work and I saw a box by the road. It didn't look opened, so I stopped. It was a full box of big bags of Doritos corn chips. We ate corn chips til they were coming out of our ears. Doritos from heaven.
hey a bag of doritos and a box of chocolate cake mix and EVERYTHING'S ok!!
Odd that you post that particular product's picture-- I just ate a whole big bag of those last night!
After reading your post and Kepler's comments, I think we have pretty much of every single food we like -here in Venezuela- maybe we haven't seen the skinny cow's years yet.
I can relate to you guys though, I remember driving for 3 hours jut to get plantains in Boston. But that was more than 25 years ago... hhehehe. Now, they sell plantains everywhere in the US.
Rita, about the hallacas: I once carried a big shoe box full of them.. right into NYC JFK airport!! Disguised with holiday wrap, inside they were frozen and wrapped in aluminum foil and lots plastic wrap. A dozen hallacas!!
Of course.. there were no x-rays in the airports back then.
;-)
yum, yum, yum.
I don't eat them but I'm happy for you. :)
It is amazing how something very simple can be a big deal when you don't have it. Glad you got some chips and I hope next time they have the ziplock bags.
Hi Rita,
Do you know whether there is an English speaking church in Cuidad del Este who I could get in touch with?
Kind regards
Giovanni
Giovanni, No, I do not know. I could put you in touch with a pastor there who may know of one. If you are interested, leave your email address. I moderate comments so I would not publish it.
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