Shopping day!

A good way to explore a culture is through the foods, right?  This is why I so love going shopping for food here.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, the best local food mart is in the town of Goa about 7 or so miles away.  This is also where my bank is and because of this Im averaging about 2-3 trips to Goa per week.  It costs me 16 pesos round trip via Jeepney (thats around 30 cents) which is inexpensive but time consuming.

Ok, so today was 'shopping day' and here were some interesting things I discovered:  they have instant coffee here that is called 3 n 1.   This is common.  Its coffee, lots of sugar and cream all mixed together.  I like my coffee black (even instant coffee) so I opt for the Americano version.  Have I mentioned that I haven't had a cup of fresh brewed coffee since I left the USA?  Oh, how I miss it!  Anyway, thats not the interesting thing... what IS interesting is that I found some '5 n 1' coffee today!  That is:  coffee, sugar, cream, ginkgo, and, drumroll.........   powdered mushroom!    How about that?!

And heres another interesting thing I uncovered:  they make hotdogs (rather ubiquitous) like many cultures, but here in the Philippines, the hotdog wrapper boasts "With REAL Tuna!"  Tuna hotdogs!!!! I am not shitting you!  So wild!

I'm not sure Ive mentioned this, but of course you have heard about how in China, it is easy to find fried chicken feet as a common street food.  Ive always passed on the fried chicken feet.  Here they sell chicken feet, and if you are interested, you can also have fried chicken heads!!!  Just pop those babies in your mouth for a crunchy delight!!

So, I hit the food mart and then the outdoor public market for my fresh goods.  And there, in the middle of the public market I found something I have been looking for:  a scale that weighs humans (yeah, that kind of scale)!  So I jumped on board and the results are in.... since departing Manila I have officially dropped 17 pounds!!!  Hurray!!!!

So, of course it was time to celebrate...  off I went to a joint Ive had my eye on.... Mr. Biggs!  Mr. Biggs is sort of a US style fast food place, and of course they serve fish and rice and all that... but they also boast HAMBURGERS AND FRENCH FRIES!!!!!!!   So folks, I dug deep and did the deed - "Burger and fries, please!"   And that burger was pretty darned tasty!

Ok, one last thing and then I'll check out.... Remember the guy who brought me that giant cooked fish (from an earlier blog)??  Well, guess what?  He's back in the picture.  He has apparently invited me and the rest of my Lagonoy posse up to his barangay on the North coast next weekend for their annual festival!!!  And it looks like we are going!!  We'll have to time the trip right because the only time you can get to this dude's village is during high tide!  I'm not sure why this guy likes me so much since he can't speak a lick of english, but hey....  I guess we hit it off using the old tried and true 'universal language' that begins with a smile!