Market Day

Twice a week, my host dad runs his vegetable stand in Belo Horizonte - the major city city located an hour and half from the farm. Here is the hour-by-hour recap of the first day I worked it with him.

12:30 a.m.: Wake up with gripe. I waited in bed, sneezing, until Marcio told it me it was time to go. Since arriving in Ecuador in February 2009, I contracted a chronic case of the gripe. I don't know what caused this bout — probably a combination of dust in the air, cold weather, hot showers, wet clothes, taking a shower at the wrong time of day, cats, monkeys, the moon, etc.

1:00 a.m.: Get out of bed. It was about 4°C outside. I pulled my winter hat out of my bag for the first time since leaving Quito and put on most of my wardrobe (Think Senka from Cool Runnings). My host dad drives an old Chevy pick-up truck that has been through many battles, but he wouldn't trade it for a brand-new one. It has seen so many parts changed in its several decades on the road that the only original part remaining is probably the Chevy logo on the hood.

1:15 a.m.: Leave for Belo Horizonte. I wasn't tired for the first half hour of the ride, then I woke up. It was 3:00, and we were already in Belo Horizonte.

3:00: Arrive at Mercado Novo in Belo Horizonte to pick up produce that my host dad doesn't produce on the farm. I took advantage of this time to sleep in the front seat of the pick-up truck and take make my standard early morning visit to the urinal. Whenever I eat a lot of rice, I have to pee in the middle of the night. I talked about this with PCVs in Ecuador, and they agree. I talked about this with my host family in Brazil, and they laughed. 

4:30 a.m.: Set up stand in downtown Belo Horizonte. My host dad sells his vegetables in two spots in Belo Horizonte. One of them is in the middle of the city center. His friend Horacio manages this spot.

4:50 a.m.: Horacio showed up. Continue setting up the tent.

5:15 a.m.: Finish setting up the first stand. Head to my host dad's other spot.

5:30 a.m.: Arrive at the other location and set up stand. My host dad has a routine, perfected after fifteen years of selling fruit on the same corner. I try to help when I can and not get in the way the rest of the time.

6:00 a.m.: First customers arrive. My host dad has the same first customer every day. She works at a local television station. He told her I worked as a journalist in the U.S.

6:15 a.m.: Sunrise.  The first wave of customers shows up after getting their bread at the bakery next door. When I explained to Marcio that my goal while staying with him and his family was to learn as much as possible, he resolved to take advantage of every opportunity to teach me as much as posslbe. He decided to go to the bakery and get bread and coffee. When he came back, he said, "Now, I'm going to teach you the proper way to eat breakfast."

He brought the bread and coffee back from the bakery, sat down on a crate, and displayed proper form in consuming breakfast. Then he told me I should put in practice what I just learned.

6:30 a.m.: Go to bakery next door for breakfast. Marcio said I learned quickly. His only critique of my form was that I didn't ask for a glass cup for my coffee, which would have saved me 10 cents. I wanted to blame my professor for not sharing this detail with me, but he wouldn't hear any of it.

6:45 a.m.: Continue to sell vegetables. There is a steady stream of clients arriving, mostly elderly women from the neighborhood and people who live in the apartment building next door. They have all been buying their groceries there for years and know my host dad. There is great banter between them, especially when a new element (e.g. a North American assistant) is introduced to the equation.

9:30 a.m.: Marcio went to the restaurant across the street for his second breakfast, which consisted of Pao de Queijo and coffee. Pao de Queijo is known in Ecuador as Pan de Yuca. However you refer to it, it is delicious.

9:45 a.m.: Continue hawking vegetables. The vegetable stand is on a relatively quiet corner, so I don't need to put as much effort into selling the produce as your typical Mahene Yehuda vendor does.

11:00 a.m.: Take down the first stand.

11:30 a.m.: Drive to Horacio's stand where we leave the car to get lunch and take a brief break. There is another stand next to Horacio's that also participates in the same program as Marcio but sells homemade sweets. The guy who runs it is named Bem-vindo, which is Portuguese for "welcome." He is a great guy, and the candy he makes might be even better.

11:45 a.m.: I think my host dad has eaten at the same lunch spot twice a week for 15 years. It is located a block from his downtown stand. He knows everyone working there and continues his fun banter with them. It is a buffet place where, for six dollars, you can put as much food as you want on one plate.

12:30 p.m.: Leave my host dad to enjoy the last few minutes of his lunch as I go to check my e-mail for the first time in a couple of days.

1:30 p.m.: Return to the vegetable stand to help my host dad pack things up.

2:00 p.m.: Start driving home.

2:45 p.m.: Pick up my host mom from the bank at a city in between Belo Horizonte and Brumadinho. She had left her phone in her purse when she was in the bank and didn't answer any of my host dad's 8 missed calls. He didn't know where she was and was on the verge of continuing to drive home when she finally answered.

3:15 p.m.: The car's transmission goes. It seems that this is not the first time he has had this problem. He has all the tools he needs to fix it. Luckily, the car broke down in front of a sugar cane juice stand that also sells some fried delicacies.

3:30 p.m.: Continue driving

3:33 p.m.: Transmission does again. Unfortunately, it didn't happen in front of a fruit stand this time. I took advantage of this time to read the three-day old newspaper that was sitting on the floor of the car. Although the news was old, the language is still new to me.

4:00 p.m.: Continue driving again.

4:45 p.m.: Arrive at home.