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  Pointe Noire, Congo
Sunday, August 10, 2008

Food is incredibly expensive, a head of cauliflower costs $8, and a wedge of cheese is $6. When David and I were planning this trip we estimated food costs at about 3 times what we had been paying in the states. We thought that that was a conservative estimate, but we were pretty much right. The good news is that we can absorb the extra cost, but I really wonder what people do who aren't in our situation. Poverty is the standard, not the exception. The folks across the street grow their own tomatoes and beans, but that doesn't exactly feed the whole family every day.

The French have had a great influence on the types and variety of food here, and there are some pretty high standards as far as wine and cheese and good bread, also in the quality of the olive oil and coffee and sea salt. You have to be careful though, I bought two fish at the fish market and asked to have them cleaned and filleted. The way the stores work is there is one clerk to weigh your food, and they then give you a receipt to bring to another clerk who runs the register. While I was paying, the fist clerk brought my fish into the back room and after I paid, he returned and handed me my bag. When I got home and opened it, guess what? Whole fish! My first experience gutting and filleting my own fish left me with precious little actual meat. Oh well, next time I'll know.

After the fresh whole raw milk from Uppingill Farm, the bricks of steamed milk here are a little weak. Also after ten years of drinking Rao's coffee every morning I am officially spoiled. Everything else tastes like crap. If anyone is so inclined we'd love some things that we just can't find here: all natural aluminum free baking powder, cream of tartar, fruit roll-ups, Rao's coffee, and a French-English dictionary.

International School Pointe-Noire
C/O Services Techniques Schlumberger
WSA-Pointe-Noire Office,CONGO
Le Palatin 1
1 cours du Triangle
92936 LA DEFENSE cedex
FRANCE

This is the Schlumberger mailing address, because the Congolese mail system is slow and unreliable. Packages especially will be take forever and will probably opened and may not even make it. But the up shot is there is lots of good French wine and I bought myself a bottle of Talisker's at the duty free shop on the way into the country.

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