Pesque e Pague

My host mom works at a "Pesque e Pague" where people come to catch fish and then pay for them based on the type of fish and how much they weigh. It's a very beautiful and peaceful place. My favorite times in Brazil so far have been at the Pesque e Pague talking to the fishermen there and to my friends who work there. They teach me a lot about Brazil and help me with the language.

It gets dark at about 6:00 pm. Yesterday the Pesque e Pague was very "tranquilo" or calm. On other days the lakes are lined with fishermen.

Kevin (host cousin)  helping a man with the fish he caught. This one is kind of small compared to others I've seen!

This type of fish is called "Pacu"

The journey of a fish unfortunate enough to be caught

At this point the fish is still moving!!!!! Joel (don't know if that's spelled right) is cutting a slit in the belly to take out all the insides. I just watched in shock! Good thing I don't have sound effects! Was not a pretty sight!

YUMMMM!!!!

Poor fishy!

After all the insides were take out they placed the fish on the table to be cut and the fish started MOVING!!!!!!!!!!! I screamed, "IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Being cut into slices so it can be fried for waiting customers. At this point it wasn't moving!

(Sorry about the rotation. It won't let me rotate it to hamburger style!! haha!)

Before we went to the Pesque e Pague, we went to the fishing essentials shop. Lais told me to come over and look at something. I was expecting so see fish or more bait. Nope. SNAKES!!! I almost screamed!! HUGE SNAKES!!! They were slithering around the tank in bunches. ewwwww!

In Campo Grande I've seen very different types of fishing bait. Of course, there are worms but they're not just worms- they're HUGE worms!! Fat, juicy, and long! At the Pesque e Pague I helped put dog food and cornmeal balls into bags to use as bait as well. Raw beef is also used! The snakes in the picture are to be cut into pieces and used as bait! Ahhh!!! Then I was even more shocked to hear that there are snakes like this inside the water at the Pesque e Pague!!!!!!

I learned a lot about animals yesterday. There are flesh eating ants all over so I must be careful! There are also dangerous, violent dogs that live in Brazil. I met one that was tied on a rope and it was NOT friendly! There are also little monkeys that live in the trees outside the Pesque e Pague!! My new goal is to see a monkey living in the wild before I leave!

I also saw my first banana tree. Banana trees grow a bunch of bananas one time and then die! (At least that's how I understood it when they explained it in Portuguese!) How sad! Those banana trees sacrifice their life so that I might have a delicious, healthy breakfast! Thanks banana trees!