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Background: Following three centuries under the rule of Portugal, Brazil became an independent nation in 1822. By far the largest and most populous country in South America, Brazil overcame more than half a century of military intervention in the governance of the country when in 1985 the military regime peacefully ceded power to civilian rulers. Brazil continues to pursue industrial and agricultural growth and development of its interior. Exploiting vast natural resources and a large labor pool, it is today South America's leading economic power and a regional leader. Highly unequal income distribution remains a pressing problem.

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By Natalie0210
November 20th 2009

Week Eleven... South America » Brazil » Bahia » Lençóis

Ok, so I know its been ages since I last wrote, but life here has been crazy. I went on a trek called Grutas, where I went to a waterfall, a pitch black cave full of stalactites and stalagmites (I´m sure I´ve spelt those wrong) of varying shapes and sizes, went snorkling in the bluest water you´ve ever seen and then climbed the poster child Morro do Pai Inacio, the heart of the Chapada. It was an awesome day, despite getting eaten alive by mosquitos. Work is difficult as ever, I´ve been really tired and stressed with it lately, but a [View Full Entry]

By docey101
November 8th 2009

Weekend in Salvador South America » Brazil » Bahia » Salvador

Crafts

So, on Friday, I went to this open market they have here called Feira de Sao Jaoquim. It's big with a section for fruits, weavings, meat, Candomble stuff, and random stuff. It stinks there. People (men) like to pee on the outsides of the porta-potties.. Gross. They have this "fair" every day in the morning until afternoon. It's in the lower city. It has a pretty bad stigma since it's supposed to be cheap and the poorer folks go there. But it's interesting. On Saturday I went to the Parque Metropolitano de Pituacu, and it's really nice there, it's next to [View Full Entry]

By docey101
November 3rd 2009

Boninal South America » Brazil » Bahia » Chapada Diamantina National Park

Me..
sugarcane with a coat of sugar!

Boninal is somewhere 8 hours away by car, through the semiarid zone in Bahia. It's a small town with 15,000 residents. The town is mostly black (Bahian aspect). Most of the blacks work the manual jobs.. everyone gets along though. Actually, one of the grandparents of my host mom is a light-skinned black. Boninal is my host mother's hometown. She grew up there and came to Salvador to further her studies when she was 17 years old, and she got married and stayed in Salvador and her brothers returned after their studies and stayed in Boninal. I had a four-day weekend, [View Full Entry]

By docey101
October 25th 2009

Gay Parade! South America » Brazil » Bahia » Salvador

The parade!
Ok, the next pic is a close up. It was on the parallel street next to mine

To be honest, I missed the afternoon part of it because I was on a family outing until 4:30p. And I was so tired after that I took a nap for one hour. Most of my friends went to check it out around 2p. By the time I got up, everyone I knew went...and some people warned that it's not too good to go by myself, since men are such creepers here, and I don't want them bothering me, nor do I want my camera stolen. So I stayed by my window to take some shots. I was wistfully looking out [View Full Entry]

By docey101
October 20th 2009

Morro de Sao Paulo weekend South America » Brazil » Bahia » Morro de São Paulo

PA170015

I spent a weekend on an island, it was very nice. Morro de Sao Paulo was where all the foreigners used to go and have fun and relax... anyway, that place was packed with foreigners and brazilians not native to Salvador. Totally a tourist town with family owned restaurants and inns. One of the things that bothered me was the sand wasn't clean... I just expected places that tourists go to get their beaches cleaned better. There were some kids picking up trash, but...I especially didnt want to walk too far from the surf barefooted with all the junk on the [View Full Entry]

By Natalie0210
October 20th 2009

Week Seven... South America » Brazil » Bahia » Lençóis

Hi all! Another exciting week here in Lençois. The kids decided to behave themselves a little better, you´ll be glad to here. We have a new volunteer, who is now living with me in the project house. He is a 28 year old from Recife in the north of Brazil. He is really nice, but for now I reserve my judgement as to how well the housing situation will work. At least he is a clean freak, so I don´t have to housetrain him! Things continue to go well for me here, and my Portuguese is coming on in leaps and [View Full Entry]

By Natalie0210
October 13th 2009

Week Six... South America » Brazil » Bahia » Lençóis

Hello all! Sorry for the silence over past weeks, I´ve been very busy here but I´m alive, well and happy! I celebrated my 21st birthday on the 2nd October and my friends here threw me a surprise party on the banks of the river, with cake, candles, balloons and a few caipirinhas too! I´d had a lovely day with the kids, Friday is games day so we played a big game of twister and it was all nice and relaxed. Two of my friends also took me out for dinner so I have been really spoilt lately! Work as been tough [View Full Entry]

By docey101
October 13th 2009

NYTimes article South America » Brazil » Bahia » Salvador

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/world/americas/13brazil.html?_r=1 I was looking through the new and saw a pic I recognized, yup, that's Salvador, my temporary home. This community has been autonomous for the last 15 years, taking care of their problems without police involvement, etc. But yeah, Carlinhos Brown went and got the/his community to work together to get infrastructure and build a music school and promote exchanges between the kids of the middle class neighborhood just beside it and the kids of Candeal. There are a lot of slums around the city. Big communities of poor people. [View Full Entry]

By docey101
October 5th 2009

Chapada Diamantina.. Plateaus South America » Brazil » Bahia » Lençóis

In the middle of nowhere

We went on a 7 hour bus ride into the interior of Bahia to Chapada Diamantina. It is a place where diamonds used to be mined. It's in a semi-arid climate, there are plateaus, waterfalls, caves, etc. I also went to a little community that was started by runaway slaves. They are a small community with 400 people and 40 houses. Very poor fishing community. It is 25 km to Lencois. Lencois is a small town, I believe it used to be a place to trade in diamonds and slaves, now it is mainly a tourist town since diamonds are illegal [View Full Entry]

By rarmstrongfox
October 1st 2009

Senhor horse and friends South America » Brazil » Bahia » Salvador

Well Brazil is proving to be totally mad. first thing that makes me laugh is that they can not say my name properly to them ross is prounced like horse. so people call me senhor horse its hilarious. last week i started in joao pessoa, supposedly famous for having the most rainforest of any brazilian town. not sure about that have never been to a town with so many donkeys place was crawling with them. asked a local what the town was famous for and was told having the ugliest woman in brazil! Not true. /however in true brazilian style the [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » South America » Brazil » Bahia