Salvador!!!!!!!!!!!

---

So I arrived in Salvador at almost midnight and grabbed a taxi to meet my new friend Gustavo, a Chilean friend of Cleanto. Gustavo is doing his masters in environmental engineering in Salvador, but coincidentally its actually in toxicology (though not officially), so we had a lot to talk about. He was really pleasantly surprised when I told him I had a doctorate in toxicology and was totally willing to help him with his project. Gustavo was incredibly warm, friendly, and generous, offering me food and letting me stay at his beautiful downtown flat, right near everything including the main beach, Barra beach. He was renting the flat with three Spanish girls (from spain), two of which were on holiday and the other Christina, which was a doll.

The next day Christina and I spent the whole day on the beach, no sharks, but a mountain of gorgeous men- they didn’t lie about Bahia! We later grabbed a delicious lunch and went to check out the mall.
Afterwards we showered up and got ready to hit the infamous neighbourhood of Pelourino, known for its beauty, exciting night life, but as some say, its reputation for crime. Although Salvador is known for many robberies, most of them armed, they are typically without violence- two of the girls in my flat were already robbed at knife point (during daytime and accompanied by their boyfriends). But despite that Salvador is still a safe place, just not for your camera.

Anyways Pelourino was amazing!!! I went with Christina and Gustavo and we met a friend, Laura in a crab shack bar. After a couple beers we went to explore more of Pelourino (but I have no pics of this of course). Pelourino is the old part of the Salvador, and all the old colonial buildings are painted in different pastel colours.

The streets were filled with people, and it had just rained so the cobble stoned pavement shinned in the lantern light. Beer flowed freely from the women selling ice cold cans from each corner- and if that was not convenient enough, there were dudes all through the crowd selling them to you, and other dudes picking up all the empty cans, and so there was no garbage. As we walked along the streets we encountered this drumming group. I began to dance and follow them. Splashing in the puddles for hours, dancing up and down the windy streets with everybody, doing funny simon says type dances, following the leader. It was a totally cool way of touring the neighbourhood! 😉 It was liberating to just follow the music and have fun. We went to a club afterwards but I felt tired so grabbed a taxi home early.

I had a fantastic sleep, and Du (Carlos’s (Cau’s) brother) picked me up in the morning to take me to his family’s house. When I saw him get out of the car across the street it was uncanny how much he reminded me of Carlos, they really resembled each other. Anyways, I spent the whole day there and it was fantastic seeing all the people I had grown to have so much affection for the year before when I had visited (like Thelma and her son Enhiki). My Brazilian mom, Maria, was soooo happy to see me. And everybody was astounded that I could speak Portuguese. No one could believe the fluency I had reached -ok I wasn’t fluent, but I could speak quickly, communicate well, and understand ninety percent of their fast talk- mind you bainos speak slowly. I was also familiar with all the slang, colloquial sayings, and some uncommon and extremely funny words (mostly bad one, hehehe). It was fun to surprise everybody - thanks to my Brazilian teachers!!! I brought my mae a few gifts and left them some of my clothes to give to their family- I had too much to carry. I had such a nice time visiting with them…

Later Fernando (a sailor friend of Cau’s that I met last year) came by and invited me to go sailing on his boat the next day. So I slept over in Sergino’s room (cau’s other brother), as he was away on vacation. As I laid there in bed I looked up and the night sky and watched the clouds swooshing by. They were moving so fast, as the weather always changed so rapidly here. I was reminded of the calm lazy nights I had spent here the year before visiting with Cau, and was reminded of why I loved Salvador so much, why it felt like home.

The next day I went sailing with Fernando, Guto (Cau’s nephew, Vanderlei’s son), and Guto~s girlfriend. I enjoyed their company and the sail tremendously! The day was mostly gorgeous with a brief rain when we lunched on a remote island. Fernando was a super sailor and instructor, with over 40 years of experience, winning first place in many competitions. He was full of fantastic stories that he told as he instructed me in sailing all day long. I navigated the entire voyage, nearly 10 hours. It was awesome to finally be able to speak Portuguese and converse with all of them, share in all the jokes and all the fun. We set anchor and explored a small island on which there was a small village. I walked though the small street that was only big enought for the horses to pass by. It was a small beach side community, and it felt awesome to be there. We had lunch in a small restaurant Fernando frequented and as chance would have it, it began to pour buckets within moments of sitting down.

The wind picked up and we were all still wet from the swim over to land, and so we got really cold. All of us except Guto’s girlfriend began doing exercises to get warm. I did karate and calisthenics, they just did calisthenics. When the rain cleared, we boarded the boat again and set sail for another island where we checked out some ruins of historical buildings that use to house slaves. It was beautiful on the island, with a river flowing into the ocean that reminded me of the pantanal. Fernando, 58, was such a funny character. He was a delightful adventurer, filled with life, spirit, and a rugged quality, all which made him charismatic.

The sun set beautifully as we began to sail back. That’s when the night canopy lifted up above us. I left piloting the boat for a while to stand up front, in the wind, and watch the stars that hung above the powerful sails filling with wind. It was so beautiful and I felt so calm. I began to think about the journey I was about to undertake, sailing the southern Caribbean in less than a month. At this moment I knew that I would surely love it.

Anyways we docked and returned home where my Brazilian mother had already prepared me a salad just the way I liked it. She was so cute and I was so sad to have to say goodbye.
I had to go because I was meeting Christina (my Spanish roommate) to go to a Raggae club in Pelourino.

Man was that interesting! The club was situated in a truly historic and wonderfully dilapidated building. It looked like everything sinister and fun. My mom would have died had she seen this place, but nonetheless it was safe (just the club, not the surrounding streets that’s for sure) and it was totally fun. However, I was a little tired and sort of wanted to go home early. We then grabbed a taxi home that we split with some Americans who spoke very bad portunol.

The following day was my last and I didn’t do much expect go shopping with Christina to tie up some loose ends. She was so fantastically generous to me. She lent me money for everything I needed, and her and Gustavo had fed me the whole time I stayed with them refusing to accept anything in return. Great, great people!!

Du came to pick me up later that night to take me to the airport, and I had to laugh with happiness when I saw the whole family had jamed themselves into the car to say goodbye to me. Mai, pai, Thelma and Enhiki. It was kind of like last year when they had all come to pick me and Cau up from the airport- the car was so full that we had to end up taking the bus home. Lol. I said that luckily this time they left enough room for me in the car. Lol. We went to the airport and it was sad to said goodbye but it meant so much to me that my Brazilian family had come to see me off. What love......

The plane took off to Rio and my mind was everywhere...

---

Comments

[Carlos Amorim]

Love history....
Hi Linda, hope it find you happy and health. Loved all that you said about your trip in Salvador. Miss you very much. Have a nice trip sailing. Bons Vento e manda noticias quando poder. Beijos. cau.