http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Brazil , Bahia en-us Tue, 01 Dec 09 19:47:26 +0000 Tue, 01 Dec 09 19:47:26 +0000 Hello Im renting my apart in the carnival period in Salvador bahia brazil. It is a penthouse 15 floor 24 security few minutes walk to the beach and to the main carnival circuit. It's a 2 ensuite bedroom that can fit comfy 5 people. It cost 5.000 brazilian reais for 10 days. More information about it like pics and maps leave your email or send me a email suzanasnbhotmail.com. I als http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-454794.html 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 Im sure Ive spelt those wrong of varying shapes and sizes went snorkling in the bluest water youve ever seen and then climbed the poster child Morro do Pai Inacio the heart of the Chapada. It was an a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len--is/blog-454640.html HelloDo you know what is ayahuasca To explain it's necessary to creat a entire new language that could use spiritual mystical transcendental incredible caracteres. I can give to you a 2 general view about what is it. Basic overview informationThat is a tea made from a vine from amazon that can take you to a unbelievable trip to a place inside yourself. The experience is unforgetable and co http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Chapada-Diamantina-National-Park/Capao/blog-453860.html 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 portapotties.. 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 b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-451511.html Boninal is somewhere 8 hours away by car through the semiarid zone in Bahia. It's a small town with 15000 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 lightskinned black. Boninal is my host mother's hometown. She grew up there and came to Salvador to further her st http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Chapada-Diamantina-National-Park/blog-450497.html To be honest I missed the afternoon part of it because I was on a family outing until 430p. 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 cam http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-448207.html Hi allAnother exciting week here in Lenois. The kids decided to behave themselves a little better youll 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 dont hav http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len--is/blog-446755.html 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 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Morro-de-S-o-Paulo/blog-446662.html Hello allSorry for the silence over past weeks Ive been very busy here but Im alive well and happyI 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 Id 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 rel http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len--is/blog-444759.html httpwww.nytimes.com20091013worldamericas13brazil.htmlr1I 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 thehis community to work together to get infrastructure and build a music s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-444707.html 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 semiarid 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 t http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Len--is/blog-442424.html 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 th http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-441152.html A wonderful end to a wonderful weekend It started with the Boat Tour then a nice jazz JAM at the Modern Art Museum on Sat after watching The City of Gods it's a good movie but not the type I like with Julisa and Allegra. Today I finally went to the beach with my family and we ate acaraje and I ate too much shrimp to induce my allergic reaction to crustaceans. I broke out in hives as I was http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-440296.html The majority of the pictures will be taken during the boat tour of All Saints Bay going to Itaparica Island and Frades Island. We rented a boat to take 55 students around the bay with music and drinks. Along the way I saw a school of fish jumping out of the water in and out and in and out a few times. I didn't take any pics of that though. There are nice beaches.We ate a good Bahian meal. Som http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-439768.html I had to register at the Federal Police for temporary residence since I'm staying more than 3 weeks here. Afterward I went to Catussaba beach. I look chubbier because I have my suit under my clothes.. and I've been eating.. I dont know.. hahaI also went to a birthday party of my mom's friend who was turning 80. A lot of cake haha.Then I went back to Shopping Barra hoping to snap some pictur http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-439744.html Pelourinhoor Pelor for short is the historic center of Salvador. The word Pelourinho derives from a word meaning whipping post. Salvador is currently the cultural center of Brazil because it is the oldest city in with deep connections to its colonial past and it was the first capital of Brazil from the 1618th century. Slaves used to be brought here to work on the sugar plantations but later http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-437162.html This weekend we had a dance class at school. It was very fun. We learned different ways of dancing in Bahia lots of feet movements. I also went to the beach on Friday. I haven't brought my camera there so next time I'll take pictures of the beach closest to my placePorto da Barra double r's are pronounced like h 30 minutes walk.I went to Leo's basketball game. His team played against a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-436266.html Hi My family took me out to eat pizza the other night and they do eat it with forks and spoons The waiter comes out and puts a slice of pizza on your plate and you commence slicing it up. It was a thin crust without tomato sauce. We had two types of pizza shrimp my brother likes shrimp and tends to order shrimp dishes and mozzarella. The shrimp pizza had cheese like cheeswiz cheese...hmm.. A http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-435119.html We get a fourday weekend because there is no school on Fridays usually and Monday is Brazil's Independence Day. I went to the beach for an hour and half on Friday and then it started to rain. And I took a nap for the rest of the day On Saturday I took the bus to Shopping Barra but I forgot my camera. It was my first time on the bus it costs 2.20 R 1US1.85R. I took a bus that had Shop http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/Salvador/blog-434635.html Hi everybodyJust wanted to write this and fill you in a little on my first couple of days. I arrived safe and sound in Lenois my new home on Friday morning. Since then I have met soem of the kids Im going to be working with seen a capoeira martial arts meets dance display and bought a pair of Havaiana flip flops so Im fitting right in. Ive also swum in the nearby rivers and pools and Im gen http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Bahia/blog-434097.html