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Published: February 6th 2006
BRAZIL!!! Wow, I had the greatest time in Salvador. Before we arrived they briefed us on all the dangers that we could encounter and overly did it in my opinion. I had no trouble but there were definitely some scary moments… (more of that later). In the upper part of the city the architecture was amazing but all of it was really run down. Most of the people on the ship did SAS trips to the Amazon or Rio. Not that many people stayed in Salvador. For the most part I spent my time with my two friends Whitney and Mario. Mario was a lifesaver because he speaks Spanish and he was able to communicate with everyone for the most part even though they speak Portuguese here. I don’t know what I would have done without him! Let’s see, on the first day we got off the ship and walked around the city. It is split into two parts, the upper and the lower. There is an elevator that you can take to get from the top to the bottom you just have to pay five centavos-really cheap… That night I went to the welcome reception through SAS. It was very cool, when we walked into the building that it was held in there were two rows of people that we walked through who were drumming. They had traditional food and music and University students that we could talk with. They also had dancers in traditional outfits and we got to watch capporera (sp?) anyways it’s like martial art fighting and it is so cool to watch. I also went to a Brazilian food market; I went for one of my classes it was quite interesting to see. Once again I went with SAS, there is no way I would have went without the big group I was in. We were pretty much the only non-locals there. The market has everything, fruits, vegetables, meet, grains, religious items for the religion of Candoble, live animals (for food) etc… My anthropology of foods teacher led the group through the market showing us the different types of local foods and such. There was always something to see, live chickens tied to the tops of cages and then the next thing you know there are live goats all bound up rolling by in a wheelbarrow. A goat sells for about $60 American dollars-just a little fact J
The highlight of the trip was definitely our adventure to Festival de Verano (summer festival). It’s a huge music festival that goes on for five days. We had nothing to do one of the nights so Whitney, Mario and I bought tickets to the festival through a tourism booth in the terminal where the ship is. They said they had a bus to take us there and then we could just catch a cab back, it sounded great so we bought the tickets. Throughout the day we asked locals about the festival and they all said that is was great and safe, lot’s of police there, so we were really excited to go. At 6:00 we went to the terminal to meet the bus. When we got there we were the only people there. The people who sold us the tickets (a man and a woman) were like “oh well you are the only ones who are going”. We were kind of expecting a lot more people to be going but we were like ok whatever and followed them outside. Next thing we know they are getting into there own personal car and wanting us to get in the back. We were kind of put off by that idea but we got in any way. Whitney and I are telling Mario to as ask them all these questions because we were kind of weary about the whole situation… Long story short, we drove through all these sketchy neighborhoods and side roads, Whitney and I are freaking out, meanwhile Mario is sitting there laughing-we weren’t amused. Then we would get back on a highway and feel fine- the worst part of the whole drive was when the driver all of a sudden pulled off onto this dirt road that looked like a dead end and was driving through this back road. (Shelton, I hope this is interesting enough for you J) I was planning an escape plan in my head the whole time. I was trying to stay calm and breathe but I was sure we were not going to live to tell our story! We asked the driver where we were going and he said it was just a shortcut because the traffic was so bad due to the festival. Anyways we ended up making it there just fine, the guy who took us walked us to the entrance and everything. It was just scary because we couldn’t communicate with them (Mario sort of) and we had no control of the situation. Whitney and I were mental wrecks by the end of the ride! The festival was awesome; it had the greatest music to dance to. We were told that there was supposed to be half a million people there. (It was kind of like Bumbershoot, those from Seattle J) The festival goes until five in the morning, but we didn’t stay that long. It was nice because the three of us blended into the crowd, we didn’t really stand out. We saw the singer Yvette Sangaldo, she is huge down here it was great to be in the middle of a huge crowd who were going crazy for her. Overall the night was amazing and we can look back at the car ride and laugh even though at the time it was not so funny.
We also went to a great beach, it was so exciting to be at an actual Brazilian beach and yes the swimsuits here are VERY tiny! On the last day we went to a soccer match, which was really fun too! It was between Bahia and Vittoia they are big rivals here. The fans in Brazil are wild. There are riot police who come on to the field with dogs to escort the referees on and off the field. It was quite an experience to be at a soccer game here because the sport is so popular. Brazil was so great, I definitely want to come back and see more of it! Thinking of you all, xoxo T
sorry there have been no pictures but my thumb drive wasn't working I will get a bunch up ASAP!
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Grandma
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Festivals and Futbol
I can well imagine how scared you were feeling during that car ride. It's so hard to trust people in a strange culture, particularly when you can't communicate. It's the scary things that you'll remember forever, especially when they turn out OK. But, still, Be Safe!! I'm getting a vicarious thrill about your adventures. Love, Grandma