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Published: January 8th 2014
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We are staying in a neighborhood called Ondina on Avenida Oceanico. It’s very close to the town of Barra and between the places we came here to see, Praia do Forte and Pelourinho. Our condo has a view of the ocean from both rooms. The waves are about 50 yards away with a huge pool in between. We can hear the waves crashing all night. There’s a tide pool and some palm trees that make it picture perfect. Salvador feels more like Brazil than Rio because everyone is Brazilian. We have not heard any English being spoken yet. For this city we rented a car. It’s been really nice to have the freedom to control the temperature and stop when we want.
Praia do Forte is the small town where the TAMAR project has set up shop on the beach. They are in the business of saving sea turtle hatchlings and recently celebrated saving 15 million in the 33 years they’ve been in business, the non-profit business that is. For anyone who does not know me I have an affinity for sea turtles. I was absolutely in heaven watching them swim and getting a close view of the
baby hatchlings. Sometimes they would run into the wall of the tank and I would feel bad that they weren’t out in the open ocean. What is really inspiring is the work that TAMAR does to educate the crianças (children) of Brazil on the importance of avoiding certain human practices that have threatened the survival of sea turtles and also to spread the message that sea turtles are much better to us alive than dead. Sea turtles have been around for 15 million years and it wasn’t until humans started acting irresponsibly that their existence because in question. There’s still a lot of work to be done but it makes me happy that there are organizations doing this kind of work. TAMAR also has some stingrays, groupers and a nurse shark. I’ve seen plenty of all these sea creatures diving but I just can’t get enough. I had to practice some self-restraint not to buy all the overpriced sea turtle merchandise they sell in the promenades outside of the sanctuary.
Pelourinho, the main attraction in Salvador, and for good reason, was a whirlwind. We parked in an hourly lot thinking we’d be there for 3 or 4
Archelon
extinct species of turtle from 70 million years ago. They weighed up to 3 tons! hours and didn’t leave until 12 hours later. There is so much going on in Pelo. Just being on the streets and seeing all the colorful buildings, churches and people costumes is entertaining. We started on Avenida Laranjeiras towards the main plaza where Michael Jackson filmed the video “They don’t care about us,” with the Olodum music group. We bought our tickets to see Olodum at the merchandize shop on Larangeiras Av. They only perform on Tuesday’s at 8pm. I planned our entire visit to Salvadore around seeing them.
Before 8pm I had a list of things for us to see as usual. I knew I wanted to catch some capoeira jodas in the street but wasn’t sure exactly where to look. Other people’s blogs said they were everywhere. We found them in the main plaza in front of the University/Museo Afro-Brasiliero (MAFRO) and outside of the Mercado Modelo. The jodas were mostly men but some women and children participated as well. There was one guy who must of just gotten off work because he was wearing his slacks, collared shirt and dress shoes. It was hilarious to see his dress shoes up in the air as
he held a handstand and walked on his hands. If you watch and stare for a while, which I did, they will offer for you to take a picture with them. Each capoeira group has a member walking around trying to sell a CD of their music and take donations. These guys are out there pretty much all day.
The elevator down to the Mercado Modelo is free. I found that surprising for Brazil. The inside of the Mercado Model feels just like the grand bazaar with arches and a grid of narrow walkways filled with merchandise. We found the shops in upper Pelo to be a little cheaper, but don’t get me wrong; almost everything is expensive. My dad bought a copa do mundo sarong to hang on the wall for 70 real (30 USD). I bought some flip-flops and my mom bought some jewelry. Between the top of the elevator and the main plaza there is a small free exhibit on the ‘Baineras,’ women of Brazil. It explains a little about all the black women with huge colorful skirts and white lace shirts either walking around asking to take pictures or selling traditional foods. There
are quite a few museums in the area. We chose to spend our time at MAFRO, the Afro-Brasiliero museum with a section on archeology and the native cultures of Brazil downstairs. The museum has information on which African countries the slaves in Brazil (and other countries) came from and how those cultural influences played out in rituals, beliefs, dance, social hierarchies, textiles, tools, food, etc. One of the things I found most interesting was the wooden sculpture of each African god and it’s accompanying animal. Each of the god’s is connected and has certain responsibilities and powers just like Hindu deities or Greek gods. I was very interested and did my best to read the information cards in only Portuguese.
If you are planning to go to Salvador be warned that no one speaks English here. I am so glad I spent some time on busuu.com learning some basics. My Portuguese is very limited but it has gotten us by in most situations. Even in the tourist areas we did not come across anyone who spoke English nor were there any tours in English. I’m sure if you pay to hire a guide you could find someone
but that was not in our budget. At the Olodum concert I met a British girl that is living in Brasilia for work. I immediately told her I was excited to meet someone who speaks English and she said the same thing, that you don’t find many Brazilians in Salvador who speak English even though there is lots of tourism. It seems the tourist are all other Brazilians.
After an hour or so of sitting on the steps in front of the church enjoying the scene we went to the Olodum concert. I didn’t know what to expect. It turned out to be a full-fledged concert with standing room only. I used my limited Portuguese to talk a woman into giving me a chair for my mom and we posted up below the cameraman. When the musicians came out and started playing it was impossible not to dance. The beats were electrifying. The drummers dance in unison while they are playing. The center drummer threw his drum up in the air as he played. He also went into the crowd. There were several singers and a few dancers. At one point the two lead drummers battled back
and forth. I’ve never heard anything like it. They were playing super fast. After three hours it didn’t seem like they were anywhere near done. We came out of the venue to a different Pelourinho. The small town had turned into an open-air club. Olodum was playing loud enough for everyone to enjoy. On the way home our GPS couldn’t get a signal so we drove around looking for signs to go back to Barra/Ondina and ended up in a DUI check point. The cop asked me to get out of the car. He asked me in Portuguese if I had been drinking then gave me a Breathalyzer. I got a 0.00 so he gave us directions and let us go.
The next day we were very lazy and took our time getting to the Nautical Museum in the Barra Lighthouse (Farol). There was crazy construction going on so the whole area was a mess. The Farol de Barra museum is really nice and definitely worth a visit if you’re in Salvador. It’s well organized, the information is translated into English and you can’t beat the location looking over the Atlantic. The museum focuses on the first
colonists and missionaries who arrived exhibiting models of the ships they arrived on and lots of maps of the routes. The first Brazilians had Portuguese fathers and Amerindian mothers. Obviously the colonist changed everything in Brazil forever. There’s also some cool old dive equipment, anchors, plates and other artifacts from the ships. We spent the afternoon at the beach and in the pool to soak up the peace and calm of the ocean before we move on. Tomorrow we say goodbye to the sea as we head to the interior to go to Sao Paolo.
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Renee
non-member comment
Beautiful!
Hello Tere and Family! Wishing I was down there enjoying the beach with you!!! But I did dance capoiera today with my kids! Besos! Renee