Pelourinho-The historic center

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Pelourinho-or 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 16-18th century. Slaves used to be brought here to work on the sugar plantations, but later, coffee and mining in the southeast became more important and the capital moved to Rio de Janeiro, and later to Brasilia. Salvador has been in the decline ever since. The population is around 3 million, making Salvador the 3rd biggest city in Brazil, after Rio with 10 million, and Sao Paulo with 19 million. According to wiki, 80% of the population here has African ancestry. We had a walking tour to learn about the history and see some of the museums and galleries in Pelourinho. There are 300 Catholic churches here, and 285 Candomble temples (which I recently learned that it is the religion associated with Voodoo). One of the churches in Pelourinho is built by slaves for slaves, and it took 100 years until it was completed because they only had time to work on it on Sundays and holidays they didn't have to work. There is also the Foundation for Gorge Amado. I haven't read his works, but they are supposed to be really good. There will some recommendations in the pictures.

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Photos

Elevator Lacerda
This and the next four pics.
It connects the upper city to the lower city. I haven't taken it yet, but I believe it costs 5 cents.

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I think there are two shafts.
One closer to the base, and the one far out there was built in the 1930s.

Pic in the background
Economic activities of Salvador: Coconut, Oil, Sugar, and Coffee.

Pic of lower city
Mercado Modelo, this use to be the financial district, I think, behind that is the blue building that is the port for the ferry to get to the islands of All Saints Bay, and the circular thing out in the ocean is a fort that used to protect the city against the Dutch, and maybe French too.

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Notice the buildings in lower city have roofs caving in and all raggedy.
When the capital moved to Rio, all the rich folks left town. The remaining slaves have no property, so these places have just been abandoned.

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The government is currently working to renovate these places and make them into subsidized housing for the poor. The wealth people don't like to live here because these are not spacious apartments (Probably due to the fact that they are old)
The renovated apartments will be for small nuclear families. (I think the govt is trying to promote small nuclear families among the poor)

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I am in the plaza in the upper city where the elevator is located.

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This is the governor's palace..in olden times or now? I'm not sure..
Across from the governor's palace is a modern architectural building of city hall, I didn't take a pic, they are remodeling it and it doesn't look impressive. People in Salvador call it "The Thing".

Old City Hall
One of two of the oldest building in South America, The old city hall...

Old hospital, maybe the first
Blacks were not allowed. It was only for the Portuguese and Spanish.

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In a gallery.. a French photographer that was influenced by Gorge Amado's book to come to Salvador and check out the life here.

Candomble necklaces
Different colors and beads have meanings of which sect you belong to.

CDs
the bird is from the CD store

Jesuit Church
This church has a bad reputation, I think it was very corrupt in the past.

Next to the church
I think this used to be a school.

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Now it is a museum of Afro-Brazilian ---? art? history.. I'm not sure..

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The statue at the center of the square

Comments

[Lucy]

Wow, such rich history. I always thought there was something lacking in American history. Only 200 years. So cool that you live so close to the sea. I think I need to live in a port city. I like the ocean. Stanford is starting to feel a little landlocked. The bay is close by but not sure if it's close enough for me to bike to.

[Lucy]

Oh yeah, have you had any sodas in glass bottles? Do the bottles seem old and have etched rings around the mid-section? If so, that's because they reuse the bottles and the "rings" are from the machines that wash and refill them.

[docey101]

I like many things here. The warm weather, the fresh fruits (the avocados here are gigantic, I haven't eaten any yet, but I'll take a pic at the market and compare it to another fruit for you), the desserts, the coconuts, the sea and beaches! We fill out a questionnaire for the homestay and I declared that I love desserts, so when I met my host mom at the luncheon and it was time for dessert, she was like "I know you like dessert, let's get some." And after dinner, I usually get dessert. And sometimes, I get them three times a day! (I haven't weighed myself since I still fit my clothes) Yeah, the colonial history here starts 1500s, earlier than the States which I believe is 1600s..a century later. Brazil is interesting. It recently became democratic in the 1980s. It's mandatory to vote (like in Australia). There is very high illiteracy rate. It is rated the #2 country with the highest income inequality, behind Botswana(?). (I'm just sharing what I learn in culture class) Of the estimated 22 million Africans that left Africa, referring to the slave trade, 11 million arrived to the Americas (I believe the ones that didn't make it perished along the way), 4 million were brought to Brazil, and of those, 2 million came through Salvador. Isn't that crazy? The States had the 2nd biggest proportion of slaves. I haven't bought soda. I see glass bottled soda so I'll check it out next time. I think that my aunt in China washes/works in a factory that washes bottles. Someone has to reuse those glass bottles.