After Salvador I continued to make my way up the coast, for what is really the last leg of my journey :-( I arrived in Recife early in the morning and headed off to the hostel where I had made a reservation. The staff there were not very friendly at all. For a start, I called them to see whether someone could pick me up from the bus station and they left me hanging on the other end of the phone for ages, whilst every second I am calling costs me money due to my number being from Sao Paulo. When I finally made it there, the receptionnist just stared at me as if to say "what do you want?" and was so slow to find my reservation and then check me in. It almost seemed as if I was a pain for being there and wanting a room. Still, at least the hostel itself was decent enough with a nice swimming pool and hammocks around the terrace. I met quite a few people fast enough, including a Brazilian guy that lives in Toulouse, and he came to tell me that, that afternoon in Olinda, there was going to be a mini carnival going on and that a bunch of them from the hostel were going. So a bunch of us: 3 guys and 4 of us girls all headed off to Olinda together. Two of the guys were Brazilan, and one of them Argentinian. One of the girls was also Brazilian from Salvador, and the other two were German. The German girls had been staying in Fortaleza for 4 months working, and had already learnt a fair amount of portuguese as they were speaking pretty much fluently with all of us. I was well impressed by how much they had managed to learn in four months, considering that they had arrived not knowing a word.
Anyway, we all arrived in Olinda and started following the music. Essentially, it involved various Blocos parading in the streets of the historical part of Olinda, playing music, with lots of people following them, dancing, drinking, and being merry. It was nice to discover Olinda with a bunch of other people, and particularly with the festive atmosphere going on. It turns out that every sunday the different music schools and groups take to the streets to parade as a sort of rehearsal before Carnival starts, so our timing was just right! Olinda is very pretty and quaint, and smaller than Recife. It has some beautiful old buildings and a lovely view over the bay. I am looking forward to getting to know it a bit better now that I am here for a few days. The music was good, but the music that is typical of the region is Marakatu and Frevo. I was excited about the Frevo because I haven't seen any people dancing Frevo yet, but it turns out I didn't get to see any then either. I liked the music but really, I prefer the rythms of samba and axe, and samba reggae, all the music that you can find in Bahia and in Rio, and there is no samba here at all. There was one group playing something similar to samba but their main music here is Marakatu, Frevo, and also Forro. I am glad to be spending carnival in Bahia as I think that for me, carnival without samba or axe, would not be carnival! Still, the party was nice and the streets were pretty crowded.
The next day, Renata (the Brazilian girl from Bahia) and I headed off for Porto de Galinhas together. It turned out both she and I were planning on leaving on the same day, and staying at the same place, so nothing better than heading out there together! We got the bus to Porto de Galinhas, which was an adventure in itself. I have to say, after nearly two months in Brazil, I am no longer quite so enthralled with the local bus ride experience. This one was awful. For a start, there are the STUPID turnstyles in the bus that you have to get through. With luggage of any kind this is next to impossible. The worst thing is that nobody helps you and nobody seems to care that you are really struggling to get through. So I struggled to get through with my mochila...Then, the bus was full of people and so there was nowhere to sit down. In Europe, on a bus trip like that, that lasts two hours, you would never keep letting people on the bus when it was full but instead you would just schedule more. In Brazil they just kept letting more and more people onto this damned bus, that was packed and driving down dirt roads so that it kept bumping around, and winding all over the place. It was definitely a most uncomfortable bus ride. And to top it all off, in order to get off the bus we had to go through yet another turnstyle! Still, it was worth it as the pousada in Porto de Galinhas was much lovlier than the one in Recife. For a start, the staff was much friendlier. And even better, the rooms had aircon: what a luxury! When we finally made it to the beach, I realised that the bus trip was more than worth it. Stunning turquoise waters, crystal clear, and white sand: incredible! This is definitely the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, or at least within memory. Probably when I was younger I saw some similiar to this but I can't remember it, so for me Porto de Galinhas is really the most beautiful place I have ever seen. I would say the only downside to it, is that the main part of the beach is really crowded.
Porto de Galinhas has natural reefs and it is possible to take boat rides out to go and look at the fish. Renata and I went out on a Jangada (the type of boat) to the reefs. All along, floating in this most incredible turquoise water. Once you arrive at the reefs it is possible to get out and snorkel amongst the fish, or to walk on the reefs and see the natural swimming pools that are created. The water in Porto de Galinhas is very salty, so that it is almost impossible to dive down to the bottom of the sea in order to look at the fish as you just pop right back up again! Still, there are loads of fish to be seen at the surface. It's fun walking on the reefs, though I couldn't help but think how bad it must be for them to have hundreds of people walking on them every day. I think eventually it will really damage them and the surrounding ecosystem. Still, the boat ride was definitely worth it. Afterwards, we decided to go on a buggy ride as well, as they take you a bit further out than Porto de Galinhas to go and see other beaches. That was loads of fun as riding on the back of the buggy is almost like being on a funfair ride, with bumps and turns and the wind blowing strongly in your face. We got to see several other stunning beaches, and went on another Jangada ride in order to see seahorses. We actually did get to see seahorses, although I was more intent on seeing one in its natural habitat under the water, though this is hard. Instead, the jangadeiros who are used to doing this, go diving to look for them and when they find them, grab them and put them in a jar. It's cool as you get to see them but once again it made me sad that they touch them and put them in jars for us to see. It can't be good for them...
After that exciting day of boat and buggy rides, life in Porto de Galinhas mainly boiled down to beaching and lazing around. Once Renata had left I ended up on my own and so there was not much to do, particularly as I had run out of reading material and finding books in these places is very difficult! There were not many people in the hostel either and so I didn't meet anyone that I could spend some time with. Still, Porto de Galinhas was lovely and I am definitely going back there. It is predominantly a Brazilian holiday destination though, with not many foreigners there. It's probably nicer like that though anyway,as it makes it more "authentic" :-) Now I am back in Recife, here for only a few days in order to discover Recife and Olinda. This time however I decided to stay in Olinda which was a much wiser decision as not only is the hostel much nicer, but the staff as well and I have already met tonnes of people. Only problem: a slight smell of drains in the room. I better go as otherwise I will not see any of Recife except for the internet cafe! More soon
Friday 30 January 2009
Monday 26 January 2009
PS
Bad on my behalf, I forgot to mention that whilst in Salvador, Veronica and I had been training with Mestre Jogo de Dentro. He is such a cool guy, and a lovely man! It was really nice to go and be able to train angola with him, as he really is one of the best, or at least in my opinion. His academy was lovely too: it was all painted in green black and white, with pictures and paintings on the walls. The nicest thing was that even all the instruments had been painted green white and black: the berimbaus, the drums, the pandeiros, the agogo, even the caixixis! His classes were really good too, although the first time both Veronica and I made the mistake of eating before we went, and I had to drop out half way through because I felt so ill...His class/roda, was also a lot less formal than Mestre Curio's, which just goes to show the differences between Masters and within capoeira...
We also bought our berimbaus from Mestre Jogo, Mascote having put in a special order of 10 berimbaus, which Veronica and I lugged from the class to mine, and the next day from mine to hers. I wish I had a photo to commemorate this, me carrying all the cabassas, and poor old Veronica lugging the sticks on to the bus, and up the hill....Still, we did a good thing buying from Mestre Jogo as it always helps them and their academies, and his berimbaus are good. Anyway, that's all for now, just felt I couldn't leave out Mestre Jogo!
I also forgot to mention that in Salvador I saw the most fascinating person ever. It was a man who had tattoos all over his face! It started out by Veronica pointing him out to me saying "Emma, look at that guy's bum" as he was wearing the tightest pair of capoeira trousers I have ever seen, and his bum was hanging out of them more or less. But as I took a closer look at him, I realised that his entire face was tattooed. It was so fascinating to look at, whilst quite repulsive at the same time. It meant that, you had no idea what he actually looked like, and it was as if he had a mask on his face permanently, so that one would never know what he actually looked like. It was great!
We also bought our berimbaus from Mestre Jogo, Mascote having put in a special order of 10 berimbaus, which Veronica and I lugged from the class to mine, and the next day from mine to hers. I wish I had a photo to commemorate this, me carrying all the cabassas, and poor old Veronica lugging the sticks on to the bus, and up the hill....Still, we did a good thing buying from Mestre Jogo as it always helps them and their academies, and his berimbaus are good. Anyway, that's all for now, just felt I couldn't leave out Mestre Jogo!
I also forgot to mention that in Salvador I saw the most fascinating person ever. It was a man who had tattoos all over his face! It started out by Veronica pointing him out to me saying "Emma, look at that guy's bum" as he was wearing the tightest pair of capoeira trousers I have ever seen, and his bum was hanging out of them more or less. But as I took a closer look at him, I realised that his entire face was tattooed. It was so fascinating to look at, whilst quite repulsive at the same time. It meant that, you had no idea what he actually looked like, and it was as if he had a mask on his face permanently, so that one would never know what he actually looked like. It was great!
Saturday 24 January 2009
Ice Cream...
So much has happened since the last post! Salvador is a great place for constant music and cultural goings on in the street. Veronica and I have actually spent most of our days roaming around the Pelourinho and its pretty streets with painted houses. On one funny day, we stopped by a street vendor's to have lunch. Lunch consisted of a small ham sandwich, and I picked up the red sauce to give it some more taste. I started laying it on until suddenly I heard Veronica say: "Emma, that's the chili sauce." Damn it! I have just doused my sandwich in chili sauce that I can't take and I am starving. So I try and wipe some of it off the top, and proceed to eat it. And I stand there in the street, my nose running, tears coming out of my eyes, laughing as well at how stupid the situation is. So now I check twice before picking up the sauce bottle! Anyway, we have spent ages running around trying to buy souvenirs for everyone back home and also for ourselves of course. By the end of it, I was almost sick of it! Still, it is always beautiful to look at, and like I said one always happens upon one band or another rehearsing in the street. Several times we happened upon Olodum playing in the street and it is funny how few people it takes to make quite a large amount of noise, so you start by thinking there is a huge band playing in the street and then it turns out to be no more than 10 people! Once, we even saw a band of Olodum children rehearsing: they were so sweet, and were playing really well.
On Tuesday night, we decided to go and experience what the guide book describes as more or less "mad Tuesdays",the Terça du Bençao. It is a part religious part pagan ceremony, and all the crowds take to the streets with free music and live bands playing all around the Pelourinho. We reached our first stop, a church near the end of the Pelourinho with a steep flight of stairs leading up to it. At the bottom of the stairs Geronimo was playing and the place was packed. We were alert for any danger and there was a constant flow of people going up and down the stairs which prevented us from fully enjoying ourselves, but the music was still fantastic: lively and uplifiting. Only at one point did I see some sort of "trouble": the crowd of people on the stairs was jammed, and people were pushing to get up and down. The one man was pushed down the stairs and he turned around and said "hey stop pushing me!", and it was clear to me that he had just been robbed, or at least they had attempted to rob him. Other than that the streets were very crowded but it didn't seem too dangerous to me, as long as you keep your senses about you.
Other than that, what else to be said? On Thursday evening we went to see the Bale Folklorico da Bahia. The book described as being worthwhile, and considering where we were, and the rich cultural background, we decided to check it out. The show was indeed very good, it started out with a piece on the Orixás, the gods of candomble and it was really fitting that just that morning we had been to the Afro-Brazilian musuem as we managed to recognise some of the Orixas that were represented. They then went on to do Puxada de rede, Maculele, Capoeira and Samba de roda. Those we all knew about thanks to capoeira, and I couldn't help thinking how lucky we were to actually understand all of this, as for someone who has no idea it must all seem a bit strange... The show was fantastic, with great dancing, great costumes and great music so it was definitely worth while.
We also met some interesting people in the hostel. The hostel by the way, was lovely and the staff very friendly indeed. In fact, Veronica and I almost started feeling at home at the place, and I think the staff considered us part of home too.Anyway, we mainly met two interesting people. One was Robin, a french Canadian singer and artist who was here on a three month holiday. She also had been dreaming of coming to Brazil for a long time and was here to study music and dance, meet other artists and hopefully record some songs. She was a very interesting person and great to hang out with, and hopefully we will get to see her again. We also met this funny American guy. He arrived one night all in a fluster because the hotel had messed up his reservation. I was acting as a translator and trying to convince him to at least stay the night in this place so as to save him trekking around the Pelourinho by dark (unwise). Eventually he relented and then asked me to sit and chat with him. He was so American in that kind of way that they are: sure of themsleves and well travelled. It's hard to put my finger on it. Anyway, he was going on at me about how much he had travelled and how much he had seen, and that he was really streetwise because of this. That he could notice people planning to mug him and so on...I was a bit sceptical but listened none the less...Then he proceeded to tell me about how he had nearly been mugged in Rio and therefore it was a dangerous city. (The mugging involved him seeing a bunch of guys and legging it away from them, in my opinion a huge give away). The next day, Veronica and I ran into him in the old town and it was the best I could do not to laugh. There he was, looking totally American: Long sleeved shirt, sunglasses, his backpack on the front of him with a padlock on it, right on top where it was well visible, and a bandanda (no kidding,a bandana!!) around his forehead. When we finally got rid of him (as he was being quite insistant on having our company that evening), I said to Veronica that I wasn't surpised he had been mugged. He was like a walking bullseye, no matter what he said about being streetwise!
And finally, one more funny story to depart. It seems that I am accumulating at lot of these lately...On Friday Veronica and I decided to head out to the neighbourhood of Ribeira, where there is a famed Sorveiteria (ice cream parlour). My friend had told me it was amazing, better than in Italy, and that people from all over Brazil travelled to it. Upon arrival Veronica and I look at the menu and decide to go for 3 balls of ice cream: 3 Bolas. We have come so far to this famed parlour that we decide to make it worth our while. We buy our ticket at the till and then head over to the queue to get given our ice creams. I state my three flavours, and the guy busies himself away and then hands me one ice cream in a cone saying "Leite Condensado". The realisation then hits me as I realise he is actually going to hand me three, seperate, ice creams. Oh no!!! I look at Veronica in disbelief. She looks at me, we can't believe it. We head over to our table three ice creams each in our hands, shaking with laughter. We are battling to eat them before they all start running all over the place, which they already are, without dropping them too. We realise, we must look like pigs,and can't stop laughing at our mistake. Then, the owners come over to us looking really concerned. Are we alright? What happened? So we explain and then they put two of our ice creams in the freezer so they don't melt,and they just laugh at us and at the situation and so do we. How embarassing! But surely,we think, this isn't the first time this has happened?? And yet they look so surprised....It is hilarious! Anyway, they are very sweet and offer to give us our money back for the third ice cream that neither of us can eat. After this, they have chatted to us for so long that they offer us a lift to a fort (whose name I cannot currently remember) in order to watch the sunset. We said we were going to get the bus but they told us there was no bus and so they would give us a lift. When we get outside, the son turns up in a huge Range Rover, and we are ushered into his car, which as it happens is brand new and still has the plastic covers on it on the inside! The unusualness and comicness of the situation just never ends. So we climb into this brand new Range Rover which Fafa (the son) informs is the second time he has ever taken it out for a ride, and it has a 4 wheel drive snow option (in Bahia???). Then he proceeds to invite us to his private island "you see? That one just over there" one day, and says we are more than welcome and we should just call him...Eventually they drop us off at the fort just in time for us to watch the sun set. They tell us to call them any time we want to, we are always welcome on the island or in the ice cream parlour. Veronica and I just cannot get over this random sequence of events. It was so hilarious though. I don't know if I have told this well enough but I hope it makes you laugh. The sunset in any case was fantastic, and our trip to Ribeira for the ice cream definitely worth it!
Tuesday 20 January 2009
Brazil is....
There are so many things that are typical of Brazil that I keep wanting to write about but forget, so I thought the easiest way would be to write a "Brazil is" post.
Brazil is:
- A slow internet connection!
- Coco gelado on the street corners
- Getting an electric shock whilst trying to turn of the shower
- Havaianas of all different kinds
- Fat people, old people, thin people, flabby people, all wearing the tiniest bikinis and speedos on the beach
- Buses driving at breakneck speed
- A large enough group of people on the side of the road consitutes a bus stop
- Amazing fresh fruits and fruit juices
- Capoeira music, capoeira pictures, capoeiristas in the street, capoeira everywhere (in Bahia anyway)
- Açai
- X Burgers (pronounced cheese burgers)
- Waiting for buses or taxis for hours
- Taking your time to get anywhere and therefore never being on time, except there is no "on time"
- Haggling with street/souvenir vendors
- Guarana, Coxinhas, Pao de Queijo and other typical foods
- People "PSHIOU"ing you and everyone else everywhere all the time
- "Moça/Moço"
- Having to use little bits of paper in shops and restaurants to list what you're buying and then going to present it to the till to pay
- Being rude
- Favelas
- Jungle and tropical surroundings all the time
- Stunning beaches
- Loads of blood thirsty mosquitos
- Insects everywhere(literally! and not in a European way)
- Cheap manicures and pedicures
- Going from sweltering heat outside to artic cold inside shops and banks and buses
- Weird turnstyles on all public buses
- A fast food chain called Habib's
- Street vendors getting on the bus to sell you snacks, drinks, ice cream, sweets, for instant gratification
- When it's raining INSIDE your bus
- Peanut flavoured ice cream
- And many more things for me yet to think of and write down here!!
Brazil is:
- A slow internet connection!
- Coco gelado on the street corners
- Getting an electric shock whilst trying to turn of the shower
- Havaianas of all different kinds
- Fat people, old people, thin people, flabby people, all wearing the tiniest bikinis and speedos on the beach
- Buses driving at breakneck speed
- A large enough group of people on the side of the road consitutes a bus stop
- Amazing fresh fruits and fruit juices
- Capoeira music, capoeira pictures, capoeiristas in the street, capoeira everywhere (in Bahia anyway)
- Açai
- X Burgers (pronounced cheese burgers)
- Waiting for buses or taxis for hours
- Taking your time to get anywhere and therefore never being on time, except there is no "on time"
- Haggling with street/souvenir vendors
- Guarana, Coxinhas, Pao de Queijo and other typical foods
- People "PSHIOU"ing you and everyone else everywhere all the time
- "Moça/Moço"
- Having to use little bits of paper in shops and restaurants to list what you're buying and then going to present it to the till to pay
- Being rude
- Favelas
- Jungle and tropical surroundings all the time
- Stunning beaches
- Loads of blood thirsty mosquitos
- Insects everywhere(literally! and not in a European way)
- Cheap manicures and pedicures
- Going from sweltering heat outside to artic cold inside shops and banks and buses
- Weird turnstyles on all public buses
- A fast food chain called Habib's
- Street vendors getting on the bus to sell you snacks, drinks, ice cream, sweets, for instant gratification
- When it's raining INSIDE your bus
- Peanut flavoured ice cream
- And many more things for me yet to think of and write down here!!
Monday 19 January 2009
Bahia
The Brazil trip is such a continuous experience and massive intake of stuff, be it cultural, musical, visual etc., that sometimes I have no idea where to start!!! There is so much to say and tell and remember, it is overwhelming. Suffice to say, I am really loving being here so much!
So, now I am in Salvador and once again there is loads to tell. After Capoeirando, Horrivel and I went to Itacare, a small surfer hippie village not far from Ilheus. We spent most of our time there chilling out and getting over Capoeirando, so basically a lot of sleeping and beaching. I met some really nice Norwegian girls in the pousada there and they shared their mad (completely mad!) tales of travelling through South America. I love travelling for this, as you get to meet so many great people. On Thursday Horrivel and I both left to Salvador, though seperately as he had managed to get a lift with someone and I decided to take the bus as planned. The bus was good, very comfy, though once again I seemed to have been unlucky with my "neighbour" as instead of Horrivel (who despite his name is not so horrible), I had yet another fat dude, who snored like a buffalo!!! So despite my best efforts at sleeping and the comfort of the bus, it still could have been better. Still, I guess these are the joys of travelling by bus all over the country.
So I arrived in Salvador at the crack of dawn on Friday and set my bags down at my pousada, which is a lovely place not far from the historical centre of Salvador, and every time you walk out the front door you have an amazing view on the Bahia de todos os Santos. It's fantastic!! Bahia and the north of Brazil are totally different from the south. For a start, you can tell that the north is poorer. Just by the villages that the bus drove through on its way to Itacare or Salvador, they seem poorer, the infrastructures are different, and so is everything else really. Also up North the population is predominantly black, and you can tell that there is much more of an African influence here. For example on the beach, there is not a single white person in sight! Or maybe one or two at the most... Salvador is amazing. On my first day, after having napped a bit in the pousada, I set out to meet Veronica and Horrivel. I was a bit apprenhensive as a lot is said about Salvador and the pelourinho, how it is dangerous and a lot of people get robbed, and it is full of crack addicts and homeless people. However as I walked towards the place Terreiro de Jesus to meet them, I didn't feel in danger at all and was happily taking in the views of the sea, and the quaint shops and old buildings that make up the historical part of Salvador. Salvador has a definite European feel to it. In fact, so does a lot of Brazil and this is due to its colonial past. I know this may seem like an obvious thing to say but actually it is not as Brazil still remains an entity of its own and is not Europe. It is very different! But at the same time, the European legacy that it has is very present, and I think this is partly what makes me feel so comfortable here. I think that seeing the European architecture, and feeling like I am in European city makes me feel much more at home and therefore comfortable in these different cities. The architecture here is truly beautiful, and the historical part of Salvador is breathtaking. When Horrivel Veronica and I finally met, we went on a walk around the Pelourinho, exploring and stopping in shops, and admiring the architecure. It was a really nice day! We also went to the capoeira fort, a place which reunites major teachers of Capoeira angola, just to see if there was anything of interest going on. As it turned out, there was a roda of capoeira that evening and so we decided we would go there later on.
In the evening therefore, we turned up on time, in our capoeira clothes, ready to play. As we arrived, the Master (Mestre Curio) was blowing incense (the kind they use in churches) out the door, and there was clearly some sort of ceremony going on. The atmosphere was very serious and actually, very intimidating or so I felt. They were singing a song with their hands on their hearts, and it felt like a religious ceremony of some kind. Cleary serious business. This made me feel uncomfortable as I do not like to intrude on religious ceremonies of any kind, especially if I don't feel like I am being part of it. Still, we were allowed in and were told to wait to play. It kept a religious dimension to it for a long time, and I noticed that above the roda there was a little statue of Mary and Jesus, with two candles on either side of it. Also, every time someone would enter the roda they would sign themselves with the cross. The games were good, though we got beaten to a pulp, even by kids. Slowly, the atmosphere lightened up, and towards the end Mestre Curio himself started playing the berimbau and singing, and this changed the atmosphere a lot. It became one of games and jokes, and he is such a funny little old man! Old little black man, who sang with a powerful voice but also from time to time would make funny little noises, sort of as a joke. Then he started playing the roda which was also funny, joking about with people and pulling faces. It was impressive to watch, and his capoeira was still very good despite his obvious older age! All in all it was an impressive experience, and I am so glad we went. I feel like I don't know enough about Capoeira Angola, so it is interesting to be here with the great Masters, and learning more.
The rest of my time in Salvador so far has been much the same: walking around the Pelourinho and the historical centre, going into shops and discovering the city, deciding what souvenirs to buy and what presents to get people! On Saturday Veronica and I spent a lovely day together touring the city, and we went to the Mercado Modelo and took the famous elevator of Salvador whose name I cannot remember right now...It was nice being in the Mercado Modelo because it is such a "famous" spot, and there are songs about it in Capoeira, so it was nice to actually be there and experience this place that is talked and sung about. In the evening we went for dinner on the praça Terreiro de Jesus, and there we experienced what can only be described as a "Son et Lumiere". It was a wicked show, with all the buildings on the praça lighting up in turn, and speaking, with images and lights projected onto the buildings. We couldn't actually tell what was being said which was a bit of a shame. but the visual effects were definitely worth it!
What more to be said about Salvador? The Baianas here are amazing!!! It puts mine and Veronica's costumes to shame. When I first arrived in Salvador I saw some women in such beautiful costumes, it was completely breath taking! Baianas are the ladies that are traditional of Bahia, normally big black ladies with massive white skirts, and headdresses, and they look very impressive and very beautiful! They are so lovely to see! Salvador, as many people have said, can also be very depressing though. At night time, one can immediately tell there is a change in atmosphere, and on Sundays when there are fewer people around too. It is poor and, like I said in the beginning there are lots of crack addicts and homeless people on the streets. Therefore there are a lot of people begging, a lot of people who look really badly off, high on drugs, wandering the streets. There are lots of people just lying the street, sleeping, but in a real state. In fact as I write, there is a man outside in the street doing just that. It is hard to bear to watch these people, and they also can be a little scary. They are drugged and don't know what they are doing, and they are also desperate so probably prepared to do anything to get what they want. Luckily, nothing has happened to any of us and I think we are being safe and streetwise. But you must always be careful here, particularly in crowded and touristy places. Still, I will stop with the depressing bit and say again how amazing it is here!
Veronica and I have planned to do loads of stuff whilst I am in Salvador as it is full of fantastic cultural opportunities. We have planned to go to dance classes, capoeira classes, try and find some concerts, and many more! On one of our first days we were really lucky as we were just walking around in the Pelourinho and then we heard drums in the distance, so we walked down following the noise, and there was Olodum in the street, rehearsing for a show. That was awesome! There is a constant flow of music and capoeira and all sorts of exciting stuff going on in the streets which is great. I am definitely going to make the most of the opportunities there are here. What else can I say? Like I said at the beginning, it is so hard to remember everything! Just one funny incident I will tell you about, and then I think it will be the end of this post as it is probably very long already. In portuguese, the word meia means a lot of things. It means half, it means 6, it means sock...basically, it has several different ways in which it can be used. One day Horrivel and I were eating in a per kilo restaurant and the sign in portuguese explained that it was "10 R$ por kilo e as crianças pagan meia" (more or less). As in, it is 10 R$ per kilo and children pay half price. However as I continued to read the notice, I saw that it had been carefully translated into English, French and German as "It costs 10 R$ per kilo and children pay a sock". I thought this was so hilarious and so sweet!! Obviously someone had taken the trouble to look it up in a dictionnary but had not though of the different possibilities of translation. Anyway, that is all for now. More soon from exciting Bahia!
So, now I am in Salvador and once again there is loads to tell. After Capoeirando, Horrivel and I went to Itacare, a small surfer hippie village not far from Ilheus. We spent most of our time there chilling out and getting over Capoeirando, so basically a lot of sleeping and beaching. I met some really nice Norwegian girls in the pousada there and they shared their mad (completely mad!) tales of travelling through South America. I love travelling for this, as you get to meet so many great people. On Thursday Horrivel and I both left to Salvador, though seperately as he had managed to get a lift with someone and I decided to take the bus as planned. The bus was good, very comfy, though once again I seemed to have been unlucky with my "neighbour" as instead of Horrivel (who despite his name is not so horrible), I had yet another fat dude, who snored like a buffalo!!! So despite my best efforts at sleeping and the comfort of the bus, it still could have been better. Still, I guess these are the joys of travelling by bus all over the country.
So I arrived in Salvador at the crack of dawn on Friday and set my bags down at my pousada, which is a lovely place not far from the historical centre of Salvador, and every time you walk out the front door you have an amazing view on the Bahia de todos os Santos. It's fantastic!! Bahia and the north of Brazil are totally different from the south. For a start, you can tell that the north is poorer. Just by the villages that the bus drove through on its way to Itacare or Salvador, they seem poorer, the infrastructures are different, and so is everything else really. Also up North the population is predominantly black, and you can tell that there is much more of an African influence here. For example on the beach, there is not a single white person in sight! Or maybe one or two at the most... Salvador is amazing. On my first day, after having napped a bit in the pousada, I set out to meet Veronica and Horrivel. I was a bit apprenhensive as a lot is said about Salvador and the pelourinho, how it is dangerous and a lot of people get robbed, and it is full of crack addicts and homeless people. However as I walked towards the place Terreiro de Jesus to meet them, I didn't feel in danger at all and was happily taking in the views of the sea, and the quaint shops and old buildings that make up the historical part of Salvador. Salvador has a definite European feel to it. In fact, so does a lot of Brazil and this is due to its colonial past. I know this may seem like an obvious thing to say but actually it is not as Brazil still remains an entity of its own and is not Europe. It is very different! But at the same time, the European legacy that it has is very present, and I think this is partly what makes me feel so comfortable here. I think that seeing the European architecture, and feeling like I am in European city makes me feel much more at home and therefore comfortable in these different cities. The architecture here is truly beautiful, and the historical part of Salvador is breathtaking. When Horrivel Veronica and I finally met, we went on a walk around the Pelourinho, exploring and stopping in shops, and admiring the architecure. It was a really nice day! We also went to the capoeira fort, a place which reunites major teachers of Capoeira angola, just to see if there was anything of interest going on. As it turned out, there was a roda of capoeira that evening and so we decided we would go there later on.
In the evening therefore, we turned up on time, in our capoeira clothes, ready to play. As we arrived, the Master (Mestre Curio) was blowing incense (the kind they use in churches) out the door, and there was clearly some sort of ceremony going on. The atmosphere was very serious and actually, very intimidating or so I felt. They were singing a song with their hands on their hearts, and it felt like a religious ceremony of some kind. Cleary serious business. This made me feel uncomfortable as I do not like to intrude on religious ceremonies of any kind, especially if I don't feel like I am being part of it. Still, we were allowed in and were told to wait to play. It kept a religious dimension to it for a long time, and I noticed that above the roda there was a little statue of Mary and Jesus, with two candles on either side of it. Also, every time someone would enter the roda they would sign themselves with the cross. The games were good, though we got beaten to a pulp, even by kids. Slowly, the atmosphere lightened up, and towards the end Mestre Curio himself started playing the berimbau and singing, and this changed the atmosphere a lot. It became one of games and jokes, and he is such a funny little old man! Old little black man, who sang with a powerful voice but also from time to time would make funny little noises, sort of as a joke. Then he started playing the roda which was also funny, joking about with people and pulling faces. It was impressive to watch, and his capoeira was still very good despite his obvious older age! All in all it was an impressive experience, and I am so glad we went. I feel like I don't know enough about Capoeira Angola, so it is interesting to be here with the great Masters, and learning more.
The rest of my time in Salvador so far has been much the same: walking around the Pelourinho and the historical centre, going into shops and discovering the city, deciding what souvenirs to buy and what presents to get people! On Saturday Veronica and I spent a lovely day together touring the city, and we went to the Mercado Modelo and took the famous elevator of Salvador whose name I cannot remember right now...It was nice being in the Mercado Modelo because it is such a "famous" spot, and there are songs about it in Capoeira, so it was nice to actually be there and experience this place that is talked and sung about. In the evening we went for dinner on the praça Terreiro de Jesus, and there we experienced what can only be described as a "Son et Lumiere". It was a wicked show, with all the buildings on the praça lighting up in turn, and speaking, with images and lights projected onto the buildings. We couldn't actually tell what was being said which was a bit of a shame. but the visual effects were definitely worth it!
What more to be said about Salvador? The Baianas here are amazing!!! It puts mine and Veronica's costumes to shame. When I first arrived in Salvador I saw some women in such beautiful costumes, it was completely breath taking! Baianas are the ladies that are traditional of Bahia, normally big black ladies with massive white skirts, and headdresses, and they look very impressive and very beautiful! They are so lovely to see! Salvador, as many people have said, can also be very depressing though. At night time, one can immediately tell there is a change in atmosphere, and on Sundays when there are fewer people around too. It is poor and, like I said in the beginning there are lots of crack addicts and homeless people on the streets. Therefore there are a lot of people begging, a lot of people who look really badly off, high on drugs, wandering the streets. There are lots of people just lying the street, sleeping, but in a real state. In fact as I write, there is a man outside in the street doing just that. It is hard to bear to watch these people, and they also can be a little scary. They are drugged and don't know what they are doing, and they are also desperate so probably prepared to do anything to get what they want. Luckily, nothing has happened to any of us and I think we are being safe and streetwise. But you must always be careful here, particularly in crowded and touristy places. Still, I will stop with the depressing bit and say again how amazing it is here!
Veronica and I have planned to do loads of stuff whilst I am in Salvador as it is full of fantastic cultural opportunities. We have planned to go to dance classes, capoeira classes, try and find some concerts, and many more! On one of our first days we were really lucky as we were just walking around in the Pelourinho and then we heard drums in the distance, so we walked down following the noise, and there was Olodum in the street, rehearsing for a show. That was awesome! There is a constant flow of music and capoeira and all sorts of exciting stuff going on in the streets which is great. I am definitely going to make the most of the opportunities there are here. What else can I say? Like I said at the beginning, it is so hard to remember everything! Just one funny incident I will tell you about, and then I think it will be the end of this post as it is probably very long already. In portuguese, the word meia means a lot of things. It means half, it means 6, it means sock...basically, it has several different ways in which it can be used. One day Horrivel and I were eating in a per kilo restaurant and the sign in portuguese explained that it was "10 R$ por kilo e as crianças pagan meia" (more or less). As in, it is 10 R$ per kilo and children pay half price. However as I continued to read the notice, I saw that it had been carefully translated into English, French and German as "It costs 10 R$ per kilo and children pay a sock". I thought this was so hilarious and so sweet!! Obviously someone had taken the trouble to look it up in a dictionnary but had not though of the different possibilities of translation. Anyway, that is all for now. More soon from exciting Bahia!
Wednesday 14 January 2009
Capoeirando and more...
Warning!!! This will be a long post again as it has been ages since I last wrote!
It has been so long since I last wrote that I don't even know where to start on the blog. I left Rio on the 4th in the evening, heading over to Ilheus in the state of Bahia for Capoeirando. It is a long way, nearly 24 hours of bus ride! I arrived at the bus station in Rio safely though a bit worried as it is in the middle of a favela, but luckily nothing happened. As I was waiting to get on the bus, the "queue" of people was so long I was in disbelief, and I was convinced not all of us would fit on the bus and I would lose my seat so I was eager to get on as soon as possible, though this was made impossible by the queue jumping and other sorts of Brazilian queuing going on...When I reached my seat, relieved to actually have one, my relief did not last for long. A fat woman came to sit next to me, and worse than that she had a kid of about 2 or 3 years old. Probably 3. The kid, as I feared, had no seat and sat on her lap for the whole trip! The whole 24 hours of bus ride, I had a fat woman spilling over into my seat and a kid on her lap. She was clearly stealing all the elbow space and occasionally elbowing me when she was trying to sort out the kid. The kid spent most of the trip thinking I was its bed and kicking me to get space for itself which I was well annoyed about. Normally I love children, but this one was definitely not my friend! I can't believe the mother even brought it on the bus with no seat of its own for such a long trip. To make matters worse, she had a couple of friends travelling in front of her, and every time they woke up they would start chattin really louldly to each other and disturb all the surrounding passengers. And finally, the guy in front of us had a radio that he had brought with him that he kept playing, and would turn it on every time he woke up: 1 am, 3am, 5am....! No respect at all for other passengers. Eventually I asked him to turn it down and he acted all pissed off about my not enjoying his music (that the woman next to me would sing along to....). Unbelievable! Then, in the morning we made a stop for breakfast and it happened that the place where we stopped was really busy as it was prime time breakfast time for all the buses. I felt sorry for the lady serving people as she was clearly overworked and very stressed and was trying her best to work as fast as possible. So I decided to wait and be polite whilst people were shouting at her and shoving their papers in her face. But these people that were being so rude, kept being served before me. Time after time people would jump in, be rude, and get served. After a while I got so angry I rolled up my paper in a ball and threw it over the counter. When I came back for a second try I decided that damn it, if being rude is what it takes then I'll be rude too. And I got my breakfast. Sometimes, I really cannot understand the "jeito Brasileiro"...Anyway, the bus ride was long and horrific, and I was very glad to arrive in Ilheus safe and sound.
I arrived in Mar e sol by night so didn't get to see much of the place except to drop my bags down in the house we were renting. It was full of people I didn't know soI just sat there and chatted with them, and then there was some samba de pagode later on in the evening so we danced and went to bed. Pretty uneventful, but nice. The next day Veronica arrived from Salvador at the crack of dawn, and then we all went on a day expedition to Itacare, a village near capoeirando which has nice beaches and is a tourist destination. We all went in the big bus that had brought the people from Sao Paulo and spent a nice day chilling on the beach. It was good because by this time we had also met up with Lottie and Rowena and her boyfriend, all three of them from London. It was nice to see some familiar London faces and spend time with them. There is so much that happened at Capoeirando that I think I will try and make it short. There were a lot of capoeira classes with a lot of masters. It was good, interesting, fun, and also painful. There were a lot of famous mestres there, including some such as Mestre Jogo de Dentro, Mestre Cobra Mansa, Mestre Onça Negra just to cite a few for those of you who know. The schedule generally worked as: 2 or 3 classes in the morning, and one in the late afternoon. Between lessons we had an extended lunch period which we generally used for going to the beach. The beach there was amazing, so beautiful, big, the sea so blue, and loads of palm trees, and almost noone on it except for us. Perfect! And finally, now I have hit the north of Brazil, I am getting pretty much constant sun too: wooooo!!! In the evenings there was usually music of some kind: pagode, forro or samba de roda, mostly provided by the guys I was sharing the house with or by masters playing the drums (Mestre Onça Negra loved it). The playing was good, and there were several championships that took place as well that were fun to be watched. It was also an amazing place for making friends and meeting new people as well as hanging out with familiar faces too. There were the people from London and also a crew from Liverpool and Manchester that turned up so it was nice to see them, but I also met loads of new people from all over: Brazil, America, Sweden...It was fun.
The house on the other hand, was a different matter....I ended up nicknaming it the house of horrors, as it was truly the most vile place I have ever stayed in!!! For a start, there were 15 of us in a 2 bedroom house. The room Veronica and I were staying in techincally housed 4 of us except loads of people had their bags in there and just kept coming in and out of the room for no reason. The house had no doors so getting changed was not easy. Our room had an en suite bathroom but that had no doors either so it was not very nice... Then, the water in the house was brown, so the floor of the shower constantly looked dirty, and the toilet bowl constantly looked like there was something vile in it. The bathroom was badly designed so that the drain that is normally in the middle of the floor was hidden in a corner behind the toilet and did not drain anything at all. So the floor got wetter, and people trodd in it with sandy shoes so it got muddy, and so and so on. It was vile! That, and the toilet bin overflowing, and in the end loads of flies everywhere and URGH it was just so disgusting, I didn't feel clean for the whole of the week I spent there, and really hated having to go in that house for anything. One one of the days the bathroom smelt so bad that it woke Veronica up: urgh! On our last day, the water in the bathroom was so bad that it had started flooding into the bedroom, and it was just gross. Definitely the house of horrors! When I reached Itacare, i don't think I have ever been so happy to be able to have a shower and finally feel clean! So the house, was the only negative point of Capoeirando I suppose.
On the Sunday, when most people had already left Capoeirando, Veronica and I, and Horrivel and a couple of others all went to Mestre Cabello's fazenda. Mestre Cabello is an angola teacher and I actually didn't know him until this capoeirando. But he gave us a good class and seemed like a very interesting person, so I was interested to go over to his fazenda. They were having a churrasca there so we all went over for lunch. The fazenda is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is basically in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by grass and trees and nature and it is so beautiful. Its structures are little or big round thatched huts but that remain open aired. The main hut was where we had the food, and it had hammocks strung around it that you could lie in and look out at the jungle or in to the people chatting. It also had a huge lake, with a beautiful wooden bridge accross it, and another hut next to that in which capoeira classes take place. Down by the end of the lake there is small waterfall and one can go and swim in the lake and sit on a bridge over the waterfall, looking back out towards the fazenda. They also had changing rooms and showers a bit further out in the "garden" which were lovely, and everything had clearly been really well thought out. It was such an amazing place, I completely fell in love with it and felt like I could live there forever. It was so calm and in such a wonderful setting, and also close to the sea if you ever want to go to the sea rather than swim in the lake. Perfect! In the evening Veronica Horrivel and I all made off for Itacare, not without some complications though as the taxi driver that was supposed to take us never came back, so we had to treck up and down the dirt track with our backpacks all the way to the bus stop to get the bus. Still, we managed to arrive in Itacare safe and sound, to a nice bedroom in a nice clean place, and have showers and for me in any case, finally feel clean and healthy again. I swear I thought I was going to catch a disease in that house!!
Since then Horrivel and I have been in Itacare, a chilled out surfer village on the way between Ilheus and Salvador. It is small and like I said very chilled out, full of reggae, surfers, and hippies. But it's good as after capoeirando what we really needed was a chill out and a bit of time to rest after all the intensive capoeira. Veronica stayed with us for one day and one night and then went off to Salvador to start her dance course. In the meantime we have been mainly beaching and catching up on the internet. The weather has been amazing so far, with a bit of rain every evening but nowhere near as bad as before. In fact, I got sunburnt today :-( booo! The waves here are really huge and in fact swimming in the ocean can be quite dangerous as the waves are so big and they just keep coming in, hardly leaving you any time to get over them. Not only that but there are loads of surfers around who might surf into you, and the current is strong so best to stay in the shallow bits. Still it's very beautiful! Yesterday we went back to Mestre Cabello's wonderful fazenda, this time for an capoeira angola class as well as enjoying the lovely location. It was a good class, especially in the hut by the lake :-) We made it back a bit easier this time seeing as we knew we were getting the bus and where to get it from, but we did have to wait for it for an hour! We have met some interesting people here in Itacare, in particular two Norwegian girls who I think are really nice and very funny! I think this is all for now as I really cannot think of more, and the post is probably quite long. Hopefully won't be as long next time!
It has been so long since I last wrote that I don't even know where to start on the blog. I left Rio on the 4th in the evening, heading over to Ilheus in the state of Bahia for Capoeirando. It is a long way, nearly 24 hours of bus ride! I arrived at the bus station in Rio safely though a bit worried as it is in the middle of a favela, but luckily nothing happened. As I was waiting to get on the bus, the "queue" of people was so long I was in disbelief, and I was convinced not all of us would fit on the bus and I would lose my seat so I was eager to get on as soon as possible, though this was made impossible by the queue jumping and other sorts of Brazilian queuing going on...When I reached my seat, relieved to actually have one, my relief did not last for long. A fat woman came to sit next to me, and worse than that she had a kid of about 2 or 3 years old. Probably 3. The kid, as I feared, had no seat and sat on her lap for the whole trip! The whole 24 hours of bus ride, I had a fat woman spilling over into my seat and a kid on her lap. She was clearly stealing all the elbow space and occasionally elbowing me when she was trying to sort out the kid. The kid spent most of the trip thinking I was its bed and kicking me to get space for itself which I was well annoyed about. Normally I love children, but this one was definitely not my friend! I can't believe the mother even brought it on the bus with no seat of its own for such a long trip. To make matters worse, she had a couple of friends travelling in front of her, and every time they woke up they would start chattin really louldly to each other and disturb all the surrounding passengers. And finally, the guy in front of us had a radio that he had brought with him that he kept playing, and would turn it on every time he woke up: 1 am, 3am, 5am....! No respect at all for other passengers. Eventually I asked him to turn it down and he acted all pissed off about my not enjoying his music (that the woman next to me would sing along to....). Unbelievable! Then, in the morning we made a stop for breakfast and it happened that the place where we stopped was really busy as it was prime time breakfast time for all the buses. I felt sorry for the lady serving people as she was clearly overworked and very stressed and was trying her best to work as fast as possible. So I decided to wait and be polite whilst people were shouting at her and shoving their papers in her face. But these people that were being so rude, kept being served before me. Time after time people would jump in, be rude, and get served. After a while I got so angry I rolled up my paper in a ball and threw it over the counter. When I came back for a second try I decided that damn it, if being rude is what it takes then I'll be rude too. And I got my breakfast. Sometimes, I really cannot understand the "jeito Brasileiro"...Anyway, the bus ride was long and horrific, and I was very glad to arrive in Ilheus safe and sound.
I arrived in Mar e sol by night so didn't get to see much of the place except to drop my bags down in the house we were renting. It was full of people I didn't know soI just sat there and chatted with them, and then there was some samba de pagode later on in the evening so we danced and went to bed. Pretty uneventful, but nice. The next day Veronica arrived from Salvador at the crack of dawn, and then we all went on a day expedition to Itacare, a village near capoeirando which has nice beaches and is a tourist destination. We all went in the big bus that had brought the people from Sao Paulo and spent a nice day chilling on the beach. It was good because by this time we had also met up with Lottie and Rowena and her boyfriend, all three of them from London. It was nice to see some familiar London faces and spend time with them. There is so much that happened at Capoeirando that I think I will try and make it short. There were a lot of capoeira classes with a lot of masters. It was good, interesting, fun, and also painful. There were a lot of famous mestres there, including some such as Mestre Jogo de Dentro, Mestre Cobra Mansa, Mestre Onça Negra just to cite a few for those of you who know. The schedule generally worked as: 2 or 3 classes in the morning, and one in the late afternoon. Between lessons we had an extended lunch period which we generally used for going to the beach. The beach there was amazing, so beautiful, big, the sea so blue, and loads of palm trees, and almost noone on it except for us. Perfect! And finally, now I have hit the north of Brazil, I am getting pretty much constant sun too: wooooo!!! In the evenings there was usually music of some kind: pagode, forro or samba de roda, mostly provided by the guys I was sharing the house with or by masters playing the drums (Mestre Onça Negra loved it). The playing was good, and there were several championships that took place as well that were fun to be watched. It was also an amazing place for making friends and meeting new people as well as hanging out with familiar faces too. There were the people from London and also a crew from Liverpool and Manchester that turned up so it was nice to see them, but I also met loads of new people from all over: Brazil, America, Sweden...It was fun.
The house on the other hand, was a different matter....I ended up nicknaming it the house of horrors, as it was truly the most vile place I have ever stayed in!!! For a start, there were 15 of us in a 2 bedroom house. The room Veronica and I were staying in techincally housed 4 of us except loads of people had their bags in there and just kept coming in and out of the room for no reason. The house had no doors so getting changed was not easy. Our room had an en suite bathroom but that had no doors either so it was not very nice... Then, the water in the house was brown, so the floor of the shower constantly looked dirty, and the toilet bowl constantly looked like there was something vile in it. The bathroom was badly designed so that the drain that is normally in the middle of the floor was hidden in a corner behind the toilet and did not drain anything at all. So the floor got wetter, and people trodd in it with sandy shoes so it got muddy, and so and so on. It was vile! That, and the toilet bin overflowing, and in the end loads of flies everywhere and URGH it was just so disgusting, I didn't feel clean for the whole of the week I spent there, and really hated having to go in that house for anything. One one of the days the bathroom smelt so bad that it woke Veronica up: urgh! On our last day, the water in the bathroom was so bad that it had started flooding into the bedroom, and it was just gross. Definitely the house of horrors! When I reached Itacare, i don't think I have ever been so happy to be able to have a shower and finally feel clean! So the house, was the only negative point of Capoeirando I suppose.
On the Sunday, when most people had already left Capoeirando, Veronica and I, and Horrivel and a couple of others all went to Mestre Cabello's fazenda. Mestre Cabello is an angola teacher and I actually didn't know him until this capoeirando. But he gave us a good class and seemed like a very interesting person, so I was interested to go over to his fazenda. They were having a churrasca there so we all went over for lunch. The fazenda is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. It is basically in the middle of the jungle, surrounded by grass and trees and nature and it is so beautiful. Its structures are little or big round thatched huts but that remain open aired. The main hut was where we had the food, and it had hammocks strung around it that you could lie in and look out at the jungle or in to the people chatting. It also had a huge lake, with a beautiful wooden bridge accross it, and another hut next to that in which capoeira classes take place. Down by the end of the lake there is small waterfall and one can go and swim in the lake and sit on a bridge over the waterfall, looking back out towards the fazenda. They also had changing rooms and showers a bit further out in the "garden" which were lovely, and everything had clearly been really well thought out. It was such an amazing place, I completely fell in love with it and felt like I could live there forever. It was so calm and in such a wonderful setting, and also close to the sea if you ever want to go to the sea rather than swim in the lake. Perfect! In the evening Veronica Horrivel and I all made off for Itacare, not without some complications though as the taxi driver that was supposed to take us never came back, so we had to treck up and down the dirt track with our backpacks all the way to the bus stop to get the bus. Still, we managed to arrive in Itacare safe and sound, to a nice bedroom in a nice clean place, and have showers and for me in any case, finally feel clean and healthy again. I swear I thought I was going to catch a disease in that house!!
Since then Horrivel and I have been in Itacare, a chilled out surfer village on the way between Ilheus and Salvador. It is small and like I said very chilled out, full of reggae, surfers, and hippies. But it's good as after capoeirando what we really needed was a chill out and a bit of time to rest after all the intensive capoeira. Veronica stayed with us for one day and one night and then went off to Salvador to start her dance course. In the meantime we have been mainly beaching and catching up on the internet. The weather has been amazing so far, with a bit of rain every evening but nowhere near as bad as before. In fact, I got sunburnt today :-( booo! The waves here are really huge and in fact swimming in the ocean can be quite dangerous as the waves are so big and they just keep coming in, hardly leaving you any time to get over them. Not only that but there are loads of surfers around who might surf into you, and the current is strong so best to stay in the shallow bits. Still it's very beautiful! Yesterday we went back to Mestre Cabello's wonderful fazenda, this time for an capoeira angola class as well as enjoying the lovely location. It was a good class, especially in the hut by the lake :-) We made it back a bit easier this time seeing as we knew we were getting the bus and where to get it from, but we did have to wait for it for an hour! We have met some interesting people here in Itacare, in particular two Norwegian girls who I think are really nice and very funny! I think this is all for now as I really cannot think of more, and the post is probably quite long. Hopefully won't be as long next time!
Sunday 4 January 2009
A Cidade Maravilhosa
I think one of my New Year's resolutions is to try and be more concise in my writing, so let's try and make this a short post!
Today is my last day in Rio as I head off to Ilheus for Capoeirando, a major capoeira event which is going to be loads of fun! Rio has been amazing, and it totally deserves its name of "a cidade maravilhosa". It is so stunning and has so much to offer that I think one would never tire of it. After the fantastic New Year's Eve on Copacabana, not much really happened. We took things easy and just did what we had to do in an easy manner. We met up with the Aussies again on the 2nd for their last night in Rio and had dinner all together. It was nice to have been able to met up with them again here in Rio and sad to leave them again. Definitely a great encounter, and this is what I love about travelling, is how many great people you meet and the friendships you create. The day after that we met up with Bea and Stefi and their friend Joao again and decided to test the nightlife of Rio by going out in Lapa. A Carioca friend of mine had recommended Lapa as THE place to go out, and many other people say the same. Lapa is fun! During the day it is a bit of a dodgy area, with quite a few homeless people and what I assume are druggies hanging around. But at night it becomes SO lively, the streets are crowded and all the bars have people spilling out into the streets in one big happy mess of party.
We went to a club called the Democratica, a very old fashioned dance hall, with tables and a wooden dancefloor in the middle of the room with a stage. There was also a balcony looking out down onto the street, to watch the people go by. There was a live band playing and lots of people dancing gafieira. The place got crowded pretty quickly and soon we were boiling hot. Because the place was such an old structure it had no aircon, just fans, which weren't actually making much of a difference. Everyone was sweating like pigs, and when you went outside you felt like it was an airconditioned room! Anyway, we were about to leave with fatigue but suddenly the band just got amazing and we stayed on and were glad we had. The band was playing a mix of samba, choro, gafieira and a sort of instrumental funk. It was an awesome mix of samba and funk done instrumentally and the guy playing the pandeiro (tambourine) was just amazing! They also had a violinist which gave the music an interesting and original touch. They played incredibly well and just transported the crowd, and so we were really glad we stayed to see that!
The next day I decided to go up the Pao de Açucar as it was my penultimate day in Rio and I felt that leaving without having done at least one major tourist attraction would be a crime. The queue at the bottom of it was huge and I was worried that by the time I got up there it would have crowded over. I was lucky though, as the weather held out, and in fact it was just another steaming hot day with everyone sweating away like mad! The entry was R$44 but as I reached the top I realised that it was worth every penny. The view is so amazing, and you can see for miles and miles. It is just breathtaking to reach the top and see Rio like that, stretching for miles. And that was only the view from the Morro da Urca. Once you reach the top of the Sugarloaf mountain, the view gets even better and you can see Copacabana beach and beyond. The pictures at the beginning of the post were taking from the top of the Pao de Açucar. It was so fantastic I spent hours up there just walking around taking loads of pictures and gazing at the view. From this height, you truly take in the beauty of Rio and realise how amazing it is. And I was so lucky with the weather too! I didn't make it to the Corcovado in the end but I figured that the view from the Pao de Açucar was amazing enough for me, and I have been told that the Corcovado is overrated and a bit of pain to get up, and then it is just too crowded. So I didn't regret my choice of attraction.
Finally, last night we decided to go back to Lapa for some more night action in Rio before we left. We went to club situated right by the Arcos de Lapa, which had balconies and windows looking right onto the arches and the square down below, where you could watch all the people go by. The view was just amazing! The club played mainly funk and we were confused because we had expected it to be samba but we just danced along nonetheless. It was funny for me because, having experienced the funk at the baile, the funk in the nightclub seemed really commercial, but it was nice to go anyway. We left to go home and stopped off at a sort of "street party", a band of people playing samba, right under the arches and people dancing. There were some tourists there, who looked english or in any case foreign, and were just making total fools of themselves. They were so obviously foreign and also drunk it was just embarassing. But also, Lapa is not necessarily a safe neighbourhood even when really busy at night, and it seemed like they were just asking to be robbed...Anyway, we moved on from the little samba band to a small salsa club on the next door street to see what was going on in there, but didn't stay for very long as it wasn't very busy. All in all though, we managed to go to three different parties in one night!! When we got home, we realised that actually we had gone to the wrong club, so that explained why there was all funk and no samba! Ha ha! And so my time in Rio comes to an end, though I think I might try and come back since it is such an amazing place and I feel like there is yet much more to be discovered! Hope I managed to make it short this time :-)
Thursday 1 January 2009
2009 is here!!!!
My Christmas Family, Rory, Bev and Jess/Magia
2009 is here! Happy New Year!!!
So, after the last post, what happened? The day after my treck all over Rio I took it easy and stayed in by the pool side most of the day just trying to recover from the previous lack of sleep. I was lucky though because the weather was relatively nice. In the late afternoon Magia and I went on a small mission in order for her to sort out some last minute stuff before she left for New York the next day. So we got on the bonde and rode it again all the way down. It's so much fun riding the bonde, hanging on (or off) the sides of it, dodging close cars and lamposts and looking at the view as you go down or up. I think riding the bonde most definitely tops riding the bus as the ultimate public transport experience! :-) It is amazing. I haven't yet been over the arches but I plan to do this before I leave. We then went to a friend of Magia's in Lapa and from her appartment there was the most amazing view over the bay and the Sugar Loaf mountain. On the way back from hers we went for a walk in Lapa where we went to look for the really famous Santa Teresa mosaic stairs. They are really beautiful, and were definitely worth a visit. The man who made them, or rather the artist who works on them was such an odd figure. A little old man in a tiny room surrounded by paintings, trying to sell his work to you the second you stepped through the door. He was going on about how famous he was and how his fame was different to that of Picasso's because he was famous via the internet and TV and worldwide media. Then he started pulling out all these photos of famous people who had been there like Edward Norton, or Snoop Dog, or how it had featured in fashion photoshoots. He was very eccentric and funny. Once we had done that we walked back up to Santa Teresa to join Rory and Bev for a fancy dinner for our last night in Rio. Rory had found this amazing restaurant which had a fantastic view over Rio from the heights of Santa Teresa and one could see all the lights twinkling in the distance. The food was fantastic as was the location. We sat and played the game "top 3" as suggested by Bev, which I thought was a really good end of the year game to play. The idea is to list top 3 things of the year so for example: top 3 meals, top 3 people you have met, top 3 places you've been...It was a fun game and a good one because it makes you think about the past year and what you have done and enjoyed the most. After that very dignified dinner, we all went home and ended up swimming the pool late a night. Such a hilarious experience! And so, on New Year's eve I left my lovely Christmas family behind and headed onwards to my new destination: Veronica's aunt's. Magia was flying to New York, and Rory and Bev were flying back to Portugual, so all of them spent New Year's eve in a plane. Still, I would like to say how lovely it was to spend Christmas with them and what a great time I had, and that I really do consider them as my Christmas family.
New Year's eve I went to meet Veronica's aunt in the morning and we all went to the airport to pick her up. It was really cool to meet Veronica and see her here in Rio, which in a sense is quite surreal. But it is nice to think that now is the start of our journey together in Brazil. After a quick nap and a catch up we started getting ready for the New Year's eve party down on Copacabana beach as we had to catch the last metro at 6pm. After that, the metro closes down and only opens to people who have bought special New Year's eve metro tickets. These had all ran out by the time we got there so our only option was to get the metro before 6. We were lucky as we literally made it JUST in time, and arrived on Copacabana beach early. We walked down to Ipanema to meet some family friends of mine, the Luraschis, to say hello an Happy New Year. We ended up being so lucky as to find a place to eat for all of us in the Garota de Ipanema. I had really not expected to find anywhere to eat on such a busy night so that was a good surprise. After that we left the parents to stay in Ipanema and the four of us girls walked back to Copacabana. As we were walking back it started to rain, just a drizzle at first, but when we reached Copacabana beach it actually started pouring! At first I made a vague attempt at trying to protect myself but then I just gave up and stood there in the rain getting wet along with everybody else. Then it just felt like it was part of the New Year's eve experience to get wet in our white clothes. It was kind of refreshing too since it was so hot. Shortly after that the countdown started and then the fireworks went off and it was just incredible. It was such an amazing feeling to think that I had just counted down and seen in the New Year in Copacabana beach in Rio in Brazil. Unbelievable!!! I was just so excited to be there on the beach, with so many other people, and in particular to be there with Veronica Stefi and Bea. It was awesome!
After that we went and sat on the beach and watched people go by, then went to listen to the band that was playing and had a walk around. Just as we were about to go home, Bea's friend Joao found a party for them to go to, and miracles of miracles I managed to find the Aussies!! Or should I say, they found me. We had planned to meet up by medical point number 2 earlier on in the evening but just never found each other, and then, incredibly, we did manage to find each other. How cool!! So the Aussies, Veronica and I all went off in search of a beach party. We somehow ended up in the gay part of the beach, though as they say, they gays know how to party and theirs was the only party still on. There was a tranny there that was totally out of control and dancing around to the music in a very dramatic way, clearing a circle for him/herself and had a whole crowd watching her. It was mad! Eventually though we decided we had had enough and went to find some chairs to sit on the beach. There we sat and watched the people go by, mainly drunken people and LOADS of men pissing in the sea. Disgusting, I know. The state of the beach was just awful. So many bottles, and cans, and trash, all getting occasionally washed into the waves by the tide...so sad! But they just hadn't provided any bins anywhere, so it was normal that people were just dropping their trash. We sat and watched the sun rise, sadly unspectacular, and then finally decided to head home. Really, the reason we were waiting was so as to not have to take a cab, so we went to the metro and go the first metro home. So cool! I have done that only a few times in my life. All in all it was a very successful night, spending New Year's eve on Copacabana was just an incredible experience, and I would say probably the best New Year's eve ever!
I keep thinking how lucky I am to be able to be here, and what an amazing experience this is. I am seeing places that people all over the world have heard of, that are famous and beautiful, and some people will never get to see these places, will never even get to leave their own country. And I can't help but think how unbelievable it is to be here and how lucky I am. Since I have now been here for a month, I think I would like to share some thoughts I have about the whole experience, thought I might save those for another post. I would like to say though, that throughout my whole time here I have felt completely safe. I find it hard to explain exactly why it is I feel safe and comfortable here, but I feel that the whole dangerous thing is completely overrated. Of course you have to be wise and exercise normal precautions, you can't go around advertising the fact that you are a tourist. But I also think that if you use a minimum amount of common sense you can get around fine without having to worry all the time about your safety. I just feel comfortable here, and I think that it helps to feel as if you are at home rather than in a big dangerous city. I don't like the way we are made to be afraid and feel that instead we should go with precaution, of course, and common sense. Anyway enough for today's entry I think.
Happy New Year, and all the best for 2009. I hope this year goes well for everyone
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