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!