Salvador, Brazil

Oi! Tudo Bem? That’s “hi how are you”, one of the few phrases I used extensively during my five amazing days in Brazil. We pulled into port at about 8 A.M. on Tuesday and I was constantly doing things until last night when I got back on the ship at around 7 P.M. My first day was the most special, right when I got off the ship with my roommate George, his girlfriend Dani, and another friend Greg, we met George’s mom and took off for the coast. The initial drive was pretty shocking; the hills of Salvador and the surrounding areas are covered in tiny houses stacked upon each other that look like the worst of the slums you would see in America. It turns out that more than half of the people in the state of Bahia, where Salvador is located, live in houses like these and the average salary for a year is about 6000 dollars. When we got to the house on the coast, it was the polar opposite. It was in a private gated neighborhood and I am sure that the house cost at least a million dollars. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. It was interesting to see both the rich and the poor neighborhoods in Brazil because there is no middle class so that’s all there is. Rubia, the owner of the house was unbelievably welcoming and made us all feel right at home. The whole time I was in Brazil the sun was shining and it was at least 85 degrees with at least 70% humidity. After some time on the beach and in the pool, the house chef, who is originally from Bahia, made us an incredible meal that included rice, beans, sausage, lamb, churruasca (steak), and chicken hearts. Needless to say it was quite a meal, and even though I wouldn’t usually try it, I figured I wouldn’t be back for a while and decided to have a few chicken hearts, and if you are curious to know they are very chewy. For dessert we had homemade ice cream topped with coconut shavings. After dinner we had a quick nap and started preparing for the night ahead of us, and what a night it was. The four of us bought tickets to see the famous English DJ Fatboy Slim play that night for the last night of Carnival.
In Carnival, the artists play on top of a giant bus covered in speakers called a blocco. The blocco moves down the avenue where people sit up above and look down on the concerts and people as they pass. During the concert, the blocco is surrounded by a group of people holding a rope, and the only way to get inside the rope is to buy a t-shirt, which serves as your ticket to the show. Before the blocco started moving, we walked around the local neighborhood and almost got into a fight with some street children over a cigarette. In Brazil, there are children who will constantly come up to you and ask for money, food and cigarettes. I saw a few children who couldn’t have been more than 6 years old smoking cigarettes on the streets. The show itself was one of the most amazing things I have ever experienced. There were literally thousands of people in the streets dancing and partying and moving along with the bus. The scent of Carnival is unforgettable, the lack of bathrooms creates a strong scent of urine, and the streets are soaked in beer and covered with the debris of the previous days’ parties. The dancing during the concert, when you could move enough to dance, isn’t so much dancing as it is jumping and shimmying your way through the crowd. The locals call the dancing pipoca, the Portuguese word for popcorn, because from up above that it what it resembles. By the end of the night, two of my friends had lost their cameras to pickpockets, we had made it through more than a few scuffles, and I was covered head to toe in beer and sweat, but I was so happy to have experienced the greatest of Brazilian traditions on the ground with thousands of locals.
The next day seven friends and I traveled to Itiparica, a small island off the coast of Salvador. It was a great place to go because we never saw anyone else that we knew and no one there spoke any English. After a long ferry and cab ride, we made it to a nice little hostel and went to dinner at a local restaurant. They were doing a miniature version of Carnival that night which we watched for a while and then we went to an actual carnival with rides for the local children. The following morning we went to the beach and then took the ferry back to the city. That night I got to experience going to a Brazilian soccer game. The game was between Poques and the local team, Bahia. Bahia’s official stadium has started to crumble so they are now playing in a much smaller one, but the crowd was still crazy and they chanted and sang the entire game. Bahia won the game 2-0, and needless to say everyone was extremely happy with the result.
The next morning I visited a Candomble House in Salvador on a guided tour through Semester at Sea. Candomble is a religion that was brought from Africa through the slave trade and has a lot of similarities to Voodoo. Our tour guide was a member of the religion and he told us a lot about his experience of being initiated and having to spend three months in the jungle. He also talked about being possessed by his Orixa, which is a specific God that chooses you when you join the faith and speaks through you while you are possessed. This was an experience that was definitely unique to Brazil so I am glad that I did it.
The rest of my time in port I spent walking around the city visiting markets and haggling with the shopkeepers about prices for souvenirs. With my red hair I stood out like a sore thumb to the point that people would talk to me just because I had red hair, and I know that a lot of the people tried to give me the gringo rate. It was an amazing trip overall and when I get back I will have to tell everybody all the little stories and let everybody know that you should experience Carnival at least once before you die. I am so grateful that I had the chance to be there and I hope to go back to visit George and his mom in Sao Paulo sometime down the road. I am now on an eight-day journey across the Atlantic Ocean to Cape Town, South Africa and I will post another entry after my time there. Hopefully all is well at home and wish me luck in the rough waters of the Atlantic. Ciao.

Conor