Day one of my adventure in Salvador began with Megan and I dragging ourselves out of bed at 0500 hours so we could watch the sunrise as our ship pulled into Salvador. Several hours later after immigration, breakfast, and a political debriefing 6 of us set out to discover Salvador. We began our adventures by exploring the Mercado Modelo- basically a market full of Brazilian art. Although I found it rather commercialized (geared towards tourists with lots of the art being mass-produced) I still thought it was pretty cool to just check it out and people watch. After the Mercado we walked to the elevator, literally an elevator that takes you from the lower part of the city to the upper part of the city, so we could wonder around in the upper city. Right outside of the elevator there were men practicing Capoeira (a Brazilian martial art), which was absolutely incredible to watch. We then walked around, checked out some of the pre- Carnival festivities, had lunch, and shopped a bit. This is when we met the Chilean and the Argentineans. The Chilean was the first person we found in Salvador that actually spoke English so we took that opportunity to chat a bit with him. He was an artist from Chile who was traveling throughout Latin America. He had only been in Salvador for 2 weeks, but he had great stories to share with us regardless. After our discussions with him we headed back to the ship to prepare ourselves for Carnival. That’s right- Carnival, the worlds biggest party. We formed a group of 20 or so of us, hopped in 4 taxis and traveled to Barra (apparently the biggest place for Carnival in the area). Once there we followed the crowd down streets with all sorts of venders selling everything from little nic- nacs to food and of course drink. At the end of these streets was the main street with all of the floats and masses of people. I was just fine, being as little as I am, standing where we were watching the floats go by from a slight distance and not getting smooshed by millions of people, however my group decided they wanted to push forward. So push forward we did. All 20 of us jumped into the middle of the street in front of the floats and danced our way up the street with the Brazilians. It was the most ridiculous experience of my life. I still cannot even believe that I did it. It was so out of my comfort zone…Just picture millions of drunk people on one street, dancing, singing, and sweating all over the place, rubbing up against you, pushing you every which way, dumping beer on you, and grabbing you, all as you try and make your way up the street walking/dancing through a nice mixture of pee, beer, sweet, and other fun liquids. But regardless of all of those things, I did it. And I LOVED it. It was an experience that I will never forget. Dancing and singing with thousands of Brazilians was incredible. Everyone, regardless of race and/or nationality was able to dance and sing together in the street. Now picture that. This is why I loved it. Everyone was just there to have a good time. And while having such a great time we met awesome people from all over the world. We met a kid from Iceland, a kid from Israel, and randomly 2 kids who just graduated from UCSB, one who went on Semester at Sea in 04. Such a small world. So after miles of dancing up the street we decided that it was time to retire. It was getting late and some of our group had to get up in a few hours to catch a flight. We couldn’t find a taxi so we opted for the next best thing…the public bus. Oh yes. We went on the public bus in Brazil-it was only 1 real (.50 cents) and it provided for a fun time. So 20 of us got on the bus with our 2 new friends from UCSB and took it back into town. Forty-five minutes later we arrived by the dock and made our way back to the ship. By this time we were all exhausted and glad to see our ship. P.S. Sorry I do not have any pictures from Brazil except the sunrise one. I did not take my digital off of the ship for fear it could get stolen. I did take a disposable out with me, however those pictures are not yet developed…so hang in there for those.
QUOTE/STORY OF THE DAY:
Background: During Carnival men like to try and grab and/or kiss you...
My friend Sarah, who is tall and blond (what the Brazilians tend to go for), was being slightly pestered by this man who wanted to kiss her. He made this very clear to her by blatantly asking her for a kiss. She proceeded to tell him that she was married and had 2 children (she is a very smart cookie). He then pointed to his beer can, shaking both the can and his head disapprovingly, drunkenly singing… “I don’t care.” It was funny.
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