Viva Bahia!
Trip Start
Feb 24, 2010
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87
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Trip End
Dec 12, 2010
Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
After a long and beautiful bus journey through the city, we arrived to the ICBIE (www.icbie.com), our "home" for at least the next month. I was here 3 years ago, while Ian was working in Porto Alegre, and it was great for me to see everyone again... and of course I was very happy to see my "old" high school teacher Pietro!
We were immediately called to help for the "Dia da crianca", Children's day, in Saramandaia, one of the poorest neighborhood of Salvador. The event was organised by the ICBIE and it included games, dances and clown show for the children in the favela. Ian was sick with a cold so he couldn't come. Good choice though because it was a very intense and hot day. I painted an infinite number of faces mostly with butterflies and bat-man masks. It's amazing how children of different social levels love the exact same things! Amazing how those in very difficult situations (border-line families, parents in jail... if not dead) looked happier than the ones I worked with in the posh creche in Dublin with everything in their hands.
They had a great day of sack race, free painting, clowns performing for them and giving them sweets, drum concert and obviously dancing. They also got to help the brilliant grafiteiros (graffiti artists) who always participate in the ICBIE events painting street walls and making the places much more colorful.
That wasn't the only activity we were involved in. A few more events are happening these days and we spent the next few days helping how we could making fliers and such.
Finally, a week after we arrived, we made it to the beach...on a cloudy day!!! Typical. We were glad though, because it was extremely hot anyway!
Salvador has lots to offer. One of the main tourist places is The Pelourinho, an area in the city centre where most of the music scene is played nearly every night. That Thursday we were invited by my friend Mary to a drum concert. The leader of the band was her teacher and the entire show was very impressive. They could play anything... from normal drums, to bongos, to shells, to children's rattles. And even though jazz is not our favorite, that was quite cool.
We went to Pelourinho again on the more famous Tuesday night, when Jeronimo, a very good trumpet player (with a feather in his hair) and his band and the exciting Olodum are performing great music. We also caught the occasion to meet David, an American/Colombian guy we met on the boat to Manaus. It was nice to meet up with him again and we had great fun dancing after the Olodum (group of very choreographic drummers who play in the street followed by a group of fans who dance and make choreography that everybody can join in).
Another highlight of Salvador and the Bahia in general is the famous Capoeira. A few of our ICBIE friends do it few times a week and they invited us to watch on a Friday night when the "Roda" was on. The Roda is when they all play putting in practice what they have learned during the normal training. The way they jump and bend and fight it's just fantastic, the music of the birimbao and the bongos which accompany the "plays" really gives the rhythm to the performance. Everybody does everything. They play the instruments, they sing, they jump and fight. We were invited numerous times to join, but we preferred hide behind the video cameras and enjoy the show without making fools of ourselves!
To be continued....
