Afro-Brazilian Cultural Hub
Trip Start
Nov 08, 2009
1
6
14
Trip End
Dec 22, 2009
Where I stayed
Salvador, State of Bahia, Brazil
Monday, November 16, 2009
Pelourinho was an area of vibrance and entertainment with artists, performers, and musicians and had a kind of Bohemian feel to it and reminded be kind of a New Orleans meets Jamaica is the closest thing we could relate it to. Even more interesting was that Pelourinho originally meant a pole that slaves would be tied to in order to be whipped but the renaissance of the area completely changed the dynamic and the name to locals now connotes a fun, exciting place of the city where life is good. There's a "festa" party every other day and people buzz along like there wasn’t a care in the world. After settling in, Rachel couldn’t resist checking out a Capoeira school so we decided to go to one of the more renowned masters by the name of Bimba. Rachel was a natural there although they had a different style of teaching which was more contact-oriented than back at Fit in San Diego.
Next day we got to see some of the sites of the city which weren't too impressive but I think the city's ultimate draw is the beach, unique cultural atmosphere, and perpetual festa celebrations kind of like an ongoing Carnival. Saw very few international tourists as you would find more Brazilian tourists coming to this area much like a Miami to us. As a matter of fact, we never came across any Americans or anyone whose first language was English. That's when you know your getting an authentic cultural experience - just the way we like it.
Went to Mercado Modelo to buy sunglasses, capoeira pants, tank tops, and swimsuits - and yes, I will be sporting a speedo for all you paparazzi out there. I'm thinking of busting out the old school Scooby Doo Underoos from 3rd grade - that'll be a fashion statement all right. There was some street capoeira that Rachel really wanted to watch. This group invited or more like forced us on stage right when we sat down. I was first and I looked worse than a participant in the fourth row of a Richard Simmons Sweatin to the Oldies video. Rachel was busting up at me but, hey, I can still beat her at tetherball thanks to the killer moves I learned from Napoleon Dynamite. The capoeira guys were ridiculous though asking for money time and time again. One of the guys came up to us claiming he was a "mestre" aka capoeira master.
That night we went to a festival in Pelourinho. Some crazy guy was doing capoeira with a group until he was kicked out and then came to us wanting to be our friend doing crazy uncoordinated moves and then finally pouring my leftover beer into Rachel's leftover caipirinha and drinking it! What a mixologist or just so out of it he didn't care! Wild stuff. Real street capoeira in jeans with all kinds of flips and tricks. When the capoeira guys are wearing jeans you know they're the real deal - no Jack Black recreational pants for them. Some of these locals had no remorse about asking us for everything and anything from asking for a swig of our water and then ending up drinking the whole bottle to a kid starving for food and not happy when we offered to buy from a street vendor rather he wanted us to buy from a restaurant around the block. The rest of the festa was fun as you had these drumline bands that would do tricks with their instruments, had dancers in street clothes, reggae areas, and Samba bands playing in different areas of the Pelourinho district.
Next day we decided to hit up the beach which was nice and had some cool cliffs to jump off of. I made friends with some of the local boys and we started to do Superman jumps into dives and flips and all kinds of cool launches from these cliffs. Of course, they asked me if I had any money I could give them - we were on a cliff that you had to swim a quarter of a mile to get to - yeah, let me just get the wad of cash I have stashed in my imaginary waterproof fanny pack for you and I hope you like the cash dry because it miraculously stayed dry while my fingers pruned up worse than a member of the California raisin band.
The funniest part of the day was that Rachel wanted to leave a little earlier but I wanted to stay because I didn't think I got enough of a tan. 4 hours later… if Fruit of the Loom ever decided to add a tomato to its commercials, then I would have been a perfect candidate after getting toasted "veggie red" in the sun while at that beach. It was streaky red and got progressively worse. The climate out there is deceiving as it was mostly cloudy but would light you up if u didn't drown yourself in SPF 50 - which is what we were using by the way. Lesson learned: never underestimate the Brazilian beaches and tomato red skin color is never flattering.
That night we had a great dinner at Fogo De Chao - a "real" churascarria although we found that they had significantly more locations in the States than in Brazil and maybe that's because dinner for two costs as much as a few months rent for the locals. Ouch! Either way, it was enjoyable and we got as much filet mignon as we wanted - on demand.
