Salvador da Bahia, BRAZIL (Pelourinho, Barra) 2/7/07 - 2/14/07

Our arrival to Brazil was somewhat rocky due to the loss of Talia´s wallet on the plane and my inability to use Brazilian banks. With a few delays and unexpected transfers, what seemed to be an endless voyage came to an end outside the airport of Salvador da Bahia, BRAZIL. A beautiful taxi ride later, we were facing the entrance of the beloved Albergue Sao Jorge Hostel in Pelourinho, Salvdor where the wonderful Andre and his crew took great care of us for the second year in a row.

Being in the history capital of BRAZIL deserved a history lesson . . . so here it is:

BRAZIL was already inhibitted by 1000 indigenous tribes for a period of as many as 50,000 years when the Portuguese first arrived in AD 1500 (of which only 200 remain today) and it was called Pindorama. Since then, Brazil has been renamed seven times and is actually the fifth largest democracy in the world today. Brazil consists of 26 states (one for each star on the flag, united into the single star above), one of them being Bahia. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size.

According to the legend, Salvador da Bahia was named Baia de Todos os Santos after the day it was ``discovered´´-- All Saints´ Day. Salvador remained the capital for more than 200 years (before giving the throne to Rio and Brazila) and was the second most important city in the Portugues Empire.

The Portuguese landed in Salvador on Praia Porto da Barra (a beach we visit often and the passing sight of a Carnaval.) They built a city on top of a cliff to defend themselves against the Indians. On top of this cliff, also known as Cidade Alta (Upper City), stands Pelourinho, a city of cobblestones overgrown with 17th and 18th century buildings and churches. Actually, Pelourinho has the largest collection of Baroque Colonial architecture in Latin America and has been declared a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE.

Connecting Cixade Alto and Cidade Baixa (Lower City) is an elevator. Yes! An elevator. Since it was errected in 1610 as a rope and pulley system, it has been modernized into an electical system elevator which transports over 50,000 people a day.

Unfortunately, the glory of colonial Brazil was smeared with the blood and sweat of African slaves brought over in 1538 to help cultivate a fertile sugarcane, tobacco, and later cattle ranching industry. Legend says that some buildings are haunted by the ghosts of slaves.

The dark period of slavery continued for over 200 years; eventually, the number of black people constituted half of the population in Salvador. The Largo de Pelourinho, a square into which all the streets feed into was the historic sight of the pelourigno (whipping post) where slaves where publicly tortured and auctioned. On a lighter note, the buildings used for the import and sale of slaves have been converted to tourist shops, ice cream parlors, and cute restaurants (But who knows what came of the underground network of tunnels beneath Pelourinho, connecting all the churches in the historic center to the port!?!)

Today, Salvador is known as the African Soul of Brazil thanks to the ancestors of African slaves who perserved food, religion, music, dance, and martical art traditions throughout the years.

Salvador also gained the reputation of being a fun place if you know what I mean . . . so much that it won the nickname Baia de Todos os Santos e de Quase Todos os Pecados (Bay of All Saints and of Nearly All Sins)!

(I love you baby!)

... the people are super friendly, always wanting to help out, always smiling, always being very hospitable (exception: if they´re trying to rob you, they´re not so nice) Yes, we got mugged already but we´re alright and are becoming more aware of our surroundings.

Anyhow, for all of you that are a little bored by the history lesson, why don´t you shove it and take the time to learn something. For the rest, it is impossible to summarize 500 years of history in a single blog, so I will keep the research going for the future.

On a side note, we happened to escape the good food and great beaches to go to some local islands (Ilha de Itaparica and Ilha dos Frades) for some more good food and great beaches...hehe.

This is me without a tan and just so you know, Talia and I are like two highlighters walking around here. We glow like the sun, we´re so damn white!! But we´re working on it.

This is a video of some capoeira that we saw on the beach. Capoeira was invented by enslaved Africans in the 16 th century and instead of talking about it, check it out:


And now, after much waiting, my baby is getting on the bus for a 25 hour bus ride to come see me. . . isn´t that wonderful?!? Being without my prince has been tough, really tough. But that will soon be over. . . so excited. . . like a little schoolgirl I tell you.

So the next stop is . . . Carnaval 2007 Bahia!!!! Yeah baby!

(For more pics, go to:http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?&mode=fromsite&collid=48371396110.808139640110.1171551514594&conn_speed=1)