Part Deux
Continued from Mais Histórias Viajem…
After dinner, we made our way to the various plazas that were hosting live music. The first plaza had a drum troup. We caught the last two songs, but I was accosted by a drunk Brazilian who just wanted to repeat the names of English cities to me. It started with him asking me where I was from. Honestly, it was totally cliché, but it happened. I told him I was from the US. He became so excited at the mention, he gave me a kool-aid smile and shook my hand… At this point, I could barely understand what he was staying since we were standing 30m from a battery of drums. I think he was asking me where I was from, but I’m not even sure anymore. Hey started naming cities, but not many, just a couple, and after I would repeat the name back to him, he’d smile and shake my hand. He got through New York, Miami… actually that was probably it and then he turned on repeat. He shook my hand after EVERY WORD. I tried to break him out of the loop by saying Seattle and I managed to get him to say “Zhorzh Booosh”. I gave him the thumbs down and I swear I thought he would cry. Here he was thinking that America was great and that the current “leader” was great and I was raining on his parade. I’m sure he wouldn’t remember the next day, but still, I felt bad for the guy. After pantomiming my disgust for Booosh, he moved onto FBI, CIA, etc. I thought he would never end the game! Finally the music stopped and he moved on and I was saved temporarily.
We moved up to the main plaza where a reggae band was playing. They weren’t very good, but the crowd was into it, so we hung out there for a while. I tell you what, being with a guy that sticks out more than I do was a treat. Every beggar eventually made his way to Ron… probably twice.
At this juncture, I should probably say that while I was in São Paulo having dinner, one of the people at the table asked where I was from and was genuinely surprised that I wasn’t from Brasil. She said I looked Brasilian and I took that as a compliment because a large percentage of people in Brasil are very good looking. But I digress…
Ron had the target painted on his back this time. The beer guys were his friends, the can collectors were his friends, everyone. The few times I was approached, it was for pot. It’s all about demographics, eh? Surprisingly, it was the most coherent conversation in Portuguese I’ve had yet.
Well, it got old pretty fast to have to say no to everyone that came up to you asking for something. The frequency was about once per minute. We eventually gave up and headed back to the hotel around midnight.
You may be thinking about now that Salvador is just a shitty, poor city full of beggars, but I need to clarify something. The city itself is a beautiful, old city with buildings still standing that were built centuries ago. It overlooks the Atlantic Ocean and a very beautiful bay. The people who work in the city are very nice people… friendly and warm and always smiling. The tourist areas are overrun by people trying to sell crap to tourists so if you have a strong will and just say no, it really is a great place to visit.
It’s taken a few days to get over my culture shock and become comfortable walking around, but now I feel like I can really relax and take in the culture and the city. I’m very much looking forward to the next few days in Salvador.
I decided that I would check out a different neighborhood today. Driving through the city, I was able to see another side of Salvador. Many parts are an interesting combination of colonial and art deco architecture. Both standing next to each other in some cases. Since I haven’t been spending much money on this trip so far, I decided I would splurge a little and stay at a nicer hotel. The hotel is Catharina Paraguaça in the Rio Vermelho area. It’s a beautifully restored colonial era hotel a block from the beach. There are many nice-looking restaurants and bars near. I’m looking forward to the next couple nights here.
Today is a holiday for Brazilians. The 15th of November is the celebration of the creation of the republic of Brasil. That meant all the shops were closed and people were just hanging out and it was a great day to just relax and relax.
I had more acarajé for lunch today. Damn, was it good! I sat outside in the plaza and had a big beer and ate lunch in the shade. Speaking of shade, the temperature finally picked up today. I think it was probably around 90F in the sun. It felt good to be warm and on the beach. If tomorrow is nice, I may check out a beach down the road a bit that looked like it had good surf. The trick is going to be finding someplace to rent a board.