Brazil

Before landing in Brazil I didn’t have any real expectations. We arrived in Salvador on Tuesday morning and had our pre-port de-briefing where the deans gave us tips on safety, places to go, places not to go, and of course tons of information about the infamous Carnival. That afternoon we wondered the streets of Pelourinho, ate some native fruits and headed back to the ship early to get ready to go back out for the festivities.

You haven’t been to a party until you’ve experienced Carnival in Brazil. When we went back out around 7pm, 2 million people crowded the same streets that we had easily navigated 3 hours earlier. As my friends and I pushed through the crowds hand-in-hand we made our way down to an intersection where floats would be passing by. Every 10-15 minutes a different float would pass by with thousands of people singing and dancing to the performers on the float. People were all dressed up in different costumes (each representing a different group of people or float), and of course in Brazilian fashion some people were NOT dressed in costume if you know what I mean. One thing was for sure though and that was that everyone was having a GREAT time. Carnival was by far the best party I’ve ever been to (although dirty frat house basements in Syracuse come in a close second haha), and I felt that I really got a sense of the Brazilian patriotism and spirit.

The next day many of my friends left to either go to the Amazon or to Rio de Janeiro, but I stayed in Salvador. Tired from the night before, Todd, Liela and I decided to do something low key for the day so we went to the local mall (I know what you are thinking “you are in brazil and you decide to go to a shopping mall?!”). Truthfully that is what I was thinking as well when we first arrived; however, my presumptions changed quickly when I realized that there were no Gaps, Bloomingdales or Sephora make-up stores. Instead there were local boutiques, swimwear stores (all selling speedos for guys and thong bathing suits for girls), and TONS of Footlocker type stores selling soccer jerseys and expensive sneakers (the average Nike sneaker in Brazil is close to 400reals which is almost $250). After walking around for a while we decided to get a snack, which was an awkward experience. Not being able to speak Portuguese and Brazilians not being able to understand English makes for an interesting combination trying to order food. Luckily my three years of high school Spanish kicked in and I was able to order a small chocolate ice cream cone. From this point forward the language barrier became very evident.

On Thursday we woke up early to go on a schooner ride through the bay to look at the Salvador skyline and the surrounding forts from the 16th century. Although interesting, this trip was pretty boring overall. The boat we were on was pretty old and dirty and I (like always) had to pee half way through the trip so that didn’t help much. We learned some interesting facts about the city and saw it from a different angle, but I feel I would have rather toured the heart of the city on my own instead of the outskirts by boat. Luckily I had my mind on the night ahead of me the whole day. After the tour we headed to the local market where I bought a Pelé soccer jersey.

We got back to the ship, had dinner, I put on my soccer jersey and we headed to the Bahia (Brazil) vs. Ponces (Argentina) Futbol game. The one thing I have said since I knew the itinerary of this trip was that I wanted to go to a “real” soccer game and experience “real” fans. I was more than excited when I found out that Semester at Sea got 200 tickets to the game. The game was so much fun. I loved watching the Bahia fans yell and cheer on their team. Something I found very interesting was that at half time and at the end of the game 10 military men with shields, guard dogs and guns went onto the field to escort the refs off the field. I guess the fans have gotten pretty out of hand in the past. Bahia (the home team) won 2-0 and I was so happy that I got to have that experience.

The next day we went to the local markets where I bought a really cool hammock (so I can rock to sleep when I get home), a couple necklaces, a CD with local Carnival music, and a little painting. I was looking for a snow globe the whole time, but I guess since they don’t get much snow they don’t make them…so I suppose I am scratching the whole getting a snow globe in every country idea. That night we headed to the Upper City called Pelourinho where we went to a show where dancers preformed many native dances and traditional martial arts. The show was really inspiring because the dancers seemed like they were connected to their heritage and culture. After the show we went to a local Bahian restaurant where we tried many different native foods (aren’t you proud of me mom and dad for trying new foods?). My favorite was the coconut pudding for dessert.

On Saturday Leila and I woke up early to go on a SAS sponsored trip to Praia de Forte and the Tamar project for conservation of sea turtles. We walked through the tide pools then headed to the turtle conservation where we saw a few different species of turtles that migrate through and inhabit the waters off the Brazilian coast. We also get to see baby turtles that were only 16 days old…so cute! After we left the turtles we headed into a really nice shopping town that had a lot of boutique stores and restaurants. The town was beautifully decorated and clean unlike some of Salvador that is mostly dirty and smells really bad. After a lunch of grilled chicken (which I have been craving since the beginning of the trip) we began our hour and a half bus ride back to the ship. Back on the ship we took naps, hung out and waited until 9:30pm when we sailed away from Salvador and started our 9 day trip across the Atlantic to Cape Town, South Africa.

Overall I found Salvador Brazil to be great in some aspects and not so great in others. I loved the spirit of the Brazilians during the soccer game and Carnival; however, I felt uncomfortable at times because of the high rate of crime. At one point I saw a man get mugged (had his cell phone ripped out of his hand), and I myself almost had my purse taken. Luckily I only heard minor stories like these and we all got back to the ship safely. I also found the structure of the city to be very different. Salvador is comprised of really rich people who live in skyscraper apartment buildings and very very poor people who live in slums called Favelas. The slums are directly next to the nice skyscrapers and visa versa. Although I know there is a middle class I did not find that they were prominent at all like in America. I was also really impressed with myself when I was able to bargain with the locals who only spoke Portuguese with my high school Spanish that I thought I had completely forgot.

If and when I come back to Brazil I definitely want to go to Rio de Janeiro instead of Salvador. From my friend’s pictures and stories I think they had a deeper connection with Brazil as a country than I did from staying in Salvador. However I am so grateful that I was able to experience the last day of Carnival, which was by far my favorite part of the week. Who else can say they have literally been to the biggest party in the entire world proven by Guinness world records?