Well folks, it´s lunchtime on Saturday, which means I have to quickly wolf down some grub before hot-footing it to the airport to catch my flight back to England (via Lisbon of course). Its a beautiful day outside, and I think I will miss the sunshine and the heat when I get back home, because apparently, most of Europe is experiencing some sort of torrential rain. Hmmmm.
On Thursday night, loads of us went on the excursion from the school to the Afro-Brazilian folk dance show in the Pelourinho. The show was amazing. I really cannot stress enough how cool it was, and it was very professional (it was performed in a theatre!!). The show encompassed various styles of dance, from Candomblé to capoeira to really traditional dances of the slaves working in the plantations. My favourite has to be the dance of the Fire God, (related to Candomblé), because the man carried a bowl of fire on his head, and two pots in his hands, and twirled around really fast on the stage without dropping anything or setting himself alight! The capoeira was also fantastic too - much better than any I had seen before. I can understand why all the male dancers were all tone and six-pack! I will have to look out for something like this at home, because it was just so good, and an hour show has just wetted my appetite for this sort of performance. After the show, we all went to Bar Panoramico, where there was a band playing forró, another type of fast-paced music to which you usually dance in pairs. After a drink and a bite to eat, we made it to the dance floor, where promptly single men would come up and ask to dance with us. I danced with one guy but then I quickly became tired of going round and round in circles performing the same move again and again. At least when I am dancing by myself I can just bust out any moves I like! Oh give me bhangra any day, and the light-bulb dance!!
Friday´s lessons weren´t as tiresome as I was expecting. For most of the lesson we played a game in pairs, where we had to think quickly of words around a particular subject. Felipé and I won, and so were given peanut-butter-like sweets as prizes. I was very proud that I could remember quite so many words....which I take as a sign that I have managed to build up a pretty good vocabulary over these 4 weeks, even if I haven´t obtained conversational Portuguese yet. In the second half of the lesson I was presented with my certificate for completing the course, and then we all gathered around to have photos taken with Marcelo. It was quite sad to know I would never step into the school again, after building up such a routine here. In the evening we went out to Rio Vermelho, a posher district of Salvador, up the coast from Barra. We eventually found somewhere to eat, and then ended up at another forró club to have a little boogie. The music there was much harder to dance to though - they mixed the traditional sounds with that of an electric guitar....make of that what you will. Most people were feeling pretty tired, so we left as the second band was performing a lengthy sound-check. It was weird to say goodbye to everyone, especially as I have just come to really enjoy myself here. But I hope that we will all stay in touch, and perhaps meet up when we are travelling in each-other´s home countries!
Today I have been using the morning to going to the Igreja do São Francisco, which was just amazing. It is one of the best examples of the baroque style. Inside the church, all the carvings are covered in gold, and it feels very extravagent. The church was built in the 1700s, and it has been well preserved since then. Outside in the cloisters, the walls are covered in blue tiles that tell a story, or at least, depict certain morals such as `silence is golden´ (obviously nobody here believes that one). After being stunned by the richness of the church and the poverty in the rough area just behind it, I went to the museum in the former home of Jorge Amado, the most famous Bahian writer. The museum was filled with pictures of Jorge with various celebrities in various fancy locations in the world. Among the faces I noticed Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Oscar Niemeyer and Jean-Paul Sartre. That is pretty cool.
My final adventure in Brazil is to get to the airport. I have decided to save the few pennies I have left, and so instead of spending lots on a rip-off taxi to the airport, I will be taking the executivo bus service (a mere R$5 I believe, with air-conditioning, which means it will be -15C in there, as the Brazilians love their AC). Hopefully I will make it there in one piece, with all my belongings. For now, I must say adeus, tchau and goodbye.
