Right, so it´s my first proper day here, and already this trip has been insane! Since I haven´t written in a while, let me start a couple of days back...
My journey to Salvador has been a long and typically tiring one, with more queues than I had ever anticipated, which is bad given than I cannot stand waiting around for anything. Call it impatience, call it being quintessentially English, but although I can form a line well, as soon as I´m in one I can´t help complaining and moaning. Since most foreigners do not understand the art of queuing, especially at airports, this simply aggrevates my condition. Getting to Lisbon was painless enough, but leaving there for Brazil was a nightmare. Firstly, everyone decided to steal the taxi that I had specifically asked the hotel I stayed in overnight to call for me. After about 10-15 minutes of people jumping into taxis that I had been blatantly waiting for (patiently, I might add), I was finally offered a taxi-share by a very nice Portuguese man. Bless his soul, he didn´t even accept my money for the ride. We parted in the jumble that was the queue to Salvador/Madeira check-in. I hope he has a good holiday - there should be more people like him.
I waited for an hour to check-in at Lisbon, and then another 45 minutes to get through passport control. There were only 10 minutes remaining until my flight was scheduled to take-off when I finally got to my gate. I have never freaked out as much as I did then, envisioning myself being stranded at Lisbon airport for 4 weeks. In true Brazilian style, no-one was fussed about the countless passengers in the same predicament, and so we finally climbed into the sky an hour later.
On landing here I was greeted by a rep from Dialogo, and another girl starting at the school for the same duration as me. She´s practically fluent in Portuguese and is staying with a host family, so I won´t see her around too much. There are a few other people at the school staying at my Pousada, so this is handy. There is a big group of American students here too, so there are plenty of English-speaking people around (for the moment), which is a little comfort. It can be pretty strange to hear voices but not understand anything for hours on end, and to have to perform a pantomime to get yourself understood. Anyhow, onto my first night here....
After taking a walk around the Pelourinho (which is the region the Pousada is in, and is the historic centre of the town), I got a feel for the place and people. The town looked really pretty as the sun was setting, and just to rub the romance of it all in my face, there were dozens of loved-up couples around the Praca Municipal watching the sky turn into all shades of orange and purple. Feeling tired and alone, I decided to skip back to my room for an early night. Instead I met up with Dan and Rory, for some early evening, home-made Caiprinhas. A few lethal strength drinks and a mild bust-up with some of the US girls later, we left the Pousada in search of pizza. This quickly became a deal, and then a wait and then a search for, some illegal substances (weed and a gram of coke, if you were wondering). The innocent-looking guy who had taken the cash from the guys and promised goods had not returned, and so in haste, another deal was made, with some random dodgy looking guy in the street. Money was exhanged for a small parcel of white-powder. Annoyed, and in need of a hit, the guys and I returned to the Pousada to unravel the package and enjoy the effects. (I should stress here that I was merely tagging along, and was not part of the buying or taking or desiring of drugs.) The guys had been played!! Inside the plastic wrapper was nothing more than another, empty, plastic wrapper. Pizza-less and jetlagged, I decided to call an end to the odd evening´s adventures, leaving Dan riled up to go out and kick some ass for the scam. I found out today that he ended up in a fight with 8 other drug-gang people, and won! This place is truly whacky.
After a night of restless and disturbed sleep, I woke to the sound of drums beating outside my window. Today, the 2nd of July, is a bank holiday to mark the independence of Bahia from Portugal. It is celebrated with a huge parade, filled with bands, dancers, performers, Indians on horseback and troops of police. It was like being at the Notting Hill Carnival, only without the Soca, and with more precussion-based beats. I walked down to Largo Do Pelourinho and watched the paraders make the tricky climb up the steep cobbled street, in blazing morning sunlight. It was a terrific atmosphere, with everyone really enjoying the flag-waving, mid-morning Skol-drinking and nationalism of it all. Eventually, the sun got the better of me, and I headed back to the Pousada.
Later in the day, it absolutely chucked it down with rain, so I stayed indoors until I deemed it bright enough to go out. The parade was still going on, and it was now 4pm! I had yet another walk around the Pelourinho, and bought myself amazing corn-on-the-cob from a street vendor. It was wrapped up in the corn husk and drenched in so much butter, which dripped down my arms and onto my clothes. Ah well, it started to rain soon after, so I hot-footed it to a local internet cafe & restaurant, where I bought myself a mojito (you pronounce the j here). I pulled out my book to read while I waited for the rain to clear, and immediately became noticed by other travellers. I met two French people, a cute young couple from near Paris, who are off to Sao Paulo tomorrow (by boat!) but who have my email so we can meet up in a week´s time when they return. Another guy was a French (but lives in Tahiti) dentist, who works for 2 months and then travels for 2 months. What a life!! There were others too, but they were less interesting (a Brazilian who speaks English in a horrid American accent, and a spaced Californian). The rain didn´t quit, so I had a quick bite to eat there, before running home in torrential rain. It was a shame, because if it hadn´t been raining, the festival would have spilled out onto the streets until the early hours. Ah well, apparently, every Tuesday evening in the Pelourinho is a massive party!
PS: I drank my first ever beer, a Skol, and it was gross.
