Viva Espanha!

Hello my friends! Just thought I would share my exciting news with the world. No, no, I have not won the Brazilian lottery, or married a rich man (as the title of my last blog said I was aiming for). No, it is simply that, as a greedy traveller, I have decided to make the most of my last ever big summer holiday, and have booked myself another trip!!

Yes! You heard correctly. I thought, bugger it, what´s the use of savings these days, I am not buying a house in the near future! Instead, I shall be going to Barcelona for 6 days at the end of August!! Wooyay! As you can tell, I am thrilled, especially as I managed to get a British Airways return flight for just 60GBP!! (Okay, admittedly, it is from Gatwick, but at least I get a meal on board and don´t have to look at ugly young stewards/stewardesses in garish orange.) If anyone has been there before and has any recommendations for what to see or do, please let me know!! I cannot wait to confuse all the Spaniards (and even worse, Catalans) with my Portuguese!!

Eu gostaria de casar com um homem rico!

Boa tarde amigos e amigas! Tudo bem? How are you all? It is super-dooper hot here, like way hotter than it was last week, and it is showing. Despite my desperate attempts to stop tanning by applying and reapplying the factor 25 cream, I am browning every day. By the time I get to Turkey, I will probably look like a Turk!! I hope the good weather will last until the end of the week, because I really want to use the weekend to explore a bit, and if it´s raining, I will feel inclined to sit on my bed with a packet of biscuits and a book all day. Oh, which reminds me, they have that disgusting Aquarius drink here, and the same bizarre strawberry-cream biscuits as I found in Malaga airport......so in many ways, a Spaniard would feel right at home here! They really like their sugar here - everything is immensely sweet, and you can feel your teeth rotting. The juice they serve in the morning for breakfast in the Pousada is freshly squeezed or blended fruit, diluted with a lot of water, and then shedloads of açucar is added. WHY???!! Fruit is sweet enough on its own here. Arghhhhh! And I went into the supermercado to buy some snacks, really hoping to find some crisps or something salty, but couldn´t find anything other than biscuits, and some salty crackers that remind me of the ones we would eat out of desperation sometimes in India. It´s really weird. One thing I wanted to try here was the food from the street vendors, particularly acarajé. It´s like a falafel, but its made of beans, shaped into a big ball, the size of your hand, and fried to death in palm oil (which stinks). The ball is then split open and filled with mashed up shrimp, some peanut paste and other stuff. Sounds good, except firstly, I have heard that sometimes they don´t take the tails of the shrimps - there is no way in hell I am eating prawn shells. Secondly, if something is greasier than the samosas from Shahanshah, then I am going to have to say no, or there will be dire consequences afterwards. Henceforth, I am going to pass the Baianas sitting on the curbside selling the oily delights.

On Monday I went to the extra dance class in the Pelourinho, at the Diaspora school. It was really awesome, way better than the classes at school. We warmed up for ages, and then, a drummer started to beat out a rhythm on the drums for us to dance to. Every now and then, he would speed up because he felt like it, and we would have to perform the movements we had just barely grasped at warp speed. It was seriously tiring, but it was a lot of fun, and because it was open to anyone and everyone, it felt more real and authentic than the class at school. The dance was pretty much Afro-Brazilian, so some Candomblé and Axé moves. I think I will be well and truly prepared for this year´s Notting Hill Carnival! The next class was yesterday, but I was way too tired to go. I think the rise in temperature and humidity and all the walking I have been doing has taken its toll, and I feel exhausted by the end of the day. I shall endeavour to attend the Monday classes though, and then do the Wednesday and Friday classes at school. That´s enough exercise and dancing for one person!

The night out in the Pelourinho on Tuesday (fiesta night!) was ok. Met up with Steve, Malik and others and went for a quick drink at the Bahia Café first, before moving to the streets. But, pretty much everyone has been zapped of energy, so by 11pm, we were saying our goodbyes. The music and the atmosphere was pretty good though, but I feel that it would be a lot more enjoyable if you really appreciated the music and if there weren´t so many people begging or trying to sell you something. Ah well, its a touristy place, so it cannot be helped.

I also managed to wash my clothes - hurrah!! All by hand, because the laundry services/launderettes here are pretty expensive. Thus, my hands were pretty wrinkly and sticky afterwards, but at least I have clean clothes!

Today, in an hour or so, there is an excursion from the school to Forte de São Marcelo, which is some sort of fort in the mar (sea) and that we get to by a 15 minute boat journey. I would really like to go to the island one day (there is a big island across from Salvador, with the best mangoes in all of Bahia), but the journey is about 45 minutes and the sea looks pretty rough, even on a good day, so I don´t know if I will be able to handle it. Apparently, on the weekend, there was an excursion to Morro de São Paulo, which takes 2 hours to get to, and because the weather was really bad, all the students got given a bucket as soon as they boarded the boat. Hmmmmm, gross!

Oooooh, this weekend is the final of the Copa America, with Brazil versus Argentina!! We are going to go to a bar to watch, because its going to be awesome! There aren´t many opportunities to watch such a big game in one of the countries participating! I may buy a Brazil football shirt in preparation! Adeus, blogreaders!

A Chuva

Rain. Why so much rain? There were bursts on Friday, and again on Saturday for most of the morning and early afternoon, and today is pretty overcast. Obviously, I know it is the rainy season here, and expect it to be wet a lot, but it would be so great of it rained equatorial style here, in one big burst for a couple of hours in the afternoon, and then no more until exactly the same time the next day. Anyway, I woke up on Saturday with the plan of meeting Isabelle to go to Bonfim, but it was absolutely chucking it down, so Isabelle, Kent (an Americano), Steve (guess!) and I dashed to the nearby Museu Afro-Brasilero for shelter. Turns out it was R$5 to get in, so we had a look around. The ground floor is filled with various artefacts recording the black contribution to Brazilian culture. One of the best rooms was filled with carved panels by Carbé (Bahia´s most famous artist). The 27 carved wooden panels depicted the gods and godesses of Candomblé. For those who don´t know, Candomblé is a popular Afro-Brazilian religion. The followers dress in white and worship together in a dance, with music and singing. A lot of people go to watch Candomblé ceremonies here, but as much as it looks interesting, I also feel a little sceptical about going to a ceremony that they know tourists are coming to watch. Surely, you are taking something away from the meaning of it all, and turning it into a money-making show for people who think it is a value-for-money, real Brazilian experiences. Anyway, I digress. The museum was suprisingly good,though it would have helped to have English descriptions here and there. Within the museum was the Museu Arqueológico e Etnológico. It was in the basement of the main 19th century building,and incorporates the only surviving part of the old Jesuit college, a section of the cellars. In the cave-like setting were various costumes, jewelery items and weapons from Indian tribes in Brazil. It was quite interesting to see all the outfits and masks from the African side, because you don´t usually find this sort of thing in museums in the UK or Europe, unless there is a specific exhibition going on.

Next, we dashed to the Catedral Basilica across from the museum. This was once the chapel of the largest Jesuit seminary outside Rome. The inside of the cathedral as just amazing and unexpected, given the grubby, drab exterior. The ceiling was made of panelled, carved and guilded wood, and the side chapels decorated heavily in gold and in a sort of Roccoco style. Behind the main part of the cathedral was a recently restored sacristy, where portraits of Jesuit luminaries (on the wall and ceiling) gaze down intimidatingly on intruders. Downstairs was the crypt, alongside a constant nativity scene. One of the bricked-up crypts looked like it was freshly used, as the cement seemed a little new. Creepy.

From here, we rushed over to the Igreja de São Francisco, which is one of the best examples of azulejo work in Brazil (Portuguese blue tiling, used to tell a story). We had a quick look around, but didn´t pay to get into the church proper, as we decided lunch was more important. Down the road we found a bizarre creperie-cum-hostel filled with youngsters. Anyway, the crepes were sooooo good and filling. I may go back one day for a sweet version.

By now the rain had died down so we headed towards the Mercado Modelo, an old covered market, which has plenty of stalls selling all manner of tourist-tat as well as some reasonable pieces of art. I will return for souvenier-buying once I have learnt how to bargain somewhat, or found a Brazilian to haggle for me. Now, the exciting thing here is that to get to the market, you need to take the Elevador Larcedo, which is the only way to get down from the Pelourinho unless you really want to risk mugging by taking one of the winding roads down. The elevator is only 5 cents a go, and its so fast, you feel like you´re on a rollercoaster!! I met up with Isabelle and Steve for drinks and a meal later on in Barra, and while we were out we semi-watched a football match. I believe it was Brazil against Chile,in the Pan-American Cup, and Brazil won 6-1. There was quite a good atmosphere on the streets that night. Isabelle and I are going to make inquiries to go and see a football game in Salvador, because it would be a great way to get a feel for the Brazilian love for the beautiful game!

Ahhhhh, I forgot to tell you about the inter-cultural meeting on Friday night. Well, that wasn´t much of a success, given most of us cannot speak conversational Portuguese yet. So, instead we just got to know one another more, which was cool. Lev wanted everyone to go to some clube 20 minutes drive away from the bar, but a lot of us didn´t have enough money to go there, pay the R$20 to get in, buy drinks and get back to our homes. So, although I wanted to check it out, I had to decline, given I only had R$21 on me! Still, there´s plenty of time to be ripped off to get into a club yet! Here, you pay once you leave the club, so can you imagine what would happen if you had drunk more than you could afford to pay?!

Yesterday, I relaxed for most of the day, and read my books in various locations. It was really warm, so I could have gone to Bonfim, but I decided to go on Saturday this week, for personal reasons. I finally managed to get to a pharmacy too to get some cream for the itchy mozzie bites. Ahhhh, the relief is immense! Today, two new students have joined our class to replace Lev and Lin who have left. It´s a little hard for them, as we have already progressed a bit, and they simply have to catch up, but hopefully they won´t struggle too much. The school has organised a tour to the Pelourinho today, but dear god, there´s no need for me to go to that, given I live right here and see it all the time. So I´m gonna chill, and then maybe go to the extra-curricular dance class, depending on whether I have enough energy!

So, one week in, and I´m still enjoying myself! Must find some detergent so I can wash my clothes soon :-( Don´t think I´m missing England yet (though, obviously, I am missing all of you!) but I know that when I get back, it would be sooooo great to eat cereal, as I don´t think the milk here is too good. Keep writing to me, when you can. Até logo!

The bell tolls for the end of week 1

So, what have I been up to these last couple of days? Well, I discovered a great place to eat near the school - it´s a comida por kilo, which pretty much does what it says on the tin. You fill up your plate with as much food as you like from a buffet-type selection, and pay by the weight of the food. Brilliant!

The dance class was great fun. There were about 7 or so of us, and we were basically all beginners, and so it was an excellent experience. Had some people been experts at samba, I would probably have felt like I used to in Year 10 Dance at school. There´s another one today, and a group of us are going to attend another 2 next week but outside of school. Apparently, its going to be a proper workout, so, combined with the walk to and from school, 50 minutes each way, I might just burn off the kilos I´m eating at lunch!! Our teacher may or may not be gay, but he´s certainly quite camp, which might be part of the job criteria. The Afro-Brazilian dance stuff was good, and we had a little routine worked out, but the samba was quite tricky, and just looked like a dance for people who don´t want to take their feet off the ground for too long. I much prefer the Afro-Brazilian moves - I wouldn´t be surprised if I could work my patented chicken dance into it somewhere. A bunch of us went for a walk and chatted by the beach afterwards, and it was really good to have some company for a bit longer in the day than usual. I think everyone is finding the days long and not enough to do between school ending and dinner. We´re all getting through the books we brought with us to read much faster than expected.

Thus, today I decided to buy some books if I could find them, in a bookstore in the giant mall, the Shopping Barra. Firstly though, I got myself a pot of açai. This is one of the best things I´ve ever eaten. For 4 Reais, you get a pot of the açai fruit, blended with ice, and topped with banana and granola. It´s refreshing and filling at the same time. Açai is a fruit from the Amazon, which the Indians have been eating for centuries because of its nutrional value - it´s filled with all sorts of vitamins and protein. Yum yum. The 4 Reais I save from walking instead of taking the bus have now found a new purpose!

I walked along the beach and then headed inward to the shopping centre. It´s huge. There´s a bigger one slightly out of town, which was planned as the biggest mall in Brazil. Apparently, some guy now plans to build another in Brazil somewhere which will be the biggest in South America. Good luck to him. Anyway, the centre itself was pretty standard and the clothes not cheap at all. If you think you can go to Brazil and buy shed loads of stuff for cheaper than at home, you are mistaken, unless you get it all from the street, in which case, yes, but it´ll fall apart in a short while. Oddly, Zara has conquered Brazil too (which should make my dad happy). Anywho, I found the shop, and purchased a dictionary and the only book I deemed worthy to buy - Austen´s Emma. The rest of the selection of literature in English was dominated by Danielle Steel and Harry Potter. Blame the American tourists for that (and the McDonald´s, Dominos, Pizza Hut, Subway etc). So, now I don´t need to pace myself so much with my books, which is good, as I would be so bored in the afternoons, and the flight home without something to read.

Tonight, there is an inter-cultural meeting at a bar/restaurant in Barra. We are going to meet up with some local Brazilian students who are trying to learn English, and just get to know each other. Should be interesting, but I will soon reach my limit in conversation, unless they are really interested in me describing my personal characteristics. As for the weekend, I´m not too sure what the plan is, but I might go to Bonfim, which isn´t too far away but looks pretty cool. It really depends on what the weather is like, as I don´t want to be in the middle of nowhere during a tropical rainstorm. What´s really sad and annoying is that thje churches here are some of the most amazing in the Portuguese style and in the Catholic world. They are simply laden with solid gold and silver, but because of this, they are closed pretty much all the time out of fear of theft. So, even though the guidebook tells you there are all these things to see, more often than not, you cannot. I also cannot figure out when museums are open/closed. Certainly, on weekends they seem shut. Arghhhhh. Maybe it will be something to bring up with the students tonight.

Once bitten, twice shy

Arghhhhh, I´ve been attacked!! No, not by men looking for a watch to steal, but by mosquitos! Goddamn. It´s horrible - I´ve got bites all over me. Big red blotches. Gross. Anyway, I´ve slapped on more suncream (with insect repellant built-in) than my skin can absorb today as a precaution.

Let me tell you a bit about my Pousada. It´s very nice, though when I arrived there on Sunday evening, I thought bloody hell. Brazil feels a bit like India in many ways. It´s hot and sticky, it smells in some places like human excrement and wee, there´s posh areas with big metal gates so the riff-raff cannot get in, and there´s beggars and thieves. To add to this, my room in the Pousada is painted the exact same horrid shade of green as my village home in Barwala, India. Thus, when I got here, I felt like a snob. But then, after a day I realised that the Pousada was great, and the green was growing on me. My room is massive, given that it´s meant for 3 people, but there´s only tiny me in it. It has a sink, a ceiling fan, a safe, and somewhere to plug in my hair straighteners (lol). There are plenty of bathrooms, and mine is 2 metres from my bedroom. It´s immensely clean, and the shower spurts out lukewarm water, a blessing after 30-degree heat and humidity. Each morning, the family who run it wake up at the crack of dawn to bake fresh bread and cakes and prepare the eggs and fruit for the breakfast buffet. Compared to some big hotels I´ve stayed in around the world, what we get for breakfast here is very good: fresh local fruit (melons, pineapple, oranges, tinsy-winsy bananas and some that I have never seen before, and so haven´t tried yet), scrambled eggs, fruit juice, coffee and the delicious home-made, warm vanilla cake that I cannot help but take giant slabs of. Mmmmmm.

Anyway, I should get some lunch, and then I will return to the school, for my first Afro-Brazilian dance class. Samba! Oh, by the way, Salvador is 4 hours behind London time (hence why I´m getting lunch and you´re probably just getting ready for dinner). Peace out.

My first day at school!

Today is my first day at school, and first access to the internet for a while (hence why there are two posts on one day). The school is really nice - there are loads of other people here, starting at the same time. They quickly determined that my grasp of Portuguese was restricted to names of food and words you pick up from airports (exit, toilet, arrival, departure etc). Thus, I was placed in the beginners class with 3 other students from across the globe (New York, Sweden, Taiwan), and a nutty teacher. So far, we´ve accomplished quite a bit in the 3 hours or so that we´ve had today, and there´s homework to do too! The school must have at least 25-30 students here at the moment, some only coming for a week or so, others here for like 2 months. A group of us went to eat at a local vegetarian restaurant (oh the joy) where food is priced by the kilo. Today there´s a cooking class, but I´m excited about the dance and Capoeira classes that are scheduled for the rest of the week. There´s also excursions and meetings with Brazilian students to keep me occupied. The school is a short bus-ride from the Pousada, and costs only 2 Reais (pronounced hee-yais), so I´ll be taking that every morning, but I will probably walk back, because I need some exercise. The school is located in the Barra district, which is home to the upper middle-class (and, sadly, noticeably lighter-skinned) Brazilians, whereas the Pelourinho is very African. So, while its safe to walk around here until 10pm, its not recommended that you are out by yourself in my area as soon as the sun sets, which is a shame, because you can feel like a couped up chicken. Anyway, I´m off home now, and will probably be meeting people to enjoy the partying in Pelourinho tonight.

Also, just to let my nearest and dearest know, I am being safe and careful when I go out, so please don´t worry. Email me whenever you like, but don´t call because it´s seriously pricey. Text is okay though. Ate logo!

Monday 2nd July

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.