Now we are back in Rio, we are both missing Salvador already! We had so much fun in Salvador, once we came to know the city more and met more people, it was starting to feel like a home away from home...
The last few days in Salvador, what did we do?... We ended up spending 7 nights there, extending our stay and we would have loved to stay for carnaval if we hadn't yet booked accomodation in Rio.
The hostel Nega Maluca was the best hostel I've ever come across and that place was awesome to hang around during the day in between activities. Because of the lead-up to carnaval, quite a few new people were arriving and some moving around to new apartments in Barra (the local beach) which is closer to many of the blocas for carnaval.
We had another dance class one day with a local friend we had been introduced to by some German friends, but it was not nearly as good as the last one. Some parts were quite commical and we were trying to figure out if he was serious or not! Fun nonetheless. And when he dipped me at the end, trying to teach some salsa, he nearly dropped me, and then kept trying it again telling me "No, I am strong, lean back" and I was thinking yeah right, you're 5 foot, I dunno about that!
Oh yeah - another day Tanya and I caught a bus to the major shopping centre just out of town, called Iguatemi, opposite the city's main bus station (rhodoviaria). It was really nice actually to be out of the hustle and bustle of the old city and hang around in a major shopping mall which really felt like I was in Burwood or Parramatta. Very similar to our shopping centres at home, but this was huge. We had lunch at the Brasileiro equivalent of McDonalds - "Bob's Burgers" and that included this really super yummy ovaltine flavoured shake which is similar to an oreo-bash. You can also order a beer with your happy meal if you wish! Oh - and they had Delta Goodrem playing through the speakers too. We had some fun looking through the equivalent of K-mart and yes, I couldn't resist the cheap clothes and bought yet another top for my collection!
Tanya was great in getting directions to Iguatemi, but we realised once we walked out that we had no idea how to get back to our hostel, or even what the area or bus stop was called! But we managed superbly, using a bit of female intuition combined with some very friendly strangers, and made it home safely.
That night there was a free band playing in one of the squares nearby and so a group from the hostel went to watch. We made some more friends who took us to the reggae club we were a few nights before, and that was awesome again - loads of people, young and old, shakin it to the music which was about 8 older men playing drums and singing - very cool and quite diverse in music also. A stop at another local place was awesome, I think i was the only carioca-looking person there for a while, but it was great.
On our last day we went with one of the friends we met who is a capoeira teacher and gave us a brief but very impressive show - to Barra - the local beach as it was the festival of the sea in Salvador, where people offer gifts to the sea, and although we avoided the main beach where that was happening, there was a huge band playing at Barra by the beach and loads and loads of people lying on the beach, playing football (soccer) on the sand, swimming and hanging around. It is two weeks of vacation for most people over this time of carnaval and on this day, especially with the music nearby, it really felt like everyone was enjoying themselves, looking really happy. I wondered if they really were loving this day as a special day or if it is much like Australia Day at home where most people are just excited about the time off work.
After waiting in a restaurant for our lunch for over an hour - I think the cooks must have been growing the rice out the back before preparing it - we walked out and left, went for a swim and sat on one of the row boats that was left moored out from the beach and then walked again back to Pelo which is a good hour and a half or so walk. This was our last day in Salvador and I did so much walking and dancing that night - we met up with another friend who is a dance teacher - about 6 foot tall with another foot high of hair! And man did we dance!
Because of the festival and celebrating equality, the local reggae club which we had never been to because they don't let cariocas in - was open to all with another cool band playing. This guy Sidney is amazing, he dances and gathers a following of about 10-20 people in the place who follow his moves and it's like something out of a movie, he gets the whole place going! When he called me over I thought oh no! I can't do that! But it's actually a lot easier than it looks and after quickly learning most of the moves, a group of us left and found the local drumming group walking through the streets and joined that parade and led the dancing. It was heaps of fun - though dancing in thongs on uneven cobble streets is a bit difficult when you're doing spins and things. But SO MUCH FUN!!
At about 3am we thought we had better head off for some sleep before our taxi arrived at 6:30! Inbal - the who owns and runs the hostel with his partner Natalia - was so nice in waking up and meeting the taxi and saying goodbye to us. He said he considers if someone is staying at his house, the least he can do is get up to say goodbye. That sort of thing makes all the difference. So if you go to Pelo/Salvador and want a GREAT place to stay, I can't rate Nega Maluca highly enough. A definite recommendation.
Our 27 hour bus ride to Rio was so much more comfortable for me than our 15 hour one on the way up, since I didn't have a 2 year old squirming all over me. I slept for ages actually. We also had 3 very kind friend we met sitting opposite us - 2 kids about 12 and 14 who were brother and sister and travelling with their mum and another friend of theirs who was about 18 and were helping us learn more Portuguese. The older one Leonardo was particularly keen to learn English too - asking Tanya from the phrase book if she would like a massage!!
Oh - SO funny - we also met these Canadian travellers from Quebec last night and one guy kept talking about offering a "massage" since that is his vocation (and Tanya had a sore shoulder) but it kept coming out as "message" like in the Pink Panther. Every time he would say it we would end up in stitches! I guess it's kind of a had-to-be-there moment though hey?
So after arriving in Rio just in time for carnaval, last night was highly disappointing. No street parties or parades to be seen here in Copacabana which was very suprising after all the action in Salvador, but we were happy with a quiet night anyway. Also unfortunate is the fact that it has been raining quite heavily here since before we arrived and it's predicted to last for most of carnaval. It makes the weather quite a bit cooler and less enticing to walk around outside, but we'll make the most of it just the same. We also heard on a new update that there's been flooding in Australia - just not sure exactly where yet.
It was also really sobering last night to see more of the poverty gap here as we walked back to our hostel - it was drizzling with rain still and a bit cool and families with kids were lying in cardboard boxes on the side of the road. So many young kids beg for money from tourists and even walk onto the road to beg from taxis. The difficulty is that apparently it often goes to all the wrong places, so it's best to offer food instead. But walking past last night it was quite upsetting and I just wished I had a blanket I could wrap round them. Tanya and I spoke about it today and are hoping to buy some food to hand out or to do something practical like that. There is just such a big gap between the rich and poor here, and so very many people living in poverty with no government support whatsoever, the problem seems too big to combat on a national level.
There are many more Aussies here than we have run into elsewhere. Very suprisingly, we ran into a group today staying at our hostel who are good friends with one of Tanya's good friends Suja. I also ran into Breanna from work today standing outside the world-famous Maracana stadium after we went with a huge group to see two local Brasilian teams play in their State comp - it was a draw 2-2 between the teams Flamengo and Fluminense. We were up behind the goal stand with loads of locals waving massive team flags, playing the drums and chanting non-stop so it was very cool.
Ahhh.... more Jack Johnson playing here at the hostel - so nice to hear.
So that's the update for now... hugs and kisses to you all back home...xoxoxo
Posted by Haley at February 5, 2005 09:41 PM