Salvador, BrazilFeb 11, 2008
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| We arrived in Salvador, Brazil the morning of Tuesday, February 5. The moment we walked off the ship there were three women in large, white dresses who placed bracelets on everybody’s wrists in various colors which have the statement “Lembranca Do Senhor Do Bonfim Da Bahia”. I’m not sure of the exact translation but it has to do with having a good end in Bahia, Brazil. The bracelet is tied with three knots representing three wishes, and when it falls off your wishes are supposed to come true. I found out later that the original tradition consisted of placing a cotton bracelet on the wrist rather than the material used today which lasts much longer. We then proceeded to walk towards town through a booming marketplace called Mercado Moderno which had tons of booths with various goods. We had to take an elevator to get up to the main part of town where we found a stage with a band playing and tons children dancing. We walked through town for awhile and saw everybody setting up for Carnaval. We met a small group of guys who were marching in Carnaval with a group called “Sons of Ghandi”. This group consisted of approximately 10,000 people all wearing unique outfits and tons of blue and white beads. At lunch I talked to an older Brazilian woman who helped me learn some more Portugese. Her main advice was to not let the men kiss me, which proved to be a difficult task later on in the night. We walked around town some more to get a feel for Salvador before the sun set. Street vendors were constantly attempting to get us to buy more of the wish bracelets and sometimes you couldn’t avoid them being tied to your wrist without your approval. One time a man was tying the bracelet, and on the third knot asked if I wanted marijuana or cocaine and then followed me around for a couple minutes after I refused. The town is definitely unique and beautiful with a culture very different from our own. We went back to the ship to change, eat dinner, and get ready for Carnaval. Carnaval begins six days before Lent its Latin translation is “goodbye meat”. I didn’t bring anything with me and I put my money in each shoe so I wasn’t robbed like many of the people on the ship. I went out with a group of 14 people, and we managed to only lose one guy near the end of the night (he got back safely). The streets were absolute insanity! Unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. There were busses (the size of double deckers with a stage on top) called Camarotes where various musical groups were playing. The busses just slowly travelled the streets and masses of people followed. There was a roped off section around each Camarote where it was safer, but depending on the music group it was very expensive (up to $500 per night). So we decided to go the cheaper route and just walked/danced next to them the whole night. The music was incredible and there was such great energy (but I have no idea how they party that hard for so many days, one night was exhausting for me). The port-a-potties were disgusting, and people were just peeing in between them or on the streets. When we were waiting in line, a group of drag queens came up to us (danced in pink speedos and no shirt) to dance and one of them had a giant penis that he kept hitting everybody with. It was so disgusting and one of them licked my face. The whole night men kept petting/touching/kissing all of the girls in our group. It was mostly okay but some of the guys were very aggressive and either grabbed our wrists or heads and wouldn’t let go for awhile. We stopped by a side street and they had beer and capirinhas for 1 reais (which is about $0.60). Dancing on the streets was crazy and when the music was upbeat everybody started jumping up and down and you almost got carried through the crowd because there were so many people. We saw a couple people get arrested throughout the night, one fight, and a girl on a stretcher. Around 1 am we were getting tired and walked back to the ship. On the way back we bought meat on a stick and tamales from street vendors who had little carts they walked around with. The type of meat was unknown, but it was really good (I probably don’t want to know what kind of meat it was). Carnaval was absolutely incredible (probably the biggest party I will ever attend). They really know how to celebrate before Lent in Brazil. |
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