March 16, 2007
Day 534

Most of my day was spent planning for my parents' visit. I bought plane tickets to Iguazu, where we'll stay for the first four days before returning to Rio. I also bought a plane ticket for me to go from Salvador to Rio. I got prices from several bus companies, but flying was still cheaper than taking the cheapest bus. That and the fact that the flight is only two hours whereas the bus ride is twenty-six sold me on the plane ticket. I also got about a week's worth of food for my upcoming excursion to a Chapada Diamantina National Park, which is one of the best parks in all of Brazil. My bus leaves for the small town of Lencois, on the edge of the park, in the middle of the night.

March 15, 2007
Day 533

Nilton and I in the slave market.

Today I went back to the center of Salvador and met Nilton, another guy from Couchsurfing. He's a Salvador native who was eager to show me around his city. We walked through many plazas, churches (including one whose inside was made entirely of gold), and several interesting shops. Next we went to the hostel he was helping build. It's going to be a huge place in a prime location, so I don't think they'll have much trouble attracting customers.

We took the elevator (a bargain at 2.5 US cents) down to the lower city by the bay. There was a huge market with many African dolls, masks, and other souvenirs. Below the market was the old slave market, an eerily quiet place with walkways around many canals. The slaves who were up for sale were chained to the walls. When the water rose, many of the slaves drowned. It was an interesting place to visit that's not listed in my guidebook, another advantage of getting to know one of the locals.

The photo album for this entry is here.

March 14, 2007
Day 532

Looking out Daniel's window, a large city park called Parque da Cidade was visible next door. I asked Daniel if it was a nice place and he said that he had never been there. That made me decide to go there today.

The park was in fact a nice place to visit. It had a few trails that led through the forest and made me forget that I was in a big city. There was also a big amphitheater used for concerts. The only problem was that when I crossed the park, there was a favela waiting for me on the other side. Instead of walking through the slum, I turned around and headed back toward Daniel's safe haven.

My other news is that my parents are going to visit me in Rio de Janeiro in April. They want to go to Iguazu Falls and don't want to spent twenty-two hours on a bus to get there, so I've been searching for plane tickets. Also, my computer's screen went completely blank awhile back. A few months ago it got cracked up, then different sections of it started going out, one by one. It's completely useless now, and I'm finding it impossible to keep my blog updated without a computer. Hopefully I can find a new one so my parents can bring it to me. Electronics are ridiculously expensive in Brazil.

March 13, 2007
Day 531

I got to Salvador early this morning after being on a bus all night. Once again, there was a helpful information booth right at the bus station. I got myself oriented with the city, left my backpack at the bus station, and headed out for the day.

I was going to stay at Daniel, a guy from Couchsurfing's place, but he was at work, so I went into the center of the city for the day. It took over an hour for the bus to take me there. As usual, the bus station in Salvador was on the outskirts of the city. I saw some nice plazas in the center of the city, but I had to leave almost right away because the bus took so long. I went back to the bus station, grabbed my backpack, then took another bus to Daniel's neighborhood. In all I spent over three hours of my day riding on buses within the city. Salvador is big, but the sheer volume of traffic is the bigger problem. Traffic jams are everywhere.

I met Daniel at his apartment, a single-bedroom in a high-rise that's blocked off to the outside world by a guard station at the entrance, a common setting in Brazilian cities. He grew up in Natal and now works for a petroleum company outside the city. We had a lot of conversations about Brazilian economics. The basic story was the same as I had been hearing throughout Brazil: The rich live right next to the poor, the public education system is non-existent, anyone with enough money sends their kids to private schools, and everyone else gets left behind. Brazil is a country of contrasts, as any guidebook will tell you.

March 12, 2007
Day 530

Today was Olinda's birthday, yet another excuse for a party. I went to check it out at one of the main squares in town. They had the church decorated with large dolls, a stage set up for a concert, and a huge cake ready to be cut. About that time, I called the bus station to figure out when the buses left for Salvador. I figured there'd be a bus leaving at least once per hour all night, so I wasn't worried about not getting one. The loud music didn't help me understand the lady on the phone, but I was pretty sure she said something about 18:30. It was already 4:30 PM, so I figured I should go just in case.

I packed my backpack, took a bus into Recife, and found the subway station. I had to take two different trains at a busy time to get to the bus station. Along the way out of the city I passed all of those horrible slums again. I went back to the tourist information and found out that only one company had buses going to Salvador. I went to their ticket window and was told that indeed the only bus all night was at 6:30. The current time on the clock showed 6:23. The guy pulled up the bus information on his computer and there was only one seat left, so of course I took it. That was pretty good timing!

The bus was really nice and they actually played a movie. It was an old film from the 50's called Father of the Bride. For some reason the movie had English audio and Spanish subtitles, so most people on the bus couldn't understand it, but I had the advantage of speaking both languages and got it. Pretty much nothing happened in the movie, though, so I'm not sure why it was considered a classic. I kept waiting for the exciting chase scene or string of unsolved murders, but the plot was more boring that real life. Maybe I've just been too spoiled by our adrenaline rush culture to enjoy a classic.

March 11, 2007
Day 529

Olinda folks.

On Sundays in Olinda, everyone goes to the top of the big hill to watch the sunset and to have a big party. The people I met the other night went with me and had some more African food, checked out yet another church, and looked at all the hippie handicrafts for sale. But the highlight of the evening was the spontaneous Capoeira show that broke out in the streets. Capoeira was originally a martial art designed as a way for the Brazilian slaves to fight and escape from their masters. The government quickly made this illegal, but it was still widely practiced. Eventually, Capoeria was transformed into a dance of sorts, and it is very popular in this part of Brazil today. The show tonight started with a bunch of people standing around a big circle in the street. Two guys entered the ring, usually doing back flips, cartwheels, or some other acrobatic moves. Then they did a series of roundhouse kicks, barely missing each other every time. After a minute or so, they left the ring and two new performers entered. The entire time, people played drums and berimbaus and sang songs about how cool Capoeira is. After watching the performance for a few minutes, I couldn't disagree.

March 10, 2007
Day 528

I spent most of the day today checking out Olinda. There were lots of hills and more churches than houses. Seriously, I think some people must worship at multiple locations for there to be so many churches. Walking around the cobblestone streets and eating the traditional Afro-Brazilian street food was quite delightful. There were several museums, but the only one I went to had a bunch of colorful dolls and wallpaper. The only downside of Olinda that I could see was the beach, which had a lot of garbage on it and signs posted warning you not to swim because of the sharks.

Tonight Barbara and I took the bus into Recife (about a twenty minute ride) to see a movie. Almost all media in Brazil is in Portuguese, so I wasn't surprised when Barbara told me there was only one movie in English. However, I was surprised to learn that it was a cartoon because it's especially important for shows made for kids to be dubbed over in English because they can't read yet. But when I saw the poster for the movie, A Scanner Darkly (it had a completely different title in Portuguese), I realized that it wasn't for kids at all. It was a pretty good movie, but I had never heard of it before, which got me thinking...

Travel has left me completely disconnected from the pop culture portion of society. I have no idea about any current TV shows, movies, music, actors, or sports. I missed the end of the World Series, forgot about the Super Bowl, haven't seen any TV (even The Simpsons in ages, and probably couldn't even name one song in the top ten of any of the American music charts. I didn't even know that President Ford died until a month later, and only then because I happened to see a blurb on the Internet.

Sometimes I feel lost in society, like I can't even have a conversation with people from home about current events anymore. I don't think it's because I'm getting old, either. I don't even feel like I'm part of any country now. Since I started traveling I've learned a lot about South America, but don't know anything about my own country anymore.

Anyway, after the movie we went to see a forró band at a bar. The band was from the interior, which is kind of the equivalent of being from the southern US. Almost all Brazilians live in big cities on the coast, so those from the small towns in the interior are looked at as being different. They even have a different Portuguese accent which the city folk sometimes have a hard time understanding. But when it comes to playing the tambourine and triangle, they are greatly appreciated.

Late at night, a bunch of us went back to Recife again. This time we went to a place that's a garage by day, bar by night. It was quite a classy venue with plywood seats, oil-stained floors, and a balcony where dust fell through the cracks onto the patrons below whenever anyone walked on it. I think if it were in the US, the garage bar would be a place with an alternative theme with a $20 cover and $10 drinks, but here it's just a place to hang out after the other bars close and before dawn when the buses start running again.

March 9, 2007
Day 527

A church in Olinda.

I took another "short" bus ride to Recife, yet another big city on the coast, this afternoon. This time, finding my way around was easy. There was a tourism information center right at the bus station with people who spoke English and were eager to help me to get where I wanted to go. They gave me directions to Olinda, a smaller city next to Recife, and I was on my way.

There was a metro station attached to the bus terminal, so I boarded a train and started to ride to the center of town. On the way, I passed multiple favelas (slums) with the worst living standards I've ever seen. It was truly horrific seeing how the people living right next to the train tracks lived. When I got to the last stop in the center of Recife, I found a bus right away to take me over to Olinda. I decided to go there because it was smaller and I heard it had a better atmosphere than Recife.

Tonight I met a girl named Barbara from Couchsurfing, and we went to a small party with some people from Spain who were living in Olinda for a few months. There were a bunch of people who were passing through the area and were members of Couchsurfing. It was a fun evening.

The photo album for this entry is here.