Touched down in salvador in the late afternoon on friday. salvador is noticeably different from sao paulo, as i suppose most of brazil is – warm, tropical, more laid back, and tons of beaches. on the bus ride to downtown, i met marcos, who spent 5 awful months studying philosophy in colombia SC – i told him not to get any ideas about the rest of the US. anyways, he told me about some sweet spots to eat abara, a traditional bahian dish.
Friday night, i ended up going to pelorinho, or the old city area with a couple of guys from Boston! and New York (boo.). when we got out of the taxi, i was a little worried – looked kind of shaby – lots of military police, cobblestoned roads, hilly, old somewhat refurbished buildings, plenty of sketchy seeming characters. however, with the help of our taxi driver, who walked us directly to a music club pounding brazilian forro music, we made it in without any trouble. the night continued to be somewhat sketchy, as soon as i sat down i had to converse with a few prostitutes who harass foreigners etc. these girls were not tempting to say the least. anyways, my two friends met these two random brazilians and began dancing. i on the other hand found cheap liquor that tasted like raisins, and the next morning would prove that i drank too much.
the next day, i met two brazilians from rio who had studied in dublin in the hostel, and they were going to guarajuba, a beach about an hrs drive north along the coast. when brazilians speak about going to cool beaches, you know its time to tag along. before leaving, they took me to a big brazilian shopping mall, where i was able to buy a bright red sunga (speedo) orange tank top, and bright blue sandals for about $20. also before going, we drove to a ghetto fruit/everything market, where we bought 40 limes for 1 real (60 cents), saw amazing bat man bathing suit but didnt buy, also saw the biggest potato ive ever seen (size of a mallet).
the beach itself was awesome, although by the time we arrived, the sun was already starting to go down. no matter – this sun will kill me if i dont take it slowly. we swam, drank, and ate fresh fish caught that day near the beach. i also tried various colorful and spicy foods, the names of which i definately cannot remember. later that night, after returning to the city, i went out with the same two and a bunch of other brazilians to eat above average mexican food. it was a long but awesome day of speaking portuguese, hanging out with brazilians, and making loads of new facebook/orkut friends.
