Salvador

Today was our fourth day in Salvador and I have keeping busy- biking, exploring, and generally trying to remain hydrated in this extremely hot and humid climate!
Salvador is an extremely poor city. Of the 2.7 million residents, 80% are poor. I think the stat is something like 70% of the wealth is in the hands of 10% of the population. There are favelas (slums) all over the city. (It pretty much looks like the movie City of God, although that takes place in Rio.) The hillsides are lined with them. The only modern buildings are industrial, commercial, or governmental. And even then there are very few. The favelas are the face of the city.
Therefore there aren’t many things to do in the city besides explore the historic Pelourinho in the upper city. You have to take the huge Lacerda Elevator to get from the “financial district” that the port is in (at sea level obviously) to the upper city.
I did a walking tour of the Pelourinho on Tuesday. Pelourinho means “whipping post,” and it is the site where slaves were bought and sold. The old city is now where the affluent live. We also visited the ornate Sao Francisco Church. The walls are lined with 137 kilograms of gold. It is a shocking contrast to the poverty of Salvador that surrounds it. There is an abundance of Dutch Delft blue and white tile throughout this old city. I thought of you Mom. I went back to the old city for Carnival on the 5th. It is much more traditional and mellow there than it is down along the coast where the blocos are. (Blocos are huge street bands that blare music and parade along the streets gathering hundreds of people.) Up in the Pelourinho we watched many smaller parades go by with dancers in great costumes. There were lots of cute kids participating too and they were fun to watch.
The Explorer was one of six cruise ships to arrive on Tuesday. The other ships were double the size of ours! But they came, wreaked havoc, and left by the next night. In that sense SAS cannot be grouped into the cruise tourism category because we spend many days in each port with the intent of experiencing the food, customs, culture, and surrounding environment of each port we visit.
I attended a Candomble ceremony on Wednesday. Candomble is an Afro-Brazilian religion. You could call it a “sister religion” to Voodoo in Haiti and Santeria in Cuba. I was really excited to have this rare opportunity because I read Karen McCarthy Brown’s “Mama Lola: A Voodoo priestess in Brooklyn” last year, and was interested in comparing the two. Men and women dressed in all white with colorful beads entered the room to the beat of multiple drums. They proceeded to circle around the central alter to an Orisha (deity). The central alter was a combination of a female mermaid and a male holding a bowl of spoons. When the drumming stopped briefly they would bend down and touch their foreheads to the ground. The large roomed was lined with men, women, and children joining in on the singing. After the first hour or so two men went into trance. I only saw the back of one man who was bent over at a 90 degree angle. His legs were shaking uncontrollably as he was slowly guided out of the room. There was a break in the ceremony at this point. I was told later that the Orisha had arrived. Apparently these ceremonies last about 7 hours. We were there for about 2.5. Although I couldn’t understand what was said it was very noticeable when the energy in the room was rising. I remember from Mama Lola that the possessed take on all the characteristics of the spirit- so perhaps that man was possessed by a very old spirit and couldn’t walk upright.
Candomble′ was originally brought to Brazil during the Atlantic Slave Trade and was only practiced by slaves. Today 2 million Brazilians (1.5% of the pop.) declare Candomble′ as their religion. However one of my tour guides told us that people of different religions tend to participate as well.
Today I had an FDP (Faculty Directed Practica) to the Camacari Petrochemical Complex. It was just as exciting as it sounds.
Out tour guide, however, was an interesting guy who is both a private school professor and a public school teacher here in Salvador. He admits that the public schools are horrible, mostly because they don’t receive any money from the government. He was telling us about the favelas as well. The most important possession for these families is not a bed or a kitchen table but a TV. He said that he doesn’t own a plasma TV but most families in the favelas do. This is because of the Brazilian love of soccer and soap operas.
The second most important possession is a CD player.
That reminds me- I went to a futbol game last night! Bahia vs. Pocones. We (Bahia) won 2-0! The field office bought almost 300 tickets last minute- they bused us over there and SAS completely took over the stadium. It was lots of fun to watch a Brazilian futbol match!
We’re heading to Cape Town, South Africa tomorrow night and will be at sea for a super long stretch of 9 days!
Let me know what is going on back home!