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Although neither of us regret the time we spent in Rio, the lack of clear skies and sunshine while we were there meant that we weren´t all that disappointed to leave either. In fact, I think I speak for the both of us when I say that we felt cheated by Rio. Everyone has told us that it is a completely different city when the sun comes out to play, so we left with the feeling that we hadn´t seen Rio de Janeiro in all its glory. In addition, with all the tours we did to make up for the absence of beach worthy weather, our pocket books were screaming for a change of scenery. I´m not sure if the escape we provided was quite what our quickly depleting bank balances had in mind, but nonetheless we boarded a flight to Salvador da Bahia. Thanks to our good friend Tara, who lived in Salvador for about a year, we knew quite a bit about the African soul of Brazil even before we arrived. Salvador has a rich history and one of the most vibrant cultures in South America. It sits on a peninsula at the mouth of Baia de Todos os Santos, once holding the title of being the capital of the slave trade between Africa and the New World. In fact, the plaza in which we stayed, Largo do Pelourinho, was once the place where slaves were auctioned and publicly beaten. The name Pehourinho actually means whipping post. Looking out from the window of our hostel at the plaza, imagining what it must have looked like when the slave trade was still thriving, was a chilling experience- all the more real when decorative posts have been put up as momentos during Carnaval.However, I won´t pretend for a second that we went to Salvador as students of international relations intent on touring important historical sites. We did make some interesting observations and experienced a few things that are interesting to us because of our studies, but there is no use pretending that we were in Salvador for any other reason but to party. Rio may have the title of hosting the most international renowned and recognized Carnaval, but Salvador is regarded as the undisputed champion amongst most Brazilians. Without a doubt we were not the only foreigners in Bahia for Carnaval, but Brazilians flock in even greater numbers to partake in the craziness of Barra/Ondina. What is fantastic about Carnaval in Salvador is that there are three different areas of town that offer very distinct celebrations; Pelourinho offers a more traditional celebration full of marching percussion bands, capoeira demonstrations, and costumes; Campo Grande boasts the most traditional parade-like atmosphere; and Barra is pure madness, rivaling the likes of Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Ibiza in Spain. Given that Carnaval lasts nearly a week (in fact the party goes much longer) we decided to try and take in the festivities offered by each at least once.We hadn´t been in Salvador long when we ran into one of Morgan´s friends from back home. Landon and his friend Cale are also traveling South America, and we had planned on meeting up with them at some point, but apparently no plans needed to be made as fate would have us randomly run into each other instead. Landon so kindly notified us that DJ Tiesto had his own bloco (a float on which someone performs and those who buy tickets get to walk along beside the float). I had seen a billboard promoting his bloco, but I had figured it was way out of our price range. Well, it didn´t end up being exactly cheap but somehow the tickets seemed less expensive when admission to another event came included for free. O how we justify things sometimes! haha. At any rate, I was over the moon that we were going to see DJ Tiesto- and not just anywhere- but at Carnaval!It´s fairly easy to recount how we spent our days in Salvador as it was spent doing very little- if anything at all. A good handful of the days were spent on the beach in Barra, eating cheese on a stick with hot sauce, chicken filled pastries, and drinking beer and caipirinhas. In our own defense, it is rather easy to pass hours upon hours in Brazil just watching the people. Brazilians are in general very beautiful, exuding confidence, charisma, and incredible dance moves whether they are slender and boasting a six-pack or pleasantly plump. Adding to our viewing pleasure, is the fact that during Carnaval there is business everywhere you look- vendors selling souvenirs, food, or beer, various groups demonstrating their martial art or dance moves, and people dancing, cheering, and singing to the endless row of musical groups that pass by. One such musical procession proceeded to torture our ear drums by butchering Bob Sinclair`s "Love Generation" because of their inability to speak english. It was a prime example of the harm done to others when you try to sing a song without really knowing the words. O the pain! That being said, most of the groups were quite lovely- although I do think that everyone group sings the same 12 songs because by the last day we knew every song that was being played. If we weren´t at the beach or walking the streets taking in the festivities, we were still sleeping. Most nights during our week in Salvador we were not back at the hostel until 4 in the morning. Even then, other people continued partying until well after the sun had come up. We were forced to get used to the constant sound of drumming otherwise we wouldn`t have slept a wink the entire time we were there. As a result, we slept away most of the mornings, only stirring briefly to go down stairs and take advantage of the free breakfast our hostel provided. The corn bread was amazing! On top of that Morgan was feeling a little under the weather after a few days so when we weren´t going hard we were trying to rest up as best we could.While the days are easy to account for the nights are much more interesting and diverse. The first time we just "took it easy", walking around Pelourinho following the processions in absolute awe of all the colours and sounds. I fell in love with Acaraje, a wonderful deep fried cake filled with shrimp and spicy goodness. It was the cheapest meal one could find in Salvador too! The second night we went down to Campo Grande with our new German friends Melena and Mario. We pre-gamed with a half dozen Capairinhas before meeting up with Landon and Cale, and as a group made the entertaining walk to the core of the festivities. As we walked down the road with the blocos, we quickly realized that it was nearly impossible for all of stay together as a group in the moving mop surrounding the mobile concert. So we turned off onto a side street, found a much needed bathroom, and indulged in countless capairinhas, meat and cheese kebabs, and corn on the cob (much to Morgan`s delight). On the way back to our side of town we ended up in the middle of the mob once again- but this time we were not so lucky to stay together. Morgan, Melena and myself ended up on our own, and we spent the next hour searching for Mario. After much searching, we decided to head back to the hostel, where gladly Mario appeared unscathed a few minutes later. He had managed to stick with Landon and they traveled back to the hostel together- of course stopping every now and again for a few capairinhas. haha The following night was the highlight of Carnaval. We went out for dinner with Mario and Melena as per usual, electing to eat hamburgers from now on because two people in love with food as much as Morgan and I are incapable of taking an acceptable and affortable portion ina restaurant whose prices depend on the weight of your plate. Everything in the buffet just looks so good- but then $15 and a bloated belly tell you maybe it wasn`t such a good idea. However, the hamburger diet led to other problems... which will be elaborated on later. Anyways, after dinner and drinks, we headed for Barra, where we met up with our bloco. Adorned in our Abadas (basically a team jersey which serves as our ticket into the mobile concert), we jumped into Tiesto`s Carnaval party. He played an amazing 7 hour set while traveling about 3 kilometers on his semi-truck stage down the beachside road of Barra. When the climax of his set came (the most intense and uplifting), it started raining! It was as if it was planned. For those of you who are fans of the Matrix, it was like that one scene where everyone is celebrating and dancing while the rain comes pouring down. Absolutely surreal. The set ended at around 2:30 in Ondina, leaving us covered in sweat (both our own and that of other people), ears ringing, and in desperate need of a bathroom. Have I mentioned yet that there really aren`t that many bathrooms to be had in Salvador during Carnaval considering the amount of people that are present? This isn`t that big a deal for guys because, as was readily apparent, we can go in any corner- or size of the road. For girls it is a little more interesting, and they eventually have to settle for a bus along the side of the road, a make-shift shack made of a few towels and sticks, or a mobile shower unit... needless to say, it is inevitable that by the end of the night one has to concede to the fact that your feet covered in urine, and that that splash up that covers your legs as you walk is not just water. It`s easier to just not think about it. On the way home, desperate to get back to our hostel, we boarded a bus on which we were the only foreigners. This was the first time that we felt a little uneasy, and as Morgan began getting creepy stares from a few of the guys we decided to get off and catch a cab. It was one of those instances where paying a little more was well worth it.The next evening, although a Saturday night, we decided to take off because of our horrible hangovers and Morgan`s pounding headache. On Sunday night we went for dinner with Melena and Mario again, and just sat the plaza of Largo Pelourinho drinking and chatting. We went to bed at 4 o`clock. It was fantastic to just sit back and watch the different groups go by playing music and dancing. Our last night in Salvador, we went to a Camarotes (a stationary party alongside the road where the moving concerts pass). It was a neat experience, because you get a taste of every band that goes by- kinda like listening to the radio, only hearing one song by each group. Once again we partied with Landon and Cale. Landon and I talked hockey for about an hour, which was a nice, much needed taste of home and familiarity. We ended up going home quite early though, having exhausted nearly every ounce of party animal we had in us. The next morning we reluctantly settled our bill with the hostel, which was quite a bit more than we had hoped and hard to negotiate considering the language barrier. We made for the bus station by mid day. Once there we realized our own stupidity in not recognizing the need to book bus tickets in advance during Carnaval. With the strong desire to get out of the craziness of Canaval and the need to press onward and upward towards Fortaleza, we were forced to settled for tickets to Aracaju- half the distance up the coast that we had wished to go. It would prove to be a decent decision in the end though.
We left Salvador with mixed emotions. Once again we were left weary and defeated with how expensive everything was. I am sure Morgan was getting annoyed with how often I made it known that I wished we were heading back to Argentina- the land of spanish and cheap traveling. We knew what we were getting into by going to Carnaval, nonetheless, we were exhausted from constantly having to fend off the guys grabbing Morgan`s blonde hair and concealing our cash in shoes or Morgan`s sports bra. We strongly wished for calmer waters. Also, Salvador may have one of the best Carnavals in all the world, but it was somewhat of a shame to have missed out on everything else that wonderful city has to offer as a result of being there at that time of year. I would love to go back and experience Salvador da Bahia again someday in the off season. All in all, we had a great time, and Carnaval 2008 is not something we will soon forget.
For those of you interested in seeing the bloco we were in:
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