After arriving in Salvador
and stepping off the plane, we were soon greeted by a row of beautiful bamboo
trees in our taxi ride to our hotel. Entering the hotel I was pleased to find
out that we had better internet access than we had had previously at the hostel
we have been staying at for the past three weeks. However, better internet
access came with news I wasn't prepared to hear-I had received a Facebook
message along with a slew of pictures containing an enormous amount of blood
from my brother stating that my grandmother was in the hospital and had busted
her head open. Within minutes my whole world had shattered right in front of my
eyes. A few messages back and forth with my brother confirmed that my
grandmother was indeed fine and she was going to be alright.
After hotel check-in and
after I had regained my composure, our professor gave us firm instructions to
throw on our swimsuits and told us to head downstairs within the next five
minutes so he could get us settled in as quickly and as soon as possible since
he had family in Salvador. More than 10 minutes or so later, Derek and I came
down stairs to meet our professor and the other member of our group only to
come to the harsh realization that we had taken too long to get ready and as a
result had been left to fend for ourselves in a city that we weren't familiar
with yet and that we were told was more dangerous than Rio.
At that point Derek and I
hadn't eaten dinner yet so we decided to venture outside of the hotel and
attempt to navigate our way to a restaurant. Getting there proved successful
and it turned out that Salvador didn't seem any more dangerous than Rio. It
appeared that fewer people roamed the streets in Salvador and it was
significantly less crowded than what I was used to in Rio. In fact, in my
opinion it actually wasn't that bad or scary at all like I had been told. Over
these last three weeks here in Brazil I've learned how to be more street savvy
when walking at night and utilizing these techniques along with common sense
will get you far.
The popular cultural cuisine
you'll find lined along the streets and almost anywhere in Salvador is called
acaraje which is a deep-fried mixture of black-eyed peas, shrimp, etc. I didn't
have time to experience it myself however, but several people told me it was
quite delicious and that I should try it if I had the opportunity. When Derek
and I arrived back at our hotel after dinner a CIEE member named Luiza was
waiting on us in the hotel lobby and asked if we were ready to go to our
complimentary welcome dinner and show that as it turned out was included in our
program fee. We had no idea that we were scheduled to go to these activities so
from the hotel we headed out to have our second dinner for the night. Our
welcome dinner was at the mall and consisted of unlimited pizza. Here in Brazil
I've come to find out that when eating pizza you should use a fork and knife
instead of using your hands like most traditional Americans would do.
When we arrived at the
Pelourinho for the folklore show there were several street vendors trying to
sell stuff and some of them were relentless. One of them even gave me a free
lembranca which was used as a selling tactic to try and get me to buy one of
his items.
Overall, I would say I had a
good time in Salvador although the trip was only three days long. In a way I felt
as if Salvador provided a more accurate representation of Brazil than the area
of Rio I'm staying in because it is flooded with a high volume of tourists.
--
Thanks to Andrea for sharing this with us. If you'd like to find out more about CIEE's summer options in Brazil, check out http://www.ciee.org/study-abroad/brazil/
