Salvador

January 6: Breakfast at the Praia Mar was probably the best of anywhere we stayed. Tons of fresh fruit, incluiding my favorite pineapple. Also many bread type things including rolls that you could put meat and cheese on. They also had eggs. After breakfast we went on a 9.5 bike ride. Yikes! I must admit I've gotten really out of shape this school year so it was quite a system shock. Plus the bikes were a little old and we were on a dirt path. I took my time! At one point we stoped and had cocunut "milk" which is really more watery. I liked it but it didn't settle well in my stomach since I was so hot and tired. There were beautiful ponds/lakes in park. For such a big city I didn't think there were that many people in the park. We had lunch on the beach after a very long wait. This was our first experience of the laid back attitude in Brazil. Coming from the U.S. where everyone is always in a hurry it was hard to learn to be patient at restaurants. In the end it was often worth it but when you're already incredibly hungry and then you have to wait an hour for food sometimes people get a little crabby! Anyways we also drank caprinhas which are fruit (in this case lime) with cachacia (Brazilan sugar cane rum). They were incredibly strong which means a lot coming from a college student! We spent the afternoon on the beach and then weant back to our hotel. Dinner was at an Italian restaurant where we had a pizza that was very tomato-ey rather than having a lot of sauce. We went back to the hotel and hung out by the pool playing cards.

Some kind of Government building near Pelourinho.

Shops in Pelourinho.

The plaza (square) in Pelourinho.

The Patio of tile mosaics in the Church of St. Francis.

Detail of one of the tile mosaics.

Stairs in the Church of St. Francis

A view of Salvador from near Pelourinho.

Another view of Salvador from near Pelourinho.

Yet another view of Salvador from near Pelourinho.

Two of my classmates attempting capoeira.

January 8: The morning was spent doing more shopping and the afternoon at the beach. For dinner we went to a CHURRASCARIA. It's a restaurant where they have TONS of different cuts of meat and they come to the table and cut you a slice right of the giant slab of meet. I'd never seen so much meat at one time in my life. Almost everything I tried was very good. It was a little different when they brought chicken hearts though. Those who tried it said that it was hard to chew. This restaurant was the first place that I had Brazilan mashed potatoes which were more pure(accent over the e!) than mashed. They were buttery and quite delicious. The drinks at this restaurant were another story. I mentioned the capirinha on the beach was strong. This one was even worse for those of us who ordered pinneapple. I barely managed a few sips when it was at full strength. When the ice melted I had a few more but it was still fairly strong. I wonder why they make the drinks so strong. If drinking to get drunk isn't acceptable you think they'd make the drinks weaker and then just have more but I guess not!

January 9: We got up EARLY and boarded a bus for salvador. This was a hair raising experience. Very bumpy! The most amusing part was when the bus driver stopped for coffee. And I don't mean pulled over at Starbucks and got a Grande Latte to go. He pulled the bus over (as much as one could one the tiny dirt road) and shut off the bus. He went inside bought a coffee, drank it and then got back on the bus and we were off again. I thought this was interesting but I guess at other jobs you'd get a break so it's kind of similar. Just not what we are use to from the U.S.

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