23 Hour Days...
Day 14: It’s Salvador, Dolly!
The ship arrived in port at 0700, on this the 14th (but actually 19th) day of SAS. Now, over the past two days, we had heard much from many people about what to expect. Because we would be arriving during Carnival, pretty much a worldwide celebration with Brazil having the largest festivities anywhere for it, we were warned again and again of the many dangers of Brazil. There were times when my friends and even myself were kinda scared to go on land. We would be arriving on the last (6th) day of Carnival when things would be in full swing and crizazy.
Carnival is a festival season. It occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February or March. It typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations. (Wiki)
From Salvador, an adapted truck, with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as Axé music, Samba-reggae , Pagode and Arrocha. The truck is driven around the city with the crowd following dancing and singing. (Wiki)
The Brazilian Carnival (Portuguese: Carnaval) is an annual festival in Brazil held 40 days before Easter and marks the beginning of Lent. During Lent, Roman Catholics are supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures, including the consumption of meat. The carnival, celebrated as a profane event and believed to have its origins in the pagan Saturnalia, can thus be considered an act of farewell to the pleasures of the flesh. (Wiki)
Two million people participate in the annual festivities that last nearly a week, immersing themselves in music and dance. During sixteen hours a day Brazilian popular culture reaches its maximum expression and Salvador’s local economy gets a boast of unequivocal proportions. (Wiki)
We arrived early in the morning and had heard that much of the city would be dead due to everyone celebrating all night the nights before. It was like a ghost town, very eerie. I immediately noted all of the beautiful and totally rad graffiti. There is an Elevator that takes you from the lower streets near port to the upper streets that contain much of the city of Salvador.
We decided to find a beach (everyone always wants to either find a beach or get drunk on this trip, I generally am for other options, but often it’s difficult to know exactly what one can due at such a time in an unfamiliar place with no people). There were 9 of us: Myself, Brandon, Big Tom, Courtney, Ben, Abigail, Shujun, Bargeron (AKA Kyle), and Jessica We hailed two taxis. My taxi was told to “follow that taxi!” We figured they would know where to go. Well, after about 15 minutes of driving we started wondering where we were going. We just sat watching the meter go, admiring the views of Brazil, and some of us worrying that we would be driving for 2 hours to some random beach. I myself, was trustful. We ended up arriving at this beach for 60,00R (about $40.00).
Ben jumped from a wall into the sand and ripped his toenail off after buying some roasted cheese on a stick. Bargeron left his money in his money pouch before jumping into the ocean (though he removed his cigs). Brandon lost his glasses to the sea.
Carnival was fairly absurd. We were guided by a man named Bruno, and our group of about 30-40 students who decided to attend Carnival on foot with SAS was also provided a group of about 7 Yellow Shirted Body Guards to travel from the ship to the upper area where it was taking place so that we didn’t have to walk the alleys alone. The guards, just guys in shirts that said “STAFF” on them constantly looked around and surrounded us like sheppards, we their flock.
Carnival was pretty much a party that filled every street and alley we walked through. There were all these people in costumes for their specific groups. We, the SASsers, were told only to “go in costume to really get into the spirit”. So a few of us painted our faces and arms, and looked even more outrageous and out of place than we would have normally, being some of the only non-Brazilians in the area. Words can’t really describe the experience of the floats we came across. The huge vehicles were surrounded by people. These people all had a shirt that they had to purchase to be able to dance along side the float. These people were surrounded by a rope, which was carried by staff in a huge rectangle in order to keep the shirted people in, and the non-shirted people out. Countless non-shirted people surrounded the rope. The float moved down the street, the people with the rope in hand formed a wedge in front so as to have the people who filled the streets move out of the way. Atop the float was a band. Another large vehicle followed this one in the rope. This was a VIP float, restroom, and bar for the shirts. All of the time the streets are filled with people constantly moving within and without the ropes and floats, all along the sidewalks, in every bar and in every window of every building as far as the eye could see. Don’t quote me, but there something like 500 or 1’000 or more floats over the week. Some groups have even dealt drugs in order to have enough money to fund their floats. This is serious stuff. Amongst all this, four of us danced and made our way along. I had to swat a few hands away from my pocket throughout the night. A woman grabbed my bum twice rather hard at some point. A few people tried to make out with some of the girls in our group. There’s so much…
The night ended eventually for us (it lasted for many until 5-7AM) around 11P, and something I remember is a small Brazilian boy juggling coconuts in order to get money from us. He threw them like 10 feet in the air, and they were bigger than his head, and his arms were no longer than the coconuts were wide.
Capoeira is EVERYWHERE in Brazil! There are paintings, murals, clothes, groups, children, old men, instruments, signs, anything and everything you can imagine, all dedicated to Capoeira. “Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian blend of martial art, game, and culture created by enslaved Africans in Brazil during the 16th Century.” (Wiki) It was disguised as dance and fun, when actually these slaves were practicing to kick ass. They do a lot of hand stands, and when you wouldn’t expect a kick to come from someone standing on their hands, that’s exactly when you get kicked.
The ship arrived in port at 0700, on this the 14th (but actually 19th) day of SAS. Now, over the past two days, we had heard much from many people about what to expect. Because we would be arriving during Carnival, pretty much a worldwide celebration with Brazil having the largest festivities anywhere for it, we were warned again and again of the many dangers of Brazil. There were times when my friends and even myself were kinda scared to go on land. We would be arriving on the last (6th) day of Carnival when things would be in full swing and crizazy.
Carnival is a festival season. It occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February or March. It typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus and public street party. People often dress up or masquerade during the celebrations. (Wiki)
From Salvador, an adapted truck, with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as Axé music, Samba-reggae , Pagode and Arrocha. The truck is driven around the city with the crowd following dancing and singing. (Wiki)
The Brazilian Carnival (Portuguese: Carnaval) is an annual festival in Brazil held 40 days before Easter and marks the beginning of Lent. During Lent, Roman Catholics are supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures, including the consumption of meat. The carnival, celebrated as a profane event and believed to have its origins in the pagan Saturnalia, can thus be considered an act of farewell to the pleasures of the flesh. (Wiki)
Two million people participate in the annual festivities that last nearly a week, immersing themselves in music and dance. During sixteen hours a day Brazilian popular culture reaches its maximum expression and Salvador’s local economy gets a boast of unequivocal proportions. (Wiki)
We arrived early in the morning and had heard that much of the city would be dead due to everyone celebrating all night the nights before. It was like a ghost town, very eerie. I immediately noted all of the beautiful and totally rad graffiti. There is an Elevator that takes you from the lower streets near port to the upper streets that contain much of the city of Salvador.
We decided to find a beach (everyone always wants to either find a beach or get drunk on this trip, I generally am for other options, but often it’s difficult to know exactly what one can due at such a time in an unfamiliar place with no people). There were 9 of us: Myself, Brandon, Big Tom, Courtney, Ben, Abigail, Shujun, Bargeron (AKA Kyle), and Jessica We hailed two taxis. My taxi was told to “follow that taxi!” We figured they would know where to go. Well, after about 15 minutes of driving we started wondering where we were going. We just sat watching the meter go, admiring the views of Brazil, and some of us worrying that we would be driving for 2 hours to some random beach. I myself, was trustful. We ended up arriving at this beach for 60,00R (about $40.00).
Ben jumped from a wall into the sand and ripped his toenail off after buying some roasted cheese on a stick. Bargeron left his money in his money pouch before jumping into the ocean (though he removed his cigs). Brandon lost his glasses to the sea.
Carnival was fairly absurd. We were guided by a man named Bruno, and our group of about 30-40 students who decided to attend Carnival on foot with SAS was also provided a group of about 7 Yellow Shirted Body Guards to travel from the ship to the upper area where it was taking place so that we didn’t have to walk the alleys alone. The guards, just guys in shirts that said “STAFF” on them constantly looked around and surrounded us like sheppards, we their flock.
Carnival was pretty much a party that filled every street and alley we walked through. There were all these people in costumes for their specific groups. We, the SASsers, were told only to “go in costume to really get into the spirit”. So a few of us painted our faces and arms, and looked even more outrageous and out of place than we would have normally, being some of the only non-Brazilians in the area. Words can’t really describe the experience of the floats we came across. The huge vehicles were surrounded by people. These people all had a shirt that they had to purchase to be able to dance along side the float. These people were surrounded by a rope, which was carried by staff in a huge rectangle in order to keep the shirted people in, and the non-shirted people out. Countless non-shirted people surrounded the rope. The float moved down the street, the people with the rope in hand formed a wedge in front so as to have the people who filled the streets move out of the way. Atop the float was a band. Another large vehicle followed this one in the rope. This was a VIP float, restroom, and bar for the shirts. All of the time the streets are filled with people constantly moving within and without the ropes and floats, all along the sidewalks, in every bar and in every window of every building as far as the eye could see. Don’t quote me, but there something like 500 or 1’000 or more floats over the week. Some groups have even dealt drugs in order to have enough money to fund their floats. This is serious stuff. Amongst all this, four of us danced and made our way along. I had to swat a few hands away from my pocket throughout the night. A woman grabbed my bum twice rather hard at some point. A few people tried to make out with some of the girls in our group. There’s so much…
The night ended eventually for us (it lasted for many until 5-7AM) around 11P, and something I remember is a small Brazilian boy juggling coconuts in order to get money from us. He threw them like 10 feet in the air, and they were bigger than his head, and his arms were no longer than the coconuts were wide.
Capoeira is EVERYWHERE in Brazil! There are paintings, murals, clothes, groups, children, old men, instruments, signs, anything and everything you can imagine, all dedicated to Capoeira. “Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian blend of martial art, game, and culture created by enslaved Africans in Brazil during the 16th Century.” (Wiki) It was disguised as dance and fun, when actually these slaves were practicing to kick ass. They do a lot of hand stands, and when you wouldn’t expect a kick to come from someone standing on their hands, that’s exactly when you get kicked.