Day 40 - February 12, 2008 - Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

Salvador de Bahia photos
Just for information purposes, the airline we flew from Rio to Iguazu Falls was GOL and the airline from Iguazu Falls to Salvador was TAM.
So, today all we have on the agenda is to rejoin the ship. We were told last night on the bus that Mariner would be arriving here at 11am instead of 1pm, so we could leave earlier. We had asked our Tour Desk escort earlier today what was planned for us in the morning. Breakfast. Nothing else, you can walk around or do whatever you want. After we arrived, she said maybe we better not walk around here. But, we could lay at the pool or do whatever we wanted. We spent 2 nights off the ship and only one night at Iguazu and only 6 hours total at the Falls out of 2 days and this is our finish. Do whatever you want while you wait for us to bus you back to the ship. Shame on you Regent.
We had an early breakfast and apparently this is not an early morning kind of place even though the breakfast buffet was open at 6am. They told us they would start cooking eggs to order at 7am but between 7 and 8am they only cooked 3 eggs for people who stood there and insisted. We heard that from about 9 to 10am they were offering up a local specialty of manioc, called tapioca here, pancakes made on that griddle, but while we were there you had to insist on a single egg at all and then they would only cook one egg at a time. Again, there must be a lot of rooms and not much breakfast able to be served like that. The breakfast area was right at the pool/cable car area of the hotel. The cable car was a self-service car that took you about 100 yards down the cliff to the harbor where there was a dock/swimming platform area. The water looked really clear from above. There was no sandy beach here. Just the cliff ending in rocks at the waters' edge. The rocks extended under the water well out into the dock area and the swimming platform. There was a spiral slide into the ocean.
Debbie spoke to reception about setting up a tour for us, but few people in Salvador speak English. They speak some local dialect based on Portuguese and Yoruba. Think Gullah if you have been to the Charleston, SC area. Now imagine it in Portuguese. You get the idea. But, we did find a reputed English-speaking taxi driver and we arranged to spend five hours with him starting at 9am. Debbie got our RSSC Tour Desk escort's room number and called her at 9am to let her know not to expect us at the head count for boarding the bus. We checked out with some confusion about our having to pay local taxes, then did not pay anything, and Luis, our cab driver/guide arrived at 9am. He had a mini-SUV and spoke some English as described above. If you already knew what he was talking about you could make it out, but if he started out of the blue we couldn't understand anything. But, he was nice enough and wanted to tell us about himself, his family and the city where he was born and raised. He kept our luggage safe and watched out for us. We paid him $50 each plus tip and he dropped us off at the cruise pier a little after 2:30pm.
Our tour started out at Farol da Barra, a lighthouse/fort and nautical museum on the coast north of our hotel. Entrance fee was R$6. Reals are 1.7 to the US Dollar. It was drizzling on/off as we walked around the fort, taking in the views, but we had a couple of umbrellas and were ok. As the day continued, the rain came and went and then went away altogether. The fort was the first and most important Portuguese fort protecting Salvador and was taken over by the Dutch and retaken by the Portuguese and Spanish. It was begun in 1534 It had the trademark acorns you see on the Spanish forts (though this fort is likely Portuguese) in the new world. (The views were good, and while we were there, we saw Mariner cruise into the harbor. It was fun trying to shoot pictures of the Mariner framed by the fort acorns. Inside the fort, there was a lighthouse that held a nautical history museum documenting the history of Salvador. It is a history steeped in slavery as Salvador was the main slave entry port for Brazil. We next headed out to Bonfirm, to Nosso Senhor do Bonfim, Salvador's most famous church, a church known for its medical miracles. The Bonfim church has a Room of Miracles showing molded body parts that have been healed through prayers. (There really is a wide range of parts on display). The church had vendors set up around it selling souvenirs to tourists.
Along the way, we stopped by a lake in the center of town that had sculptures of Orixas, which are gods or goddesses that are inspired by nature. Each has its own color and characteristics. These Orixas play a role in the practice of Candomble, a religion which is a mixture of Catholicism and the beliefs brought over from West Africa by the slaves. Each day of the week has a certain Orixa associated with it, and the sculptures in the lake were organized by day of the week.
Our next stop was a second fort, Forte de Monte Serrat. This one had views overlooking the harbor and the old city center. We could see the three cruise ships at dock from the fort's view point. This fort also had the Spanish type acorns. It overlooked a nice stretch of sandy beach. We then headed back toward the center of town, but on the way, we stopped at the local market. Luis, our taxi driver guided us through the market on foot. It seems that the practice of Candomble requires animal sacrifice, and this local market had live animals for this purpose. There were lots of goats, chickens, roosters, and some bigger Portuguese type goats. There was also a fresh meat market for consumption purposes. There was a lot of other random stuff for sale in addition to produce. There is some local fruit called something that sounded like ubu or umbu that everyone was selling and eating and discarding and sorting, etc. Evidently it has a very short season and is a big favorite of the locals. They throw out the ones that have turned red and only eat the green ones. They look sort of like very small, hard green limes. They have a thick skin and a big pit. Luis made us try them. We washed them off carefully and then followed his lead. You bite a hole in the skin and squeeze the fruit with pit into your mouth and suck all the flesh off the pit, which you then spit about 6 feet away from yourself. Then you turn the skin inside out and suck and the remaining flesh and drop the skin. (This explains a lot about the appearance and the footing in the market area.) It tasted slightly of lime but it was sweet. Then Luis took us to what look like a shoe repair booth, but the guy started taking down coffee cans and frosting containers, etc. and mixing powders together. He gave some to Luis in his palm and Luis ate it. Then he gave him a small plastic bag of it. Luis told us he had high cholesterol and this is what he takes for it. Luis tried to convince us that we had reasons to make an animal sacrifice or to get our own powder concoctions, but we assured him we were just fine.
There were beautiful sandy beaches near both forts that went on for miles. There were lots of people swimming and on the beaches. There were lots of local entrepreneurs selling to all the people as well.
Then we headed to the Mercado Modelo and the Lacerda Elevator area. The Mercado is for souvenir junkies. They sell all kinds of locally made things. Of course, we spent some money. Don't know if we had pointed it out sooner, but there are no bargains in Brazil. Everything is more expensive here than it has been elsewhere in South America. Maybe we should have waited for some of the smaller towns we will visit and hope for lower prices, but we have had so many days go by where we saw something we wanted and there was no time for us to stop and make a purchase, that we have become leery of waiting now. There was a Capoeira show going on there as well. Capoeria is a kind of dancing martial art that looks like a combination of break dancing and street fighting, but without the physical contact. They say it developed with the slaves who were not allowed to come to physical harm as that would diminish their value. Now, it is mostly done for the tourists. They were selling everywhere a musical instrument associated with this art form. It is a long stick attached to a gourd and bowed with a single metal string. They use a small stick to beat on the string and they can play a variety of notes on it as well as percussion. There were also people playing these instruments. The Lacerda Elevator. This is quite a landmark and institution here. Everyone insisted that we had to ride the tall elevators between the lower and upper cities. Luis dropped us off at the bottom and told us he would meet us at the top, but there was a line out into the street and it was 33C and the sun was fierce. We got back in the van and told him maybe later. He drove us to the top and parked at the main square. We visited some more shops and took in the street vendors and performers. There were 3 ships parked just down at the bottom of the hill here today and it was jam packed walking around the old city center or Pelourinho. We visited the Igreja de Sao Francisco. Admission was about R$2. Almost every surface inside was coated with gold and there was a profusion of carved and painted art covering every surface. There was a convent cloister attached and you could visit the courtyard which was decorated with Portuguese blue and white tiles from the 1700s. There were 37 mosaics on the ground floor walls that were inspired by paintings from 1608 by a Flemish artist and they were meant to illustrate a book Moral Theatre of Human Life. The tiles were in pretty bad shape sadly. This area of the Pelourinho is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is filled with really remarkable old buildings. Some have shops and restaurants in them now. Some are abandoned and neglected. Some are active churches or government institutions. It is a fairly large and impressive old city center that needs some money, care and attention.
We headed back out and for the ship at this point. Luis dropped us off at the Lacerda Elevator again and this time there was no line, so we agreed to take it down and meet him at the bottom. We paid our 5 centavos each and got in the next elevator. Each elevator held about a dozen peoplewhen full and we were the only tourists aboard our full one. We were expecting some kind of panoramic view or something since everyone talks about these elevators. But, nothing. It was just a really tall elevator. 236 feet tall. Luis was there at the bottom before we got there. We have done it but we still don't get it. The local people are very proud of this cliff-side set of elevators and there has been one there since 1872 though these are not the original ones of course. So, if you don't drive this a quick, easy and inexpensive way to get up and down. It is not clear how much call there would be to travel up and down though. Luis drove us directly to the port gate at which Mariner was docked and we showed our key cards and hauled our luggage aboard. We were glad to get back. It had been a couple of hard travel days and today was tough too. We did not have to walk that much and there were no long flights, but it is very humid here and the sun is brutal. We saw a local temperature sign around mid-day that showed it was 33C. We dropped our bags and headed to the Pool Grill which was serving lunch until 4pm. We had really good hamburgers since we haven't had enough beef yet! They were serving 2 local beers at the Pool Bar, Skol and Antarctica. Clay had one of each. Margie went to put her feet up and Debbie and Clay stayed to have ice cream and close down the Pool Grill.
Back in the room there was a card with an announcement. "A Brazilian Celebration of Dance" had been canceled in Fortaleza. This was the Complimentary Event for this segment. Description pasted below.
"Brazilian Celebration in Dance".
Duration: 3 Hours.
Seated, Special Event.
Code: FTZ-5568
This special event is included for all guests with the compliments of Regent Seven Seas Cruises.
This morning you will travel to the Teatro José de Alencar, a fascinating attraction in itself; the interior has been refurbished and is air-conditioned. This will be the setting for this special performance and cocktail reception.
One could say dance is a universal language that speaks to all nations and all nationalities. The human spirit can bemost profound when given music to move to. Here in Fortaleza a very special foundation has taken the children of the streets and given them purpose and skills - the purpose to express themselves and the skill to talk to the world through the art of dance.
The company is called Edisca and is a modern dance company of local dancers, from children to adults. They will dance the ballet, 'Bale Jangurussu,' which is a work based on life on the streets in Brazilian cities. Using modern instruments and video effects, they make a statement, sometimes humorous sometimes serious, on life in contemporary Brazil. There is great visual and emotional impact with striking effects made with simple tools and innovative choreography.
Regent Seven Seas Cruises is proud to be part of the Carlson group of companies. Our chairman and CEO, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, and the entire group support the charity, 'World Childhood Foundation,' and so today it is gratifying that we can make our contribution to the children of the world by supporting this organization and bringing you here to celebrate Brazil and its children in dance.
The event will conclude with a short cocktail reception with canapés, while the local dancers mingle with the guests, dancing the 'Maracatu', an Afro-Brazilian dance, and couples dance the 'Forro'."
Since this was originally scheduled at 11am in Fortaleza where we expected to be docked from 7am to 3pm, we had made no other plans there. No idea what we will do there now. But, it will be Friday, so we have some time to think about it. Obviously, there is not a lot there. It is named for an historic fort, but apparently it is still a military installation and there are only beaches and impressive sand dunes as the other items of interest as well as crafts markets such as the one we visited today.
Anyway, the rest of the announcement on the card was that "A Brazilian Celebration of Dance" was now being performed onboard in Constellation Theater this evening at 6pm. We attended the performance by the Bale <SPANCLASS=CORRECTION id="">Folklorico
da Bahia. We were greeted at the doors to the theatre with bad glasses of caipirinhas. We did not like them too much when we had them in Rio, but these were a particularly bad version. They were a large, loud and colorful troupe with musicians and singers. They performed about 4 different pieces. One was clearly with Orixas. One was Capoeira. The other 2 were not explained but were listed in the newsletter as Fisherman's Dance and Samba de Roda. We went to Compass Rose for a quick and light dinner. Debbie and Margie had talked about going to the evening show of a comedian, Rich Ceisler, but both decided they were too tired to stay up.
Salvador de Bahia phoos