The weather here in Salvador has been less than optimal. It’s been cloudy and rainy just about everyday, so we haven’t been doing too much. Thursday we had to go to the bank to get money, which was a long trip, but we got to go in one of the cool elevators that they have here. The city is divided into the Cidade Alta, the older part built up on bluffs overlooking the bay, and the Cidade Baixa, the newer part down at sea level. There are a bunch of really steep roads that connect the two, but there are also a couple elevators that go straight up and down between the two. After the bank we were a little hungry so we went to the Mercado Modelo, a cool indoor market that used to be where slaves coming into Brazil were kept, and then auctioned off. Now it is a tourist market, with lots of souvenirs and handicrafts and stuff. But we only stayed for a little bit to get lunch, which ended up taking forever. We ordered two drinks and a plate of french fries. We got the drinks right away, but the french fries took about half an hour to come out, and then it took a long time to get the bill too. For Dinner we went to a kinda goofy little Pizza place/Internet café, which was okay, but not as good as the place in Arraial.
Friday was an in day. We tried something new though, and it was really exciting. One of Gabi’s favorite foods here in Brazil has been Pipoca (popcorn) which they sell on the street all over the place. When I was at the grocery store I saw a bag of Kernels and grabbed it to try and make it at home. Having grown up in the microwave era, neither Shelley nor I had ever made popcorn on the stove. It’s really super easy, and Gabi loves it, because she gets to help with everything, putting the oil in, measuring the popcorn and then she gets to listen for all the pops. We also made pasta that night for us, Sergio, his neighbor Lucas and two girls from Capoiera class that Nate went to and managed to hurt his back again. The girls were from France and Switzerland, and Gabi took well to them.
We were going to make lasagna but we couldn’t find ricotta cheese or spinach, so we made pasta instead. The plan was that we all were going to go to an island in the bay where Sergio has a house early Saturday morning, but when we woke up the island was gone, it was so cloudy we couldn’t even see it, so we didn’t end up going. Instead Nate and I decided it would be a good day to go to Shopping Barra, which was huge. We shopped a bit and got Gabi and new bikini and a few postcards and ate some lunch and they headed back to our place. On the way out of the mall, I saw a really big grocery store so we went looking for lasagna makings again, but were still unsuccessful. The store was called Bom Preco and we found out it is a divison of Walmart. We can’t go anywhere without Walmart following us. We hung out with the everybody again that night, and Gabi entertained everyone with her dancing and goofing around.
Sunday was another rainy day in the morning so we just hung out and around noon it cleared up a bit so we headed to the beach, with the European girls. We all had a good day at the beach and Gabi had lots of fun, she really likes the water now. She also did a good job playing in the sand by herself. At the beach Nate and I trade off going in the water so someone is always with our stuff and with Gabi too. I was in the water and I keep hearing someone yell “Amiga, Amiga” and I just ignored it then I turned around to find out why no one was answering and the guy was calling to me, he asked me “Quer compania”, which means, if you can’t tell, do you want company. I said no and ran back to Nate as fast as I could, but all in all it was pretty hilarious. I mean who ask someone if they want company??
Today is Monday and the day is crummy yet again, I am starting to get sad because this is the last place we will be with a beach and none of the days have been good beach going days. We have stayed in again today and are going to head to the Mercado Model again so we can actually look around after we use the internet. We leave Salvador on Wednesday and are flying to Belo Horizonte, from there we are going back to Sao Paulo, but are going to stay in a little town outside the city called Jundiai. This is where Denis’s mother and sister live. Denis is Nate’s capoeira teacher. From there we are going to head to Foz de Iguazu and then back to Sao Paulo before we head back to the states.