Here is part two of my Brazil blog and the final recap blog for an international port.
The plan was to hop on a 3:00 ferry to an island nearby which supposedly was fantastic. We got back to find out the last ferry was at 2:00, so we wouldn’t have been able to make it regardless. With some extra time on our hands now we hung out on the ship until about 4:30 when our group plus Max met up to go find somewhere to watch the sunset. We went to an art museum nearby that had a Haiti photography exhibit up and then watched the sunset over the bay from on top of a balcony. It was beautiful of course like all sunsets but at this point some of us were starving. We had met a couple there, Michelle and Issac who would become our friends for the evening. Michelle was from Canada and Issac was from Brazil. Issac studied in Canada where they met and started dating, and now they were spending about 8 months in Brazil before heading back to Canada. They were the nicest people ever and we had so much fun with them that night. They took us to some part of Salvador that we hadn’t seen yet which was a series of well run street vendors serving Brazilian dishes with restaurants around to serve drinks. We sat there for a couple hours, I had this crepe/pita thing which consisted of a dry powder poured into a mold that hardened into a doughy shell thing. They then put filling on it, in my case Chicken, two types of cheeses, and sun dried tomatoes, then folded it together to make a turnover thing. It was so good, it reminded me vaguely of pizza because of the tomatoes and cheese, and I had two. After a couple of drinks there and some good conversation with Michelle and Issac, we set off in search of somewhere else.
They tried to take us to a dance place but we were far too early for it. Brazilian night life often doesn’t even start until after midnight, and it was only 10:30 at this point. We left there and headed to a more westernized bar down the road with a big famous club next door. No one ended up going into the club, Ben, JA and I played pool for a couple of hours until everyone was getting about ready to leave. We grabbed Subway which happened to be next door and was amazing, said goodbye to Michelle and Issac, and headed back to the ship.
The next morning some people were slower to get up than others, but I think everyone eventually made it up to breakfast by 8:30. We decided that it was going to be a beach day and agreed to take short naps and make it up to the gangway at 10. We made our way to the bus stop in old town and waited for a half hour with no luck, so finally we hopped in a cab for $7 US a person and made our way to Flamengo beach. The beach was so nice, one of the best I’ve been to. The sand was perfect, there were restaurants all over the place, the temperature was ideal, it was just a good day. We hung out in the sun for a couple hours then broke for lunch. JA thought she had seen a pizza place down the road so we walked to it and found that yes it indeed existed, but that it only carried about 3 of the 15 pizzas on its own menu. We all ordered a chicken and cheese thing and it turned out to be a bonafide gourmet hot pocket. It was a doughy cone roll thing stuffed with filling. It wasn’t too bad, just really different than what we expected. We went back and sat on the beach for a bit, ran into some other SASers and headed to one of the restaurants to grab a couple of drinks and fries. The fries took probably an hour, but were delicious. The sun was starting to go down so we wanted to get some swimming in before it did.
We were having a great time swimming once we found a place without rocks, but apparently there is a time on this particular beach that is NOT fit for swimming, and this was that time. The tide shifts in the afternoon I guess and it does an effective job of dragging people out to sea. Tourists die every year from it. Well we can’t read Portuguese and I didn’t see a sign anyways, so we were having a grand old time without knowing we were in danger. The waves were perfect for body surfing and everyone was having fun, when we realized we were kind of far out. Everyone kind of collectively realized it and started to try and swim back in a little closer. I realized that after swimming for 3 minutes I was no closer than I started, but others were out there with me so I didn’t panic. Eventually we looked at the shore and there were like 6 Brazilian lifeguards in full panic mode. We decided it was time to make a real effort to go in and fortunately I found a wave which pushed me nearly all the way in. We all made it out with no problem and the lifeguards explained to us that we were idiots, so we dried off and left, laughing at the story we had just made.
Our group of four grabbed a cab back while the rest of the SAS people took the bus. We made it back in pretty good time and got ready to do something that night. We grabbed an appetizer on the ship and Deirdre made it back from Sao Paolo alive. Jay also had a failed three day adventure whereby he learned Ju-Jit-Su and entered a competition that he never found, so he was back on the ship and joined up with us too. We headed to a place called Olivieras or something that Ben found in Lonely Planet. It was as hole in the wall as you can get and our cab drivers didn’t know where it was, but we finally ran into it. We sat there for 2-3 hours as we got drinks and eventually food. Some people went and played pool, I hung out at the table with others. Somewhere in the middle of it all Lindsay and Melinda showed up, back from their respective trips. We left that place and walked down the street to an open area where people were dancing and hanging out. I was pretty wiped out at this point and Deirdre, Melinda and JulieAnne were about ready to call it quits. Given that they were three girls, Salvador was extremely dangerous, especially at night, Melinda had a purse bigger than her, and I was about to fall asleep, it made all sorts of sense for me to go back too. We were going to walk but they talked me into getting a cab back. We made it back without trouble and headed inside to crash.
The next morning I was planning to sleep in but Lindsay called at 9 am and woke me up. She said they were going to the market and leaving in 15 minutes, so I got myself out of bed, ready, and we set off. Jay ended up meeting us about an hour later and our group of 5 wandered around for the afternoon. I had way too much Brazilian money, but everything was overpriced so I didn’t want to waste it. I only ended up getting a couple of T-shirts and some other nic-nacs. We grabbed Crepes at the same place as the first day, this time I ate though and they were great. JA and I grabbed internet for a bit, I bought a poor kid a croissant, and we headed back to the ship to board it for the last time before America. We were back on by about 3 where we watched the Office I think for a bit and then the ship had a barbecue to inspire everyone to make it back on time. It is so nice to have hamburgers every once in a while, we were all quite content. That evening we watched the Office some more then I hung out and watched some stupid movie with Deirdre and JulieAnne as we pulled away from Brazil our last port.
Overall, I really liked Brazil. I thought it was a blast to speak Spanish there, the country was beautiful, and everyday was fun. A lot of that is because of the people I hung out with, but it was definitely in the upper half of the ports we went to for me. It was probably the least safe and was the only one that I felt a bit threatened, but on the whole it was a lot of fun and I would return.
It is so weird to think that our next port is America. We are done with international destinations and are well on our way home. In fact, yesterday classes were over, so I don’t even have classes now for the next 8 days until we arrive. All that is left is exams, papers, both of which I am about done with, and the Alumni Ball. As I have said a number of times now, I am not as sad about it ending as I thought I would be, rather I am just sad that I won’t be able to hang out with all of the awesome friends I’ve made here anymore. I’ll update once more probably from sea, maybe more if I have anything productive to say, but that is it in terms of my international blogs.
Thanks to everyone for reading throughout the semester, look for one more update from me in a couple of days and then I will be in Fort Lauderdale, safe at home in the US of A.
"A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles"
