Our trip started with a flight from DCA (which I still refuse to call Reagan Airport) to MIA where we had to RACE for our flight due to delays getting out of DC… With 22 of us, we were pretty sure they would hold the flight but we racewalked all the same… Even for flights, this body does not run… Another classmate was in first class and she had them call ahead to make sure we wouldn’t be left behind… Suffice to say we got on the plane… Overnight to Salvador… ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ…
We awoke to breakfast and a little turbulence… but again all was well… and sleep deprived, we wandered into the heat and humidity of an early morning in what is essentially jungle… I was utterly unprepared for just how humid it was… So was my hair… Bus trip along the coast “highway” showed beautiful beaches and a lot of poverty as well as stray dogs…
Breakfast at the hotel was a remarkable buffet of fruit and a tower of bread which I should have photographed… And the café con leich is spectacular…
Salvador is one of the oldest cities in Brazil… It’s also one of the poorest regions in the country… The ratio of women to men is 7:1… Our guide is a 50 year old surfer who lived in San Francisco for either 7 or 17 years (I was never quite clear on that)… Born and raised in Salvador, he knew people all over the Old City, the historic section of town… Our city tour began with a trip to Forte de Santo Antônio da Barra which was much like the fort on Tybee Island in Savannah, GA… Beautiful views of the ocean and small rocky areas where people fish and trap local lobsters…
It was at the fort that I passed my first hurdle… The “memorabilia” vendors left me utterly alone… Apparently (once again) I blended which was much better than having to constantly say “no obligada” when they were offering up their wares… We drank coconut water to ward off dehydration and may I just say that it is so much better out of the fruit than out of the aseptic juice box…
The Old City area of Salvador – Pelhourino - reminded me of a combination of Malta and Puerto Rico… There are definite influences of Europe and the Caribbean… From the old cathedrals including Church of São Francisco that has 800kg of gold leaf adorning the ceiling to the central square surrounded by what were once homes of the affluent citizens, there is a good bit of history here… There is so much traffic through the major areas of the city however that we were plenty sick of the bus after 2 days…
During dinner we were serenaded by both all-female and all-male drum corps… The government has sponsored schools which teach the drumming as well as provide a basic education… It is how they are combating the gangs and teenage prostitution in the city… Paul Simon used a group of these drummers on an album several years ago and now there is significant competition to participate…
On Wednesday, we traveled to SEIB and Ford Motor Company… SEIB is a technical academy funded by a public/private partnership agreement which provides skills training to young men and women… What great ideas I have to take with me to the DR… And why isn’t Washington, DC doing something like this? At the Ford plant, we saw an extraordinarily large campus which employs more than 10K people per shift… All Ford vehicles sold in Brazil are apparently constructed in this facility which is very European in its model in terms of how it cares for the employees…
We finished our time in Salvador with an amazing dinner at Yemanja of mocqueca with shrimp and a fish stew done with tomatoes, olives and the best mashed potatoes I have had in a long time… Dessert was a requirement as quite a few classmates and I have developed a fondness for passion fruit mousse which we tell ourselves is better for us than other things… Heh! A walk on the beach where the water was amazingly warm… and a wild cab ride back to the hotel finished up our time in the city…
Next up… Brasilia D.F.
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