Salvador Day 2

July 28th

Today everyone decided to sleep in a bit, but Angelika and I decided to make sure that we got up in time to go to breakfast. Our hostel, Open House Barra, has a really fabulous breakfast! We got two fruits each, mango and mamao, toast with guava jam, fresh juice, coffee and homemade oat pancakes. It was heaven after my São Paulo breakfast, and we spent time savoring it before meeting up with Olivia (Daniel slept in) to go to the beach. Since it was a Sunday, Porto da Barra, the smaller beach (on the right side of the point) was packed with locals trying to get some sun. We decided to go on the beach on the left side of the lighthouse, called Farol da Barra, which was really nice (minus the sunset views) and wider with hardly any people on it. We sat near the lighthouse and enjoyed the general splendor of the dramatic water color, rocky tide pools and historic surroundings while we lounged in the sun.

We only changed spots once during the day and, as is typical of Brazil, we did not need to get to up to find anything, it all came to us. It was not in the same quantities and varieties as in Rio, but I was able to get a veggie avocado sandwich, chips and an agua de coco! In the afternoon Daniel wandered out to the beach and we were also able to meet up with Chelsea and Rebecca who are in our program at Vanderbilt with us!

It was great to get together and exchange stories, as they have also been doing a summer language program here in Salvador, but with different experiences and results than we have had in São Paulo. I think Salvador is a much harder city to do a study abroad in because, although it is large, it is not very cosmopolitan and the central areas and beaches are extremely touristy. The tourism industry here has complicated their ability to be accepted and involved with Brazilian culture in Salvador (as parts of the culture here are produced for the tourism industry), and it has also led to more inter-cultural problems between them and the service industry (who is often frustrated by tourists). The city here also shuts down fairly early, by around 10 almost everyone has gone home.

As the sun started to go down Daniel, Angelika and I walked up to the light house and climbed up the grass hill to watch the sun set. After the sun went down we walked back to our hostels to take showers and then go to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Daniel and Angelika got a local shrimp moqueca (stew) and Olivia and I opted for the more simple beans, rice and meat option. However, we all decided to go in together on desert and we ordered a volcano cake, a flan, and ice cream and brownie to share between the four of us!