Salvador!

 Flying into Salvador

I arrived in Salvador with a whole day to kill before meeting my new host, Fabi! With her advice, I took  a bus to her  favorite  beach in town, Villas do Atlântico. Hiking down  the beautiful  beach with all of my backpacking bags in tow  brough me to a little beachside hut named Barraca Odoyá (the  goddess   of  the  sea's tent).  The people there were very  nice and let  me stowe  my bags  behind  the counter all  day until   5pm while I  lounged on the beach. I made some good  headway on my tan that day :)

The  next day  was  a huge day. The  girls arrived from the airport  in the morning  after traveling for about 24 hours. I'm sorry to  say  they didn't get much  rest. That  night  we went  to  a pre-carnaval bloco, which  is a huge group  party featuring a bataria (group of drummers) parading  down the street  with a large  crowd of partyers, spectators, drinkers, etc  in  their wake. We paid  to be part of  the party  with the  bateria, which means  we wore  the  shirts  of the  band. It was worth the money as the partygoers in  the ropes with the shirts got a  safe  comfortable place  to  be with and around  the band, instead of  on  the other  side of the ropes with annoying drunks  and  very pushy cat-calling brazillian men!

We altered our shirts  to make our  own personalized spin on  things. And  because they were made of 100%  polyester, which is  murder in this climate. Thanks Fabi for  the great  recommendation!

 All the girls!

 Fabi, you're the best!

 Cue bad-ass music... here come the gringas!

With the bloco.

 We just found out that we may be albe to reuse  our  shirts for the  first day of  Carnaval here before leaving. The name  of the band is "Habeas Copos" which  is a brazillian play on words coming from "Habeas  Corpus", the right to a trial, and "copos", or  cups... of alcahol by implication :)

By  the way, this  Habeas  Copos Banda  started at midnight.  We were out dancing on  the streets till 5am.  Immediately after  this ended  with the  people  becoming  more drunk  and rowdy throughout  the night,  we took a bus (they  start  running at  5am) to  Rio Vermelho (red river) for  a  completely  different change  of scene  to watch  the sunrise  and  the beginnings of  the Festa de Iemanja.

Sunrise over the waters of Rio Vermelho

This beautiful  religious  festival honors  the  goddess of the sea.  Worshipers  make their  way down to the sea wearing all  white and bringing  gifts of flowers,  champagne, and  other things to honor and thank the sea goddess. The people  take  boats out  to  the sea to make  their  offerings. The  mood  here  was  sacred, respectful, open, beautiful,  and  welcoming. It was such a stark contrast from the night  before that  it instantly grounded me and  made me want to stay. I watched the sunrise, sang some songs I had learned thanks  to Vanessa Lindberg :),  recieved a blessing which  included rice for my head, popcorn rubbed  on my arms, a white  chalk like  powderfor my chest  and back, and substantial  yanking on my arms  :). I understood  parts of the blessing, calling for  health, safety, wealth, and general happiness. The old  woman who gave to me was wisened and ancient. It felt  very personal, curious, and good  all at once.

 After the blessing you wash in the sea of Iemanja.

Often this is accompanied by a realization.

 Flowers as offerings

 The boats used to take worshipers out with offerings.

Erin was the only one who brought the traditional white top,

but people were welcoming of us none the less.

I got the feeling that no one here judged our way of

being when we are present and respectful.

These  girls are troopers, I can't believe  they stayed  up all night on  a flight  after a day of travel, then be  out and about all day... then  stay up all  night to  samba  through  the  streets  and then catch  a religious  festival at dawn, all without a proper  sleep! Don´t worry, we caught  up later!

São Paulo food, street art, and prep for Carnaval!

A store for carnaval supplies on famous Rua 25 de Março.

 Elaine took me to Rua 25 de Março to see the  fun shopping district where everyone goes to get the best prices in town on all sorts of items. I was able to find some nice presents for friends at home... (wink wink)

Me on Rua 25.

Some of the intricate masks available for your fantasias (costumes).

 And since I can't stop thinking about it...

The amazing cake that Elaine and her mom made me. :) 

 This is Elaine's beautiful house. I miss it their family and home.

This was my room, it is usually reserved for their son, Matheus.

So... I can't get the stupid program to make these pictures upright so here comes the head-turner section.

 This is the costume Elaine will wear for Carnaval.

 Surprisingly it is very light, and incredibly affordable.

Only around R$250 ($175). shocking!

 Another of the costumes to be paraded this year.

 The queen of the parade!

A video from the VIP booth above the X-9 Escola de Samba of rehearsal!

 Starfruit.

 I can't remember what this is, but whoah!

 These roots and coconut were the two main ingredients in my cake.

Who would have thought?! They are delicious!

São Paulo has some super interesting graffiti artists. There are cool works all over the city, ranging from the traditional tag lettering to intricate works of art. These are only a few of the beautiful ones I captured.

This is a very famous graffiti artist's work, his pieces can be seen all over the city in the same style.

Elaine and Marcus took me to an amazing restaurant just outside the city in the forest.  This place  was incredible, it  seemed almost like a Tuscan villa. You can  have all you can  eat  here for around R$25  ($13) It was some  of the most delicious food!  I´ve  gotta say, Elaine and Marcus  know  how to eat  and  find the best  foods  in  São Paulo! They also took me  to an awesome hot dog place  that  covers their  hot dogs with mashed  potatoes, it  was so  good (and this is coming from someone who  doesn't eat hot dogs

!

The courtyard of the restaurant.

  All  of the  food  is laid  out on a giant  stove that they

continually keep hot with logs and fire throughout the day.

Closeup of the food for Serena and Annie!

I love this beautiful Family!

Elaine is sporting the earrings I made for her as a thank you!

 MMM Tasty!

Marcus is very dedicated and graduated after attending night  school for  4 years and supporting his family  as well. What a guy! I got  to see him graduate with the family. They are such wonderful people and so welcoming.

Parabens Marcus!

 Elaine and I at the ceremony.

Matheus, Just like daddy :)

Thanks again for such a great trip, videos to come later when they actually upload... the internet is so slooooow here.

São Paulo e a família Fomseca

Elaine and I first met on couchsurfing.org. I am so thankful for this website because it helped me to find some amazing people and places. When I arrived in Sao Paulo after a long day of riding the bus from Rio, Elaine greeted me at the bus station and took me to her beautiful home. Elaine and her family are some of the nicest people I have ever met. They found my general SP couch request and invited me to their home without me even asking them because they could see I am interested in the culture and way of life of Brazilians. They gave me a truly unique experience. Especially when it comes to caring, and FOOODDDDD! Oh my gosh.

My first night in town they took me to the X-9 Samba School.

It was basically a semi-dress rehearsal for Carnaval where they sing their schools theme song and perform all night. People can pay to come watch and dance but we didn't have to because Marcus has family high up in the school. This picture is taken from the VIP room above the revelry!

The sign in the back saying "ninguém dorme" means "no one sleeps"

 There are many different sections of performers

with coordinated movements for each section. 

 One of the costumes to be paraded.

PS. I have videos of this coming but none of the computers have been able to upload them yet...
so.. later!
 

When I first arrived Elaine and her mother had prepared a delicious cake made out of mandioca for me. It's a very typical dessert of the area. And deliscious! Thanks family! They have a very close family. Elaine's mother comes over every day and spends time with their 8 year old son, Matheus. The drinks you see are also typical Brazilian drinks. They did such a nice job of giving me a taste of this area, literally!

Elaine and Marcus, sweethearts for 11 years :)

These are some of the best on the planet, if you have the chance, learn português and meet them :P

and here it comes Annie and Serena, as requested!...

They took me to a very famous restaurant in São Paulo, Mocotó!

Caipirinhas, Farofa, Torresminhos, Carpacho de Carne-de-Sol, and much more!

One extremely happy girl.

 

Our dessert plate! Cheese, thick Coconut with fried coconut on top,

pumpkin, and some other amazing fruit I can't remember the name of

So this is mocotó. Which they basically forced me to try.

It's made of bone marrow and foot jelly and all sorts of nasty stuff that they promised tastes good. 

So I tried a bite then let them eat it. Oyyy, what a gringa.

I told them to next time make their guest try it before explaining :P

Sorry, the picture is on it's side. But I've been waiting to find a computer that will make this work, and I'm tired of waiting to make this post. I wish it this website of these computers would work.

Elaine and Marcus have spoiled me rotten, and my life is brighter because of them. Now that I'm about to leave here and go to Salvador, I'm already sorry to leave their home and family. I'm going to update this posrt when I can actually upload photos and videos. So far the computers here have been failing me.