There is constant drumming coming from the streets. We must be in Salvador!!...

Hey Everyone,

 

After a very tiring flight from Sao Paulo, which was delayed for over 4 hours, we arrived in Salvador, Brazil last night.  Salvador is the capital of the Bahia State of Brazil and also the center of Afro-Brazilian culture and people.  We both have been looking forward to coming here, seeing the sites, and enjoying the culture.  You may recall, this is the city in which we were hoping to attend Carnival.  It is Brazil's largest (yes, bigger than Rio's).  It is also allegedly more egalitarian.  Brazil also suffers from social classes, and Rio's Carnival definitely highlights those differences between the classes.  Unfortunately, the shear popularity of Salvador's Carnival has made it too expensive for us to attend.  A bed in a 10-person dormitory in a below average hostel is going for about $75-$100 US per person per night.  And you have to stay for a minimum of seven days.  That is just your expense for lodging, and everything else is more expensive than usual for the week.  Since our visas are good for 5 years, we have reached the conclusion that we will come back to Brazil for Carnival in a few years and after we have jobs again so we can do Carnival right and in comfort.  We both would be able to afford dropping a few thousand dollars for Carnival if we had jobs.  We also would love to have some of our friends join us.  We have been told by Brazilians that the best thing to do is to get a group of 6-10 people and rent a house or apartment for Carnival.

 

Anyways, like the Dave Chapelle Show demonstrated...  White people like dancing to guitars, Latinos like dancing to steel drums and electric pianos, and Blacks like dancing to drums.  LOL

 

Well, we know we are in Salvador because on a typical Monday night at 1 AM the street music was going full force, and today when we awoke and were having our breakfast at 10 AM, the street drumming was already going strong.  We have been told by some of the other travelers who have been here for a few days that every day, all day you can hear and see the street drumming.  Even our shuttle driver from the airport to the hostel could not stop from drumming on his steering wheel as he drove us the 18 km to our hostel.  Hahahaha.

 

We have no pictures yet, but we will be leaving to see the city pretty soon.  We'll post them as we take them.

 

Ciao for now,

 

Sean