Carnaval

Wedensday, February 17, 2010 - This was my first Carnaval experience in Brazil.. I guess you could compare it in concept to Mardis Gras in the US, but in reality it's much bigger in that the whole country celebrates it. For those that don't know, which I assume is probably nobody, but, Lent is the time of year when Catholics are supposed to give up something for 40 days in dedication to God. So in the days leading up to Lent here, everybody kinda enjoys whatever it is they're about to give up to the maximus. While there are a few cities in the country that stand as the most famous places to celebrate Carnaval, each city still has its own unique version of it.

Friends

This trip has been great in many ways, one of which has been seeing lots of friends from Portland for the first time since we left it. We met Ana's old roommate Mark in Fortaleza, and in Salvador (Bahia) we met Ifar, Marcelo, our first time to meet his girlfriend Adia (good job Marcelo), and Christiana (who lived with Ana in Portland and now lives in Fortaleza). This is only Mark's 2nd time in Brazil, and Adia's first, which leads me to my next evil pleasure on this trip: misery loves company. It's been cathartically comforting to see that I'm not the only one that has trouble understanding Brazilian Portuguese! On a different note though, I continue to learn Portuguese like I continue to learn about Ana: both are beautiful, full of surprises, and both are full of love - the depths of which I may never fully grasp.

Festivities

Carnaval was the biggest party I've ever been to. It was like an explosion of senses: the full gamut of colors on every person, street, and building; music everywhere, food everywhere, tightly-packed crowds everywhere. Salvador's version of Carnaval is basically a conversion of the entire city into a continuous, mobile, rotating maze of live music. Bands load onto gigantic mobile trucks equipped with stages and blast live music as they slowly drive the circuit (several miles of road through the city). When they pass our apartment, it sounds like somebody turned on a stereo in the room full blast, which increases the challenge of sleep.

Streets are generally closed off to cars and full of people and vendors. People surround the moving stage-trucks like water in constant dance, so when each truck nears you, the otherwise half-filled street you're becomes increasingly sardine-ish, until the truck arrives, and you are a sardine. Your only choice at that point is to dance and have fun, whether you like it or not.

Aside from a couple nearby fights, we felt safe.. In fact, I felt as comfortable as back in the states. Both Carnaval and Bahia turned out to be everything I'd long expected, probably more.. I'm now excited to see the variation of Carnaval in other cities, as well as going back to Bahia to spend more time during regular hours..

Gringo 101, Lesson #1 (Licao 1)

Sweat bullets, sport farmer's tan, unashamedly display your pristine-white underbelly. Drink beer.

Uma licao sobre como ser um gringo real para o meus gringos nos estados unidos: suar profusamente, mostra o seu estomago brancao sem vergonha. Beba cervaja.

Arrival/Bahia

Tuesday, February 16, 2010


Arrival
The strangest things happen to me when I arrive at Brazil. Last time, my jaw dislocated itself or something the first night here (but eventually fixed itself); this time, I awoke the first morning and couldn't hear a thing out of my right ear. Nothing like adding another level of difficulty to communicating in Portuguese. That morning we went to a doctor who went mining in my ears for treasure and found a couple large nuggets of wax. When he removed the one from my right ear and the world became clear again for me, he spoke English to me for the first time: he knocked on my head and shouted "HALLLOOOO! Anybody home?!"
Brasileiros: Coisas estranhas acontece para mim cada vez eu chego aqui no Brasil.. A vez passada nos viemos aqui, meu maxilar dislocou, ou alguma coisa.. E desta vez, quando eu acordei no primeiro dia aqui, eu nao pudia ouvir da minha orelha direita. Nos fomos para um doutor engracado, e podia falar com ele em Portuguese quase o tempo todo.. Falei direito? Com certeza nao. Mas ainda, eu estava tao feliz com isso..

Bahia

Bahia (say Bye-ee-yah) is a state in Brazil that I'd been most excited to see for some time now, for many reasons.
Brasileiros: Eu estava animado demais para ver a Bahia por muito tempo. A historia, a comida, os pessoas, a musica, etc.

Bahia is where the europeans from Portugal first landed on the new land and eventually founded Brazil.. Salvador, the capital of Bahia, was also Brazil's first national capital. There is, therefore, tons of history there; and some of the oldest European history in all of the American continent, north or south. Walking through the historic areas of the city, I didn't feel like I was Brazil. I didn't even feel like I was on this continent - I felt like I was back in Europe. Cobble-stoned streets everywhere. European-stye cathedrals around each corner. Portuguese tiles still tiled on walls from centuries ago. And though I haven't been to the Mediterranean yet, when we were walking around the beaches, it looked like what I expect it to.

Baianos (people from Bahia) are said to be some of the happiest & most festive in Brazil. My bro Marcelo, who lived with us for a little while in Portland, is a Baiano and was already ample attestation to this assertion for me. We spent Sunday on Mar Grande - an island just a couple miles off the coast of Bahia where Marcelo's family has a house. I got to meet lots of Baianos there (it was a Sunday, so everyone naturally came over), and I most definitely found this to be true. Granted it's Carnaval, but everyody I met was in happy mode.

The cuisine in Bahia is said to be some of the best in Brazil. Again, our bro Marcelo (one of the best chefs I know) made a strong case when I lived in Portland. Many of the dishes there are tough to find outside of Bahia, and when they are, are nationally known as Baiano dishes. Music from Bahia is said to be some of the best as well; I've always felt like #2 above simply becomes evident in it. Though it's debated, many Baianos claim Capoeira originated in Bahia.. But whatever the case, there is a huge Capoeira influence in Bahia.


To come next: Carnaval...