I left my heart in Salvador...

Maybe I will live here forever!!!! Salvador is so chill. I can´t even remember what I have done since the day I last wrote. During the day, I chill at the beach or at the academy, at night I train capoeira. I have had some of the greatest days of my life in Salvador.

I went to the beach almost every day. It is very different here than in Rio. The beaches are smaller and quite rocky, unlike Rio which is entirely sand. I think I do enjoy the beaches more in Rio, it´s the complete relaxation that I love here. Now, I have also been to Barra, the most touristy beach, where I met a brazilian guy while jumping off the warf into the water. So much fun! I gave that guy my number, a mistake really, but who cares. I spent the day with him, it rained, we went to the beach, it sucked, by the end of the day, I really just wanted him to leave me alone. I told him that I had a boyfriend in Salvador and that I had to meet him. He´s called me a few times since, all of which I have ignored. That was on Friday. I really can´t remember what I did Monday through Thursday. I think I just chilled with friends, ate delicious food that we all shared, trained capoeira, and just enjoyed life. All I can remember, really, is a feeling of bliss. That´s the only way to describe it: pure bliss. I feel as though, at every moment, I am the happiest I have ever been.



I bought a SIM card on Monday, so I have a phone number in Brazil. Actually, I have two. There was a promotion, so for R$10 I bought two SIM cards. I guess I will either sell one or I will keep it in case I lose the other, which is of course entirely possible, being me. It is good for meeting friends, but it is extremely expensive to make calls. So, I only use it for text messages and for receiving calls. I still use those shitty public phones to call people.

I took a capoeira class on Wednesday (I think...) at Mestre Bimba´s old school. It´s a great thing to be able to say: I took a class at Bimba´s school! The shitty thing is that I hated the class. It was the most unmotivating class I have ever taken!! The guy who taught the class, I think he was a student, was very distracted. He would give us a movement, and then he would sit by the window and just chat with people outside, while we were doing the sequence. He left us at one point for about 20 minutes, doing the same sequence, paying not even the least bit of attention to us. There were only two of us in the class: me and this Italian dude. It was a good class for cardio, I did sweat a lot and it was a good workout, but it was extremely unmotivating. I think the problem lies in the fact that they have classes every hour. They have classes at 9am, 10am, 11am, 12pm and then again at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm... It would be better if there were fewer classes; there would be more students in each class, and perhaps there would be more motivation in the teachers and students.

I love training at Projeto Mandinga. Everyone there is super cool and amazing capoeiristas. There are a few professores, instrutores and mestres that teach the classes, and like everything else, I have forgotten all names. I remember Mestre Sabiá, of course, the Mestre of Ginga Mundo, the group here. Unfortunately, I have not taken any classes with him. I have met him a few times, and he´s a great guy. We had roda on Friday night, as they do every week, but it was a pretty bad roda for me. Somebody decided that it was a good idea to have a roda by candlelight; there was no power outage, just no light. It was interesting at first. There was a good Angola game with two of the professores, then one of the more advanced students, Lobo, had a game with one of the professores. It was a good game, but in the end, the professor (I wish I could remember his name) threw a meia lua de compasso and got Lobo right in the nose. Lobo left the roda and sat down against the wall. I looked over, and noticed that his nose was bleeding and was losing consciousness. He went to the doctor, but since that, I was not able to enjoy the roda. I had no energy. I played one Angola game, and then only played pandeiro and sang. He came back later that night, only with a broken nose.

Saturday was spent mostly at the academy. I just hung out with Metrão and a few other people who came by. That night, I stayed in with Assombraçao and Metrão, danced samba, and they shared some delicious food with me. I´ve been lucky enough to have men cook for me this entire time in Salvador. I really should cook for them, but they make such yummy food that I can´t compare!

Sunday was amazing... Gay Pride in Campo Grande. It was a party all day long! Like a mini carnaval... and everyone showed up too. It was a love fest, men with men, women with women, men with women... everyone kissing! During the day, it was similar to the Gay Parade in Vancouver: lots of people on the streets, rainbows everywhere, people dressing in drag, naked people, the only difference was that the drinking on the street was legal! It was later, when the music really started, and the party really started that it really looked like Brazil! There were buses moving slowly on the street, like floats, with music playing. All you had to do was find a bus with the music you like and dance! We danced for hours on the street, drinking beer, meeting cool people. It was amazing! It really was a mini carnaval, and it makes me SO excited for carnaval. An amazing celebration of the diversity of love... GREAT times!

I woke up this morning, packed my backpack with some of my things, and locked the rest in the closet of my room. Then I headed to Santo Amaro, where I have safely arrived now. It was a very quick trip. About 30-40 minutes on the bus to the bus station. And about 1 hour on the bus to Santo Amaro. I was able to walk to Hotel Lôbo, where I am now. After spending some time on the internet, I wandered over to Casa do Samba, where I hear there are samba, capoeira and maculêlê classes. It was closed and I couldn´t get in, so I just went for a walk. Santo Amaro feels a little bit like India, almost. Everybody just stares at me, like in India. I suppose they are not acustomed to seeing a gringa walking around. On my walk, I ran into two kids who were very interested in the strange gringa walking around. I chatted with them a bit, and one of them showed me around a little. He took me to a little theatre, where I went in and got a bit of information about capoeira and a free show that´s going on tomorrow for the 9th anniversity of the theatre. Then, I went back to the hotel, and watched some novelas. Terrible acting... just terrible.

Now, I am just getting ready for bed... I will get up early tomorrow and look around a bit more. I will be going to Casa do Samba at around 2pm, and the show later... hopefully there will be some kind of class tomorrow.