An Unexpected Excursion

September 15, 2005
Mercado Modelo and Bahia by Night

I know that we have been updating quite regularly while in Brazil so if you have not read about our adventures from the first two days don’t forget to check out the postings, “A Very Special Day” and “Itaparica Island.”

On a side note, we are sending lots of luck and love to Ashley today. We love you and miss you and everything is going to work out. Don’t worry, be happy.

Excerpt from Heather’s Journal

We slept in a little this morning, which unfortunately means only about an hour longer or we would miss breakfast because it ends at eight thirty. Of course Megan has suggested that we sleep straight through breakfast and report to the pool bistro for a hot cinnamon bun. I might just take her up on that in the next few days.

After breakfast we sat in the piano lounge and worked on our anthropology papers that are due on the twenty-first in our cultural tourism course. I am very happy with what I have written, though we did not finish them at this time, but a little later on in the evening. During the time we worked on our papers the crew practiced the lifeboat drills and lowered one of the boats. It was very interesting to see them scurrying around in their vests and the fire doors closing in what appeared a seamless performance.

Megan writes, “After the eventful and tiring last two days I spent the morning hours aboard the MV Explorer taking a much-needed respite from the activities of Salvador. With a paper due September 21st I decided to spend my hours wisely. Not only did I complete the paper for Anthropology Tourism, but I printed the document as well. It is better to print the essay now, rather than during the crossing to South Africa, as many more students will be utilizing the facilities and oftentimes paper is either low or out.

I am quite satisfied with my first paper, surprised at my resourcefulness and inventiveness for the essay in which there are few requirements that include five pages double-spaced. I spent the overall meat of the paper discussing the authenticity of Coche’s conch mounds and the effect the tourist gaze has provoked. It is clever and oftentimes relies on graphic and expressive analysis in order to establish a conclusion. I am ready to complete my second paper for the course already even though it is not due for another month. It will address the orishas, authenticity to Yoruba beliefs and the comparison to art forms in Africa.”

Today we had a very unexpected adventure. We thought that we would devote some time to relaxing on the ship and taking in some rays, but we were told that a couple of students were going to the market at eleven. Thus we found ourselves with two other girls and a guy, solely for security purposes, heading to the Mercado Modelo to shop for Brazilian handicrafts and such. It was much like any craft market found throughout the Caribbean, but is housed in a colonial building with two levels and is absolutely enormous. Again, I cannot and will not divulge the outcome of this very exciting and successful trip, though I know you would love to hear what we bought. Although, I will tell you that I bought a painting. It is a depiction of the Pelourinho and the upper and lower city with the ocean creating a beautiful blue backdrop to the colorful colonial architecture and bright green palm trees. There are tiny stick-like people dressed in traditional Bahia costumes spread throughout the painting and it is so animated and energetic that the scene almost jumps off the canvas.

We have found it very easy to exchange money at the port terminal, and have even discovered a small post office there as well and will mail postcards tomorrow. It was so thrilling to be out in Brazil, with a feeling of ease and security, though the market is always intimidating with vendors competing for your attention. We talked a lot with one of the girls that went along with us, her name is Jess and she is from Minnesota. Her roommate is also from Minnesota and they were friends before Semester at Sea. We were so excited to find someone else that was looking for fellow classmates to explore the nearby area around the port with and who are not interested in drinking, bars, partying, or being out after dark. It was so refreshing and we decided to have lunch tomorrow at twelve thirty before returning to the market. Yes, we still have some last minute shopping to do, actually we did not take enough money with us yesterday, as we did not know what to expect and wanted to be safe. So the four of us are going to the market and I think that we have finally found someone to hangout with that has a similar personality.

Excerpt from Megan’s Journal:

Three students were going out to the Bahian market around 11:00 and Heather and I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to have a group, particularly a guy. The market was busy, vendors pointing and waving you into their stalls trying to interest you in their products, the same merchandise everyone else seems to have. I purchased a small painting that is perhaps the most vivid artwork I have seen. Difficult to describe, the canvas is stretched over a wooden frame much like the paintings I have purchased from places like Haiti. Four swatches of swirling patterns are tiled across the background and a slice of watermelon, banana, mango and strawberry are splashed around the central woman, no face or physical features, with a large skirt twirling - iridescent embellishment that is, I believe, acrylic paint decorating her apparel. She is a Candomble dancer.

Heather also purchased a painting, a scene of Salvador with small colorful houses, the ocean in the background and dancers parading the streets. After running out of money, surprisingly, we returned to the ship with Jess from 2030. She seems very much like us and we decided to meet for lunch at 12:30 tomorrow and head back to the market at 1:00. Her roommate has been on a trip and wants to go to the market with a group when she returns. The four of us will head out and have some fun in the wonderful warmth of the Salvador sun. There are a couple more things we would like to get at the market, postcards in the terminal, and at last, take care of our mail.

Heather writes, “We returned to the ship after our short, yet sudden trip, and finished our five page papers on cultural tourism. It feels so good to have this project done so that I can focus on other things, perhaps the next essay. I wrote my first paper on Pre-Columbian influences in Latin American tourist art, meaning the ceramics from Margarita Island and Itaparica Island with a comparison on what is authentic and what is appropriated from other cultures. I think that my next response will be on the Candomble House and ceremony performed by the priestess.”

Later we got ready for our trip through Semester at Sea, wearing blue jeans, ribbed tanks, and a black shrug. The location of the performance was incredible. Cobbled streets led down to a plantation house. Again, the feeling of rolling down the steep incline was in my thoughts as I tried to maneuver my foot in a choreography of gentle steps and careful footings. At the bottom we entered the manorhouse with its own sugar mill, church and slaves’ quarters. It was also a restaurant and I thought this was the place we would be eating dinner, especially while we watched the performance on a wooden stage in the center of the room. But, no, this was not the case.

The dance of the main orishas followed by the Caboclo dance, maculele stick and sword dance, capoeira martial arts dance, and many more were indeed quite a sight. So many of the routines were danced with such fiery and speed that not even the camera would capture solid shapes. Much of the one hundred some photos from the performance manifest blurred lines of the dancers and glows of the costumes arched across the photo in the silhouette of their movements. Actually, some of the pictures are beautiful with these glows and quite unique.

Excerpt from Heather’s Journal:

This evening we went on the Bahia by night trip and found ourselves in this beautifully overgrown square with colonial architecture in the approaching dusk. I have said it before, but I will have to say it again. Apparently there are several streets in Brazil that you are expected to roll down head over heels instead of walk down, for we were descending the smooth cobbles down into the steep, dark void of darkness, practically plummeting into the square. We went inside an old manor house that has been converted into a museum and out onto a pier overlooking the harbor and the sparkling lights of the city. A swift ocean breeze whisked past the group, bringing with it the sent of salt and cool Brazilian nights. Once inside we descended into the basement where tables and chairs surrounded a raised wooden platform.

A long performance ensued, first the Candomble with the brightly attired orishas, followed by the capoiera and sword dances. At one point the dancers fought with metallic machetes and wooden poles clicking in time to the beating of drums in a flurry of movement and arcing metal. Clangs of the blades rang rhythmically throughout the stone room. In another very startling portion of the performance two women came out in elaborately flowing paneled skirts topless, decorated in white body paint. It was quite interesting to see the marked increase in the amount of pictures being snapped from the male population of our group as the girls lowered their cameras and averted their eyes in shocked horror at the scene unfolding on the stage. Directly across from us on the other side of the stage sat a student from our group dressed in a black polo, and during the entire performance his mouth hung open; it made me want to go over and pick up his jaw. As I look back at some of our photos, he is there, and I will never forget that ridiculous grin hanging on his face throughout the performance.

Megan writes, “After the performance we left the manorhouse for the Villa’s, a restaurant about thirty minutes away. Had I known that at eight thirty we would be making our way to eat an enormous meal, I might not have chosen the trip. On the other hand, the food and company was excellent so I cannot complain. It was just incredibly late and I was tired. The interport lecturers for the next port, a father and son, were at out table, and we spoke a little about South Africa. Overall it was a pleasant evening although not what I had in mind.”

At the conclusion of the show we boarded the bus for a thirty-minute drive to the Villas, a restaurant located in the city. It was very fancy and after loading your plate from a five-star buffet the waiters brought skewers of every type of meat imaginable to the table. It was incredible and the food was very good, though I was quite tired by this point. I was shocked and disgusted when one waiter brought chicken hearts around and I definitely passed that one up. Sorry dad, just not one I could try. But they did serve crocodile and many other types of meat and the buffet was delicious with gourmet olives, mozzarella da buffala, which is the best, garlic bread, and many other delicacies that I did not try like caviar, salmon, sushi, peppers, white asparagus and so on and so forth.

Finally we returned to the ship at eleven after a long bus ride of which I felt quite sick. I have found that although I do not get seasick that a prolonged ride on a bumpy tour bus does not go over well with my stomach. At one point in the ride we were literally bounced a foot out of our seats and it would probably have been better to hang from the ceiling than clutching our seat cushions with white knuckles. It is time for bed and I can’t wait to sleep in tomorrow and relax.

Megan writes, “In bed by eleven thirty I was glad to be on the ship, the tide rocking the boat up and down in the port of Salvador.”