O Bahia, O Salvador...

Oi! After a long span of little to no internet, I am here in Salvador at an internet cafe with quick internet and a webcam/headset, so I´m a bit more accessible and have enjoyed a few skype conversations with family/friends! Look for me online; I´d love to chat.

Salvador is a beautiful, historic city (actually Brazil´s first city and capital, founded in the first decade of the 1500s) and I´ve enjoyed my limited free time exploring the city. Though much of our time here has been spent visiting NGOs (such as Bahia Street, which we visited today), we´ve also had a good portion of time on our own. It´s nice to relax and just be on my own in Brazil, navigating a different city without a group of Americans. Yesterday we had our whole morning free, and I went to a really cool used bookstore in the Pelorinho (pictured above), the historic center. The store´s called Beringela, which means eggplant in Portuguese. It was exactly what a used bookstore should be, with old, dusty books stacked up against the walls and shelves and everywhere there was space, kind of organized, kind of not, and a really nice shopkeeper who recommended about a thousand books to me (I only bought three). It had a little snack/cafe place attached so I got coffee and read for a while.

Food here is spicy and delicious!! I have been missing spices; Fortaleza tends to be pretty bland. The dish of choice is Acarajé (pictured, left), a delicious afro-baiana dish made from fried bean paste, stuffed with sauce, spicy tomatoes and bell peppers, and shrimp (with the shells on. and yes, that´s how you are supposed to eat them). But really food deserves a whole other entry, as does a week that´s missing here--the week in Recife and Cachoiera. Entries to come, I promise, as time permits!

Saturday I´ve got a free day and I´m planning to spend it at the MAM (Modern Art Museum or Museu de Arte Moderno, depending on which language you choose), writing letters and postcards that are long overdue, and checking out the museum of course, which is free. Apparently it´s a great place to watch the sunset, and Saturday night there´s going to be dinner and a jazz concert, so I´ll stay for that. I´m pretty excited. The only hitch in this plan is that my computer broke (it´s a long and very sad story. But it might get fixed in Fortaleza. Fingers crossed.) and thus I have lost a bunch of addresses I had saved. So if you want a postcard and haven´t already e-mailed me your address, do it!! Please!

Hope this update reaches all of you well--I know it´s flu season back in the States. Special well-wishes to my little sister, Sarah (are you even reading this Sarah?) who is a bit sick but starring in Beauty and the Beast at BJHS starting tomorrow! Break a leg, Sarah, I´ll be thinking of you!!!