Salvador de Bahia

So Salvador de Bahia didn't impress me, but it surprised me. I had decided against getting a hotel at the beach ("Barra" is the place to be), since all I could find there were short-term flats (usually associated with additional fees) and hostels which had all their private rooms booked (didn't want to stay in dorms anymore). So I opted for a hotel in the center. Upon arriving at the airport, I hoped into a bus whose route actually ended about 50 meters from my hotel  (I try to avoid the overpriced Brazilian taxis if at all possible, this cost me BR 5 instead of ~ BR 70). On the way I got to see the Brazilian cost for the first time, and felt glad to be close to the ocean.

The city center is divided into an "upper" and "lower" part. The former constitutes the actually center, the later the harbor and marina part. In order to make getting up and down easier for it's residents, the government built an elevator which carries you for ~ 5 cents the 70 meters up or down.

Rafaela had told me that, when in Salvador, I need to try a food called "Acaraje". Problem was, I had not idea what it was and where to get it. So on my 2nd evening I wandered into some coffee shop and tried to ask the cashier where to get Acaraje. A Brazilian guy overheard me struggling with my question and came to my aide. Him and his wife then told me that it is a street food, and you can literally get it at any of the small boths on the street. They were super nice and came along with me to make sure I got the right thing.

 Sorry, the picture sucks.

 So I decided to download another one from the web and add wikipedia's description:
"Acarajé (Portuguese pronunciation: [akaɾaˈʒɛ] ( listen)) or Akara is a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into a ball and then deep-fried in dendê(palm oil). It is found in West African and Brazilian cuisines. The dish is traditionally encountered in Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia, especially in the city of Salvador, often as street food, and is also found in many countries in West Africa, including Nigeria, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Mali, Gambia." Source: Wikipedia.org

The next morning, as I was checking Facebook, I encountered a picture of my friend Wolfgang with a bunch of kids he encountered on the streets of Ethiopia and decided to play some soccer with. He writes that when he visits such places he tries to stay away from the tourist areas a bit and just wonders the streets - and provided me with the inspiration I needed. So I started aimlessly wondering the streets ..

 Big Momma of course comes up to you all smiley and nice and wants to take a picture with you. Afterwords her face turns more serious and she demand 2 Reales for the hard work she just performed. ;-)

The remarkable thing about Salvador is the wasted potential. They have an abundance of nice, historic buildings, but only very few of them are well maintained. The majority, like the one shown below, are left to rot and slowly decay. I cannot speak to the reasons for this, but it saddens me to see so much history fading away so sadly.

 An automotive paint show close to downtown Salvador.

Salvador is one of the largest cities of Brasil, and used to be the countries capital before it was moved to Brasilia. This was the main entry port for slaves into Brasil. What many don't realize (including me until recently), is that many more slaves were shipped to Brazil then to the US. In my opinion the population reflects this: The racial mix is quite different than anywhere else in South America I've been so far. I also think there has been much more racial intermix, and often it is impossible to determine someone's heritage.(There are many Asian influences as well). With respect to colonial times there was one significant difference to the US: While in the US any child born with any black blood was considered a slave, here any child born with any white blood was considered free and could own property. Maybe that is why it appears to me that racial boundaries are far less over here than in the states.
PLEASE note that the last thing I want to do is offend anyone with my comments, if any of what I wrote above is in any way offensive to anyone reading this I apologize.

In the afternoon I go back on the tourist track and visit the beaches of Barra, alongside the lighthouse, which I guess serves as the symbol of the city.

Iguassu Falls

“Somos um breve pulsar.” ("Life is short." - my message of the day. Luciana, 08/08/2015

This morning at 1.30am I boarded my first plane, now it is 11.40am and I just boarded the third one, which is finally supposed to take me to Iguassu. I guess the last week has taken a toll on my body, as I was able to sleep a full three hours on the first flight, and fell asleep as soon as I sat down on the second plane. When I woke up we were on the runway, and I had no idea if we were about the start or had just landed. The former was the case, and I was asleep again five minutes later. Not bad for someone who usually can’t sleep on planes.

My trip schedule got a little juggled around, as I was actually supposed to leave for Iguassu yesterday morning at 6.20am – but figured out the night before that the German agency I used to book the flight had fucked things up. The next hour I started looking at the options. Either leave at 1.30am that same night, or a day later. Rafaela, the Brasilian girl I have met on the boat, had gotten quite sick to her stomach, throwing up all night and having stomach cramps. I did not feel like deserting her in the middle of the night.  So I opted to leave a day later. 

So I arrived her on August 7 at around 2.30pm in the afternoon. It is hot, but windy, so it actually feels pleasant.

After arriving at Iguazu airport yesterday, I struggled for an hour to buy my ticket to Salvador. Buying an airline ticket in Brazil with a foreign credit card is a nightmare. Hence my decision to buy it directly at the airport. I initially wanted to fly with Azul. When I checked on my computer that was the cheapest ticket and the times with well. When I got to the ticket counter five minutes later, price had tripled. So I opted for a company called Gol. They, however, charge 10% extra if you use their staff (at the counter or via phone), which would have cost me $13 extra. No way! Working through the webpage is a nightmare for all three major carriers in Brazil. One of the Gol employees was helping me, even entering his own address so that we finally got it to work. After one hour. I guess Gol’s policy worked out really well on that one. J Thanks so much to Felipe, I couldn’t have done it without you!

I take the bus from the airport, which drops me off 300 meters from my hostel. I check in, drop off my bags, and head straight out to visit the Brasilian side of the falls. The nice biology-student at the front desk gives me some useful pointers before I head out. I chose the hostel due to it's locatioin, from here, I can walk to the entrance (and it is only five minutes from the airport).

 The left side of the falls are the Brazilian side (see map below), the right side the Argentinian side. Today I'm off to visit the former.

I sign up for a boat tour, which takes us through the jungle first.

Our guide shows us some nice places - even though this waterfall is absolutely nothing compared to what is about to come. I ask our guide, a young girl around 20 or so, why there are always so few animals visible around those kind of trails. And she confirms what I have overheard a few times already - animals, and especially the ones that can be dangerous, try to stay away from people. Most hear much better than we do, and get away before we get a chance to see them.

In retrospect, I should have taken the boat ride from the Argentinian side. The driver made it fun for us in terms of cool maneuvers, but I guess the boats are not allowed to cross into Argentinian territory and that's where the best views are.

They have open buses taking you from stop to stop over here. After the two-hour jungle and boat tour I arrived back at bus stop # 9 at 5.50pm – worried I was not going to make it to the main viewpoint anymore. Three minutes later the next bus arrives. As I’m the only tourist on it, the bus driver invites me to set next to him on the tour guides seat in his cabin. I tell him that I was worried I wasn’t going to make it to the viewpoint, and he tells me he’ll take me there straight, skipping all the other stops. We continue chatting and he tells me that he is of German origin, his grandfather and grandmother only spoke German in the home. His grandmother never even learned Portuguise – during forty years living in Brazil. Apparently the whole town spoke German. I make it to the viewpoint and get some spectacular views of the sun setting over the falls. At first I take some pictures, then I decide just to enjoy the view. 

 My view as I get out of the bus!

So with the help of my bus driver, I made it in time and also get to enjoy a beautiful sunset over the falls.

Day 2:

Now I’m sitting here waiting for the tour to the Argentinian side to start. Last night at around 1am another guest came into our dorm and took the bunk bed above mine. Her alarm woke me up at 6am, and she almost fell as she got out of bed. As I knew I couldn’t go back to sleep after that, I got myself ready and joined her for breakfast. Her name is Luciana, she is from Rio de Janeiro, and speaks no English. We communicate in Spanish, her’s is about as good as mine. At some point I notice that she has a tattoo on her left inside wrist. She does not strike me as a tattoo-kind-of-girl at all, so I ask her about it. It says “Somos um breve pulsar”. She got it last year after a visit to the Tocama dessert in Chile. That was a tough time in her life, she tells me. Being there made her feel incredibly happy, and at that moment she realized that life is too short to get upset about the "small things". “Life is short”, what the quote conceptually translates to, is to remind her whenever she has a sad moment, that it will pass quickly and another good one will follow. 

Now it’s time for me to get ready for day 2! ;-) I hope you, as you are reading this, are doing well, enjoy your day, and remember – life is short!     

 Crossing over to Argentina, the river splits into two at the upper part of the picture, and the land in
between is Paraguay.

The transport organization on the Argentinian side of the not as good as on the Brazilian side, they have these trains that only go every half hour, are super slow, and of course you often have to wait. They say to calculate a full day for the Argentinian side - you could easily do it in half a day if the transport was better.

I have to say I was not that impressed with the Brazilian side of the falls. After day one I almost thought I should have invested that money differently. But seeing them from the Argentinian side completely changed my perspective. The largest part of Iguassu Falls isn’t even visible from the Brazilian side, and the part that is you cannot get a really good view of. I went there today with two guys from Denmark I met at the hostel. The organization on the Argentinian side is crappie, with slow trains that run only every 30 minutes. We learned quickly that if taking a train can be avoided, that’s the way to go. The pictures speak for themselves – I was overwhelmed. 

At this moment I finally understood Elenor Roosevelt's comment upon seeing Iguassu: "Poor Niagara!"

Now I’m sitting at the airport in Curitiba, it is 7.40am and I’m waiting for my connecting flight to Rio at 9.20 and then to Salvador. This morning I had to get up at 3.30am to make my flight at 5.20am. Not exactly vacation fun. Only five more night. I’ve only booked hotels from now on and hopefully will get good mattresses and some rest before returning home. 

Manaus

We did not have a hotel/hostel yet upon our arrival in Manaus. So Rafaela asked some people in the port where we could find an internet cafe. We had a little bit of walking to do. Quickly we realized again that, stepping a few yards away from the river, it was HOT again. And humid. And Tini's backpack, which goes by the name of Martin, weighs a whopping 22 kg, and her smaller front pack another 8-10 kg. So walking with all that luggage is not easy for her. After about 10 minutes we found the place, and were able to book 4 beds in a hostel that was fairly close - another 10 minutes walking got us there.

After a shower and lunch, we want to explore the city a bit, especially Teatro de Amazonas, the most famous building of the city from a time when Manaus was still one of the most prosperous cities in South America. Since we have to wait 45 minutes for a tour, we head to a fruit juice store to stack up on our vitamins.

The theater reminded me a lot of Teatro Juarez in Guanajuato, Mexico, they are very similar in style and I assume they were built around the same time.

A model built with Legos.

Day 2 in Manaus: 

The girls (Anja and Tini) are taking another River boat today, continuing to Belem for another 4 days. So after 6 weeks I say good-bye with a heavy heart - it's been a great time, and I wish you both lots of fun and amazing experiences for the remainder of your travel. 

Rafaela and I have booked a 1-day tour into the jungle today. 

Swimming with the pink dolphins ...

 Visited a native tribe. Unfortunately all those close enough to the outside world have started somewhat loosing their ways and catering to tourists (such as myself).

The village is still quite bare, at the very end I see a simple outhouse.

As in all those locations, they perform some kind of ritual dance and then ask all the tourists to join ..

I saw regular clothes hanging over the drying lines in the back, so I assume they only put on their traditional "fashion" when tourists are around. They say there is no electricity, but I found this covered flat screen with a DVD player in one of the huts in the back ... :D

When we head out, our driver suddenly takes a turn and takes us into smaller riverways ...

This part I now find exciting! ;-)

And here we are for our lunch stop - after riding through this narrow river for a while, we suddenly end up in this larger "lake" on the river.

The food, even though it was very good, was going to came back and haunt us the following night/day.

As we head out from lunch, our boat driver suddenly turns off right into the jungle, maneuvering his way through bushes and the trees.

Glad I don't have to cut that one, probably about 3 m wide.

After heading with us right through the swamp for about 20 minutes, we arrive at one of these locations where they show you all kinds of animals. In this pond they had a bunch of large fish, probably about 5 feet (1.5 m) long each. For 10 Reales you could buy 3 pieces of bait to give them. Once the bait touches the water, they are on it ...

 ... and they are f.... strong!!!

Then they finally release the beast!!!

 The mighty Anaconda, famous around the world. A girl that was sitting ahead of me in the boat told us that three days ago an Anaconda had take a small, 20 year old guy. Large Anacondas supposedly can swallow small human, and even have been known to swallow small cows. If the prey they eat is too large, they have to "throw it up" again and supposedly die.

On our way back we cross the place where the Rio Negro and the Rio Solimões rivers join to officially form the Amazon river (the Rio Negro is often referred to as the Amazon as well).  The waters of each river are clearly visible as the Rio Negro appears dark (even though it is very clear), while the Rio Solimões appears brownish/dirty (see below). It is said that the waters run side by side for quite a while before they actually mix. 

Gas station on the Amazon river outside Manaus harbor.

Concluding thoughts:
The size of this river is unbelievable, I have never seen anything like it. I was positively surprised by how pleasant it was to travel on - not hot, not humid, no mosquitos. Anyhow who is contemplating an Amazon river cruise, I would highly recommend it. (I recommend going downstream though). There are first-class cruise ships, at the appropriate price of course.