After a slow start to the day we left for Pelourinho with everyone. Pelourinho is an area in the centre of Salvador on the coast, it is surrounded by old forts and consists of very rough cobblestone roads (laid by the slaves thousands of years ago), old churches/buildings and the first university of Brasil. The steep land separates Pelourinho into an upper and lower level linked by an elevator that costs 5 centavos to ride. This area was supposed to be the most dangerous area in Brasil but it seemed fine to me, the drug dealers weren’t that subtle and there were lots of people trying to sell things or ask for money but that’s all part of being in a big city I guess. Being with André probably helped, I’m sure I wouldn’t feel the same if I was by myself!
The place was full of street markets, souvenir shops and great (and cheap) restaurants. We didn’t have enough time to check out the old markets in the lower city so me and André swore we would come back again before leaving and we did – twice! And it was definitely worth it, there is so much to see and do there! So on our first day we wandered through the shops, took lots of photos and saw the ‘pelourinho’. This part of the city is named after an area where three roads join up to form a large open area in the shape of a triangle. André explained that the slaves were publicly bashed and humiliated there. So sad! But I found out later it was not the slaves (who were dealt with on the property of their ‘masters’) but the tradesmen who had been under-handed with their customers who were the victims. It was put in place to keep the market fair, still sad but made a little more sense.
André bought a huge Berimbau (Brazilian instrument used in Capoiera) for R$20 and afterwards realized what he had done and asked me, ‘Jennifer, how are we going to bring this into Australia?’. I didn’t have an answer so I guess we will see what happens! After this we visited some little street markets in front of the ‘Mercado’ (old slave market building near the ports which is now full of markets) and rushed off to the supermarket to buy some food for dinner.
We bought heaps of food and drink and all went back to the house to make a churrasco (Brazilian BBQ). We had Remy with mango to drink, lots of sausage and meat, farofa, bread, beans and salad. Valeria also made batida Espanola (type of cocktail), which is made with red wine, condensed milk and pineapple. Sounds strange but it was really nice! Earlier that day André had bought a music dvd with Creú music on it and lots of dirty dancing so we all learnt how to dance really well! No really, Valeria and Gi taught us some samba and we practiced forro. But we did make fun of the video and Edi dressed up in Valeria’s clothes to give us a demonstration!
