Sadly, my time in Brazil has come to an end. I'm back in the US, and though it's not in the foreseeable future, I'm sure I'll return to Rio again at some point. I had an absolutely amazing semester, and Rio's pretty much my favorite place on Earth.
A few things that struck me upon returning to small-town American life:
*My room here is so incredibly quiet. In Rio I could always hear traffic rushing by outside my window or sounds from nearby apartments, but here, there is often no sound at all. It's deafening, and it took quite awhile for my ears to stop ringing because of it.
*I have hot water in sinks! I've become so accustomed to only having cold water (even when there's a supposedly-hot-water knob) that at times it's hard to remember to actually USE the hot water that's now readily available.
*Because everything is air conditioned here, there's a drastic difference between indoor and outdoor temperatures. Some places in Brazil are air conditioned, but for the most part, I could wear the same outfit both indoors and outdoors without being uncomfortable. Not so in the United States. I keep forgetting my jacket.
*I can leave food or opened wrappers out without ants invading the area within ten minutes. It's wonderful to be so bug-free!
*I'd forgotten how soft clothes can be when washed with softener and dried in a dryer instead of on a clothesline. Everything's so incredibly comfy now!
*Then there's the whole idea that I can have a dirty article of clothing clean and ready to wear within only a couple hours. It blew my mind at first. Clothes in Brazil took a day to dry at best, and often even longer when it was especially humid. That meant I always had to be planning ahead with what I wanted to wear, but now I'm free to procrastinate to the last two-hour time block (the amount of time it takes to wash and dry something) all I want.
*American coins now seem so foreign to me. They're different shapes and weights from Brazilian coins, and dimes especially seem so small, light, and thin that I can hardly believe they're real.
*Styles here for girls my age now seem so casual. In Brazil I wore a skirt or dress probably at least five days a week and didn't stand out at all. Here, most girls I see are in athletic shorts and t-shirts, and skirts are all but nonexistent. I went a semester hardly seeing any girls in t-shirts, and now I can hardly find one who's not.
*Everything around here is just so open and green. Rural Wisconsin is certainly a far cry from the high rises of Rio's Zona Sul.
*I can get to everything so quickly here! In Rio, having to ride a bus for an hour or more to get somewhere was not at all uncommon. That didn't bother me, but being in a place where I can cross from one side of town to the other in only ten minutes certainly amazes me. I could hardly cross a single neighborhood in Rio in that amount of time.
It's been interesting being able to look at the US from a sort of "foreign" point of view. Being out of the country for so long has definitely made me see everyday things in a new light.
I already miss Rio and my Brazilian life. I know I'll be back eventually!
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Salvador
I wanted to take one last trip before returning to the US, so I decided to go to Salvador. The city is the capital of the Brazilian state of Bahia, and is in the region known as the Northeast. The culture there is very different from that of the Southeast, where Rio is, so I thought it would be interesting to see something new.
It seemed to me like Salvador was an extreme version of Rio in several ways. Whereas in Rio, the tap water is drinkable though not delicious, the water in Salvador is unsafe to drink. Salvador is the first place in South America I've visited where that's been the case. It's a bit of a headache trying to deal with, since even the ice in fountain drinks at restaurants is unsafe. I always had to make sure to order cans of soda instead.
The population of Salvador is much darker than that of Rio. They have a strong Afro-Brazilian tradition there, and whereas I would describe most of the people in Rio as "golden," most people in Salvador would definitely be described as Afro-Brazilian. I felt so conspicuous there with my light skin and hair. In Rio there are enough light-skinned people that on a good day, I think I can blend in fairly well. In Salvador, I had no chance - there, being light-skinned almost automatically marks a person as being a tourist. Like Rio, Salvador is a dangerous city, and I really didn't like automatically being marked as a target simply because of my skin color. I never had any problems there, but I was always slightly apprehensive nevertheless.
Salvador seems to be a more run-down city than Rio. The northeast region as a whole has a reputation as one of Brazil's most impoverished areas. In fact, a large number of the residents in Rio's favelas are originally from the Northeast, having come to Rio in search of better opportunities. Though the city of Salvador is certainly far better off than less-urbanized areas, traces of that poverty are visible throughout the city. I was staying in Barra, one of the nicer areas of Salvador, but even so, the sidewalk on my street was so crumbled in some places that it would've been better to have had no sidewalk at all. I thought the favelas in Rio were prominent, but the favelas in Salvador are even more visible. The ones in Rio are either on hillsides or in the Zona Norte, in places that people from the Zona Sul would rarely pass on buses. In Salvador, on the other hand, the favelas seem to be smack in the middle of the city, requiring people to drive right alongside or through them.
On the other hand, I think Salvador has better beaches than Rio. I almost feel traitorous in saying so, seeing as how Rio's beaches are world reknowned for their beauty, but I think it's true. In Rio, the beaches tend to be fairly lengthy. This means that, if you try to take a picture of it, you mostly get a bunch of sand and water, with perhaps a cool rock or two off in the distance. Doesn't make for the most amazing photo ops. In Salvador, many of the beaches are smaller. Salvador is located on a peninsula with the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and All Saints Bay on the other. The coast is rather scalloped, which produces a lot of smaller, semi-circle beaches. Additionally, there are often cool things located on the points separating beaches, including forts, a lighthouse, and a statue of Christ. That makes for much prettier photos.
The water in Salvador is warmer than in Rio, too. I generally don't like to swim in the ocean, and in Rio tend to stay on the sand. In Salvador, however, it was so hot and sunny and the water looked so inviting, that I just couldn't resist. The beach I went to, Porto da Barra, had only gentle waves. I swam out to where it was over my head, and even there the water was so clear I could see all the way to the bottom. The water was the absolutely perfect temperature, and it took quite awhile before I was able to convince myself to go back on the sand. If I wanted to go on a beach vacation, I'd choose Salvador over Rio in an instant.
a sweeping view of Salvador, with its lighthouse on the point 
a closer shot of the lighthouse 
another beach shot 
Rio has a statue of Christ on a mountain, Salvador has a statue of Christ on a hill The other notable thing about Salvador is its Old City, called Pelourinho. Salvador was the first capital of Brazil, and many of the buildings there were built in the 1600s and 1700s. The UN has made it a World Heritage Site. It's very picturesque, but the people at our hostel told us it was too dangerous to go there with a camera, so I went on a guided tour in order to be able to take pictures.
the Lacerda Elevator, which connects Pelourinho with the coast, far below
It seemed to me like Salvador was an extreme version of Rio in several ways. Whereas in Rio, the tap water is drinkable though not delicious, the water in Salvador is unsafe to drink. Salvador is the first place in South America I've visited where that's been the case. It's a bit of a headache trying to deal with, since even the ice in fountain drinks at restaurants is unsafe. I always had to make sure to order cans of soda instead.
The population of Salvador is much darker than that of Rio. They have a strong Afro-Brazilian tradition there, and whereas I would describe most of the people in Rio as "golden," most people in Salvador would definitely be described as Afro-Brazilian. I felt so conspicuous there with my light skin and hair. In Rio there are enough light-skinned people that on a good day, I think I can blend in fairly well. In Salvador, I had no chance - there, being light-skinned almost automatically marks a person as being a tourist. Like Rio, Salvador is a dangerous city, and I really didn't like automatically being marked as a target simply because of my skin color. I never had any problems there, but I was always slightly apprehensive nevertheless.
Salvador seems to be a more run-down city than Rio. The northeast region as a whole has a reputation as one of Brazil's most impoverished areas. In fact, a large number of the residents in Rio's favelas are originally from the Northeast, having come to Rio in search of better opportunities. Though the city of Salvador is certainly far better off than less-urbanized areas, traces of that poverty are visible throughout the city. I was staying in Barra, one of the nicer areas of Salvador, but even so, the sidewalk on my street was so crumbled in some places that it would've been better to have had no sidewalk at all. I thought the favelas in Rio were prominent, but the favelas in Salvador are even more visible. The ones in Rio are either on hillsides or in the Zona Norte, in places that people from the Zona Sul would rarely pass on buses. In Salvador, on the other hand, the favelas seem to be smack in the middle of the city, requiring people to drive right alongside or through them.
On the other hand, I think Salvador has better beaches than Rio. I almost feel traitorous in saying so, seeing as how Rio's beaches are world reknowned for their beauty, but I think it's true. In Rio, the beaches tend to be fairly lengthy. This means that, if you try to take a picture of it, you mostly get a bunch of sand and water, with perhaps a cool rock or two off in the distance. Doesn't make for the most amazing photo ops. In Salvador, many of the beaches are smaller. Salvador is located on a peninsula with the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and All Saints Bay on the other. The coast is rather scalloped, which produces a lot of smaller, semi-circle beaches. Additionally, there are often cool things located on the points separating beaches, including forts, a lighthouse, and a statue of Christ. That makes for much prettier photos.
The water in Salvador is warmer than in Rio, too. I generally don't like to swim in the ocean, and in Rio tend to stay on the sand. In Salvador, however, it was so hot and sunny and the water looked so inviting, that I just couldn't resist. The beach I went to, Porto da Barra, had only gentle waves. I swam out to where it was over my head, and even there the water was so clear I could see all the way to the bottom. The water was the absolutely perfect temperature, and it took quite awhile before I was able to convince myself to go back on the sand. If I wanted to go on a beach vacation, I'd choose Salvador over Rio in an instant.
a sweeping view of Salvador, with its lighthouse on the point 
a closer shot of the lighthouse 
another beach shot 
Rio has a statue of Christ on a mountain, Salvador has a statue of Christ on a hill 
the Lacerda Elevator, which connects Pelourinho with the coast, far below
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