As I write this, we're all still recuperating a bit from one heck of a weekend.
Friday was a short day of class. We did a tour of the Diabetes and Endocrinology lab in Salvador, which was kind of slow. Our translator wasn't nearly as good as Cress, so we missed out on a lot that our presenter was teaching, and they kept insisting on showing us their administration aspect, which meant a tour of every. single. office. From an health viewpoint, it was an interesting lesson in how to best serve the population. Diabetes is a rapidly exploding epidemic in Brazil, they don't have the funds to care for everyone, they don't have enough centers, and educational material is tough because so many people are illiterate. We finished up our academic week with a group discussion with Eugenio (one of our professors) back at the university, and then it was back to the hostel.
This is where the fun really began :)
We all signed up to do a Salvador pub crawl. For R50 (about $30), we got 5 drinks, 4 bars, a pizza, and a night tour of some of Salvador's more fun districts. It was very fun and very crazy, and I got to try some of Salvador's signature drinks. The first bar's drink was a ginger shot with different kind of spices (AMC, hush up!). The second bar, called Zulu, had a rum and coke with ginger syrup. It was a nice take on our classic rum and coke. At the 3rd bar, which is where we got the pizza, we had shots of sugar cane liqueur. Just to give you an idea, they call it the truck stop liquer. The pizza was amazing. Salvador is very big on Italian type food, and their take on it is a chicken and white sauce pizza....it's very delicious. The last bar, called the Hanger, was a bit of an issue. When you walked in, they gave you a card to keep track of your drinks. Whenever you walk out, you have to hand them your ID and the card, so you don't run off without paying your bill. Well, I stepped out to get some air, and when I went back in, they didn't give me my ID back. So when I went to leave for good, they kept asking me where my cards were, and of course, they still had them. There was a bit of a kerfuffle with the bouncers, and I was very tired and frustrated, but it all got worked out in the end.
After sleeping in (we didn't get back until almost 4 in the morning), we all got up and headed tome to a beach in Rio Verhmelho, another district of Salvador. It was kind of cloudy and rainy, but it eventually cleared up. I can't describe how amazing the beaches here are. I played in the ocean with everyone and some little kids that joined up with us for quite a bit....the waves were HUGE! I also had some beach food....coconut water fresh from the coconut, and grilled parmesan cheese. This was technically breaking our rule of no street food, but I haven't had any stomach complaints, and didn't have any afterward either, and it was SO DELICIOUS. I ended up walking for a bit by myself and taking to some wind surfers, and hunting for beach glass and shells. I found some cowrie shells! There were little tide pools at one end of the beach with these tiny little crabs and fish, and lots of shells. And I, Brittney Benjamin, queen of sun poisoning, did not burn, but instead got tan. Yes, TAN.
Oh! Josu got stung by a jellyfish! He's okay, but because I am a detective by nature, I took a picture of the ones that were washed up on shore, and we determined it was a very, very small Portuguese Man of War, which are called bluebottle jellyfish here. Scary, but again, he's okay, and we haven't had any other incidences.
When we got back from the beach, we were all pretty darn tired, so we pretty much just hung around the hostel for the rest of the night. We don't get dinner on the weekends, so we walked not even a block away to this pizza restaurant, which was excellent. I tried margherita pizza, California pizza (what we would call Hawaiin...ham and pineapple), seafood spaghetti, and mint ice cream. The rest of the night was spent relaxing, playing cards and having a bit of wine.
So here we are on Sunday! I slept in very late today...I didn't get out of bed until almost noon. A few of us decided to go into Pelhorino again. The big market was closed, and I forgot my camera, so I was kind of upset at first, but it turned into a very relaxing day. We walked around the upper city, and took the city elevator down to the lower city and looked at a few street vendors. Then we met up with our "social coordinator" Fabiano, and he drove us to a really gorgeous church and a street concert. We also got what may be the best ice cream I've had outside of MSU. I got mango and coconut flavors. What's weird in Salvador is although ice cream is served in a cone, most people don't eat them. Me? I like the crunchiness :)
And now we're off to dinner to celebrate Nicole's birthday. I think we're saving the big steak dinner for another night, since she's a vegetarian, but the restuarant we're going to is supposed to be pretty darn good. In fact, I have yet to have a bad meal.
Speaking of food, another cool thing to eat here is called Acai. I know we have the berries and the juice in the US, but it's a huge thing here to make a sort of icee/smoothie out of them and eat them with granola. I tried it today for breakfast, and it was very good.
I'm going to try to post something every day, but it's been getting difficult. I get back and I'm just too exhausted to write! I know you're all enjoying this though, and I enjoy writing it, so we'll see :)
I'm also going to be uploading some photos. They are all on facebook, if you're friends with me (Mom, get Jake to show you), but I'll be putting my favorites up on the blog as well.
Love you all,
Brit
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