I can’t believe that we have left the last port of call. We are sailing up the east coast of S.America, will soon be in the Carribean, then arrive at Fort Lauderdale, stay one night in a hotel, and then finally fly back to Canada – Toronto – HOME!!
$@&%!%* I composed a couple of paragraphs for this blog this morning from the cabin, when without any warning all went black! Can’t find what I did, so here I start again from the computer room. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It is chaos up here. All the students are working overtime to get all their work in by the due deadlines – fingers are flashing on them there computers! Yes, we are really on the last leg. Feelings are mixed. We all look forward to being home, I certainly am, but there will be a lot of good-byes that will be sad. It was the last Global Studies class this morning. Lots of wise things were said, the class ended with a song and I have to admit I felt a bit choked. I went out on deck and looked at the sea – how I love the sea. We are now sailing up the coast from Brazil, will soon be in the Carribean . But before I start talking about the approaching end I must fill you in on our last port: Salvadore, Brazil.
As we left the ship we were met by the drummers on the dock. Music is one of the best things about this part of the world.
Then they brought on the clowns on stlits and a couple of jugglers. What a lovely welcome.
Here is Audrey watching with our ship in the back-ground.
It is a very, very old city. It is now basically built at two levels, the newer, commercial, shopping, administrative areas are on the lower level, and the older historic area is on top of the hill. We walked off the dock to take the usual city tour offered by the ship and soon found ourselves in one of five old city squares overlooking the lower city and the sea.
Brazil was occupied by the Portugese in the 16th century and the old city is full of Roman Catholic churches. All very ornate – very beautiful
The old streets all narrow and cobbled fan out from the several squares.
We were lucky enough to come across a group of performers on one of the squares. It was fun watching and listening to the wild samba-like music.
Yes it was very beautiful, but I have to be honest that walking on the rough cobbled streets was not easy for me. It put me off spending too much time in the old city. This feeling was compounded when on getting back to the ship that evening we heard that there had been several muggings, with students having cameras and purses snatched. We also discovered that cab-drivers could be very aggressive, trying to charge too much. In fact Salvatore did not come across as a friendly city – so different from the cities we visited in Africa.
But we had some good experiences. We went to a theatre to see some fabulous dancing. (I have left the programme down in the cabin so I can’t give you the name of the company, but it travels the world. ) The dancing was incredible, set to drums and vocals. One set aped the movements of Condoble church worshippers as they went into trances, another was a fire dance and the finale was an incredible mixture of dance with acrobatics. Wow. After the theatre we all went out to dinner, where the waiters came around the tables to carve the meat right off the joints – a choice of beef, chicken or pork. It was quite an evening!
On another day five of us arranged our own mini-trip out of Salvadore to three neighbouring little towns. It was a Saturday morning so the local food market was in full swing. I really enjoyed walking through that – I think I have a ‘thing’ for markets.
Don’t you love this little girl who ‘picked us up’ She stayed with us for ages, holding my hand.
Dried fish and live crab!!
For lunch we went to a fabulous farmhouse on a hillside. They obviously offered lunches as a side-line. It was a beautiful house and the food was superb.
So I have mixed memories of Salvatore and Brazil. Some of it was very beautiful, but it there were overtones that were scary. Now from the safety of the ship I remember the good experiences, but I can’t say I love Brazil as I can say I love Africa.
Talking of Africa, remember I told you of how Audrey and I walked in the jungle canopy. Well, here we are showing off our matching Tshirts.
I have lots more I want to share with you as this trip nears it’s end, but I am going to send this now. I want to send one more Blog with pictures of our life on this ship.
Till then, all my love
Liz, Mum, Granny
As always, it was great to get your blog. However, I was awfully sorry to hear that Salvadore did not bring you the level of joy that you had felt in all the other places you have been. Sad, too, that it should be the last place you will visit before returning to North America. I have received Maggie's blog about her and George's trip up the Amazon - of which I was greenly envious, in advance, as you know - and it seems that their experience was not one of unmitigated joy, either. As I am sure you know, people kept getting sick and poor Maggie spent most of her time nursing them. However, excluding South America, it has been pretty much undiluted magic all the way round the globe, hasn't it? My excitement at the thought of seeing you and hearing a lot more about it in less than two weeks is mounting uncontrollably! The one wonderful part of the Brazil stopover must have been that delightful little girl who adopted you in the marketplace. She looks a total charmer! Incudentally, the standard of your photographs is quite terrific. The only one which leaves me slightly puzzled is one taken in Salvadore of which you say that it shows Audrey watching the dancers with the ship in the background. It shows the ship alright, and the dancers, but I can see no sign of Audrey unless she is in disguise as a Latin dancer or so far away as to be unrecognizable! The weather here has returned to normal, for the time of year, today which must have put all the wonderful month-early plants and trees into shock! Not too much further north they are having, or are about to have, a lot of snow, I hear! I think the temperature drop is only going to be for one day but it has come as rather a nasty shock! My blogs have been getting longer and more tedious, I think, so I will make this one a mite shorter and take you-know-who for her you-know-what. I am looking forward to seeing you more than I can put into words. David.
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