Uh...so yeah...

I thought I would have time to update this blog and keep you all posted with what was going on daily and blah, blah, blah...but as you can see - that did NOT happen! So I have to try to give you the run down all the way til now...not sure itf that's really going to happen either because it's 11:30 and I'm HUNgry.

But I'll try.

So TAM Airlines isn't necessarily known for it's on time departures - and certainly did not uphold any on time departing standards for us. Our flight arrived late to Sao Paulo, giving us only an hour to go through customs and make it to our flight to Salvador. However, the customs people, and TAM reps had an entirely different agenda. We ended up staying in a hotel near the airport and catching an "8am" flight to Salvador. I have to put that in quotes because the flight really left around 9:30am. Anyhoo, we arrived in sunny Salvador and waited at the airport for Robert (Des's homey) to pick us up.

Can't really remember what we did that day...which is why I should update daily!!! But noooo... All I remember is eating. OH! How good I forget. It was Tuesday night...we went to Pelourinho(sp?)! Pelourinho is a historic part of Bahia where Africans were sold back in the day. Now it is a sort of cultural center of Salvador. Lots to do...or rather...lots to buy. Tuesday nights there is a big festival. Music, dancing, costumes, caipirinhas (forgive my spelling - I'm not even trying to look it up), acaraje - everything. It was a great introduction...yall gotta get into that one.

Wednesday - hmmmmm Wednesday. See? Again this is why you gotta update! I think we went to the beach at Porto de Barra on Wednesday. Robert has an apartment right by Forro de Barra, so we were right in front of the beach! Then of course...we ate. Because that's what big girls do. Eat. Later that night we went Salsa dancing with Alexei. Alexei is Robert's best friend. He laughs a lot. Desiree is reigning Salsa queen, so she danced for a few hours! Got some pics and and some video...

Thursday - On Thursday we attempted to go surfing. That was funny. We were supposed to get up early and go to this beach by the airport, but we got there around 11 which was "late" and just tanned instead. Water was nice. Beaches in Salvador aren't really scenic, but it was still pretty cool. That night we...hmm...what did we do Thursday night? OH! Forro. Well first, we went to a mini carnival in Itapua. It was real Labor Day in East New York. This wonderful crackhead was dancing DOWN. She had on booty shorts too. Mad people. Music. Food. Street meat. AND you could only drive close to the beach (during festivals) if you have proof that you live in the neighborhood. So we had to park and walk like a mile to that joint! After that, we went to a Forro party. Forro is fun. But don't think you can just go to a Forro party and WATCH people dance. Cuz ya can't. You not only have to dance, but you have to dance with every person that asks or they get mad. Too much work man. Sweaty too. Face to face sweat. Yuck. I'm so not down with body liquids.

Friday - Anyway, Friday we took capoeira! Dope. Feetz got blisters. Capoeira was fun. Before we took class we played fake capoeira (meaning we didn't have a clue what we were doing) in the street with the locals that were selling water. We went out to eat later on in the evening and turned the corner to go to this restaurant we had been scoping out and BAM - there were like 4,000,000 people in the street. There was like another mini carnival in the street. This, by the way, was after this reggae concert down the street on the beach. It wasn't only reggae, but a bunch of other stuff too. Before that, we went to a capoeira show at the school we went too. Some fine little capoeira playing specimens over there too. Anyway, we went to eat and got caught in a crowd of a gazillion people. Needless to say, we couldn't eat there and had to go somewhere else. We found a cool spot in the opposite direction.

Saturday/Sunday - We went to Morro! Morro de Sao Paulo is a small island with no cars about 2 hours by boat from Salvador. We arrived in the afternoon, and after we ate and walked around, we were too tired to do anything else. We stayed in the middle of the island at my friend Karima's house. Karima, however, is in Detroit, so we had the house to ourselves. I love her house. Met some lizzards there. Anyhoo, the next day we went to the beach, ate, slept... you know the drill. Both nights we attempted to party, but ended up going to bed watching In Living Color Season 2 until we fell asleep. That was great.

Monday - So I was able to secure a room in Salvador for Monday and Tuesday. So I'm back in Salvador. Earlier in Morro we went to the pink mud beach. Basically - it's like a body facial for free. It's clay beeeeeeshes! There's yellow, pink, and green. You rub it all over your body. There's basically a huge mountain of it. But after that, we had to catch the boat back to Salvador. HOWEVER, the last direct boat was at 3:30, and we left at 4:30, so we had to take a boat to Valenca, then a bus to the side of the road where we waited for a white minivan that took us to a gas station and transferred us to another white minivan that eventually took us to Bom Espacho where we caught a ferry to Salvador. 5 hours. It took FIVE hours. AND the freaking minivan was packed. Like I was sitting in a "not" seat for a while. And the locals were not feeling in. More on that later.

Anyway, so here I am at Robert's jacking him for his internet because I can't get it to work at the hotel down the street. More to come...