Travel with Dale & Margaret

We arrived in Salvador Da Bahia Brazil yesterday.  This area was first discovered by Vicente Yahex Pinzon who landed a bit north of here in 1500.  Pinzon was also the captain of the Nina (from the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria fame with Christopher Columbus).  Next to arrive was Cabral who landed at Porto Seguros (or Safe Port) at what is now the town of Porto Seguro.  He landed here to claim Portugal’s rights to the territory and called it Ilha da Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross) thinking he was on an island rather than a continent.  Oops, slight miscalculation!

Next, Amerigo Vespucci arrived in 1501 AD and he came into the huge bay on which Salvador is located and, because he arrived on All Saints Day, named the bay Bahia de Todos os Santos (Bay of All Saints).  Later his name was given to the entire continent (first South America) via the latinized form of of his name by a mapmaker in 1507.  He must have had a good PR person!

Founded in 1549, Salvador was the capital of Brazil until 1763 when that status was granted to Rio until the baton was passed on to the modern day capital Brasilia. With nearly 3 million residents, over 80% are classified as Afro-Brazilian, due to the huge influx of 1.3 million slaves coming from Africa until slavery was abolished in 1888.  The original Caete Indians were converted to Catholicism but also died of various diseases or fled when the third governor approved a “just” war against them after they ate Brazil’s first bishop (yes, that’s right — they “ate” him…or, a good part of his with the remnants being buried here).  The imported black slaves have had a lasting effect on this area as they brought their colorful religion, culture and customs with them and they exist up to this day as they do in their sister city on Africa’s West coast.

Today, Salvador da Bahia is still the capital of the capital of the Northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia and is also known simply as Bahia.  Surprisingly, it is the third most populous Brazilian city after Sao Paulo and Rio.  The historical center of the city, called Pelourinho, has beautiful and colorful colonial architecture and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  There is no shortage of Carnival action in this city and there were still signs of it as we toured the city.

The city is divided into an Cidade Alta and Cidade Baixa or Upper and Lower Town and since 1873 an elevator has connected the two sections of town with the “Elevado Lacerda”.  Theold elevator (now abandoned) is above and the new elevator is pictured below.

A quick reason for the title of this blog entry… we almost didn’t even get off the ship.  First, we decided not to take the bus tour (we are “bus toured” out for the moment) and then Margaret took a nap that ended up turning into, let’s say,  a proper “sleep”.  At 4 pm I finally decided to just go out and explore for a bit on my own.  In the end, I found a tour guide named Ernesto (pictured at bottom) just outside the terminal and I took a 2 hour tour with him, partly in his van, but a lot more walking.

I was amazed at the vibrancy in this city and enjoyed it quite a bit despite the heat and humidity.  Hey, once you’re sweating profusely, how much worse can it get?

I was really excited about the colors and angles in the city and the result are some pretty interesting pictures (if I don’t say so myself!).  A number of them, in full resolution, came out looking more like watercoloror acrylic  paintings than photographs.  That’s art!

I was treated to a beautiful sunset as I went down the new elevator complex to return to the ship.  While I have some traditional views of it in the Picture Gallery, I thought that this view reflected in the elevator complex’s windows was unique and visually arrested me (I was immediately released on my own recognizance, of course, although no one seemed to recognize me!).  Seems that I’m developing a photography style (and writing style?) 2/3rds of the way through this trip and one of them is to take pictures reflected in windows.  We’ll see where that gets me.  Hopefully it will at least get me to Ft. Lauderdale!

Salvador, Brazil Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Salvador-Feb-25-2010/25177926_xXk4Wg#!i=2065119033&k=qJfXMVC

We arrived in Rio this morning to a beautiful view of the beaches, Sugarloaf and the spectacular Christ the Redeemer statue.  There was a bit of “haze” and we learned that this means it will be a swelteringly hot day today…(we are starting to miss the cool of Antarctica!).

One thing unique to arriving into the port of Rio on a cruise ship (so we found out) is the focus placed on colored gemstones.  We like jewelry shopping (and buying) as much as the next passenger, but we weren’t prepared for the “attention” the ship got from some of the major jewelry retailers.  These jewelry companies actually have “representatives” (sales people) who come onto the ship and sail with us as passengers for a period of time…some of them for weeks!  We didn’t realize this and some of the less scrupulous among them hid the fact they were sales people as they worked on befriending us.  Now we know.  They do offer to take you on free tours (that culminate at their jewelry stores of course!).

Most people know that Rio is famous for it’s Carnival, unfortunately we missed this event by 1 week so, while we won’t be able to experience it, but then again…we also don’t have to experience the unbelievable crowds!  We did get to see the stands at the Sambadrome, which is the street where the main Carnival parade competitions take place.  But Carnival type activities are taking place much of the year as the Samba-crazed city never seems to stop showing off!

We started our tour by heading, with our H. Stern sponsored tour guide, straight to Sugarloaf Mountain hoping to avoid the crowds.  It was very hot (in the 90’s) and humid as we went to get our tickets to the great surprise that NO ONE was in line.  We bought out tickets, boarded the cable car and roasted as it climbed to the first of two stops.  You have to get off the car and then walk a bit to the next stop but, along the way, you have spectacular vistas of Rio.

Our tour guide, Priscilla, pointed out that there was a helicopter tour that took off from a helipad right on the mountain side at the first cable car area.  We decided to sign up for the tour but had about a 1 hour wait so we  caught the next cable car up to the top of Sugarloaf, roasting a bit more (by now the sweat is just dripping off you and you’ve given up trying to get cool).  It helps that the view just keeps getting better and better.  There are more viewing areas at the top, some eating and drinking areas and still the crowds were quite modest.  Our plan had worked!

Heading back down we had to wait about 20 minutes for the helicopter.  We ran out to it and got in with Margaret, Sherrie and Nick sitting in the back seat and me, as the designated photographer, sitting in the front.  Keep in mind that this ride is only 15 minutes long so you get on sort of an adrenaline rush for both the ride and the picture taking opportunities.  We zoomed up and around all the major sites in the city and I took pictures constantly.  It was a very hazy day but I think the pictures came out pretty well.  Check them out on the link below.  It was especially cool flying around the Christ statue!  Rio Helicopter Tour: http://gallery.me.com/travelwithdmcontent/100465

How do you top that?  You go to eat at Porcao’s BBQ, right on the water with a view of Sugarloaf.  Here, they have a fantastic buffet complete with incredible sushi and sashimi and then, in Brazilian steakhouse style, they walk around with skewered meat of every type imaginable.  It is totally disgusting and oh so good.

We decided to forgo going to Corcovado mountain, where the Christ statue is located, since we had seen it up close and personal from all angles in the helicopter and the crowds would be significant at this point (and it is REALLY hot today!).  So instead we headed to Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, checked out the Sheraton where Margaret had gone 25 years ago with her family and then went to the H. Stern headquarters store.

At H. Stern we checked in and went through their self-guided tour that gives you their history and shows the process of mining gemstones and preparing them.  It was an interesting and well-done tour of their facilities.  Then, we were divided up with a sales person and spent about an hour talking about what we were interested in and checking out jewelry.

Margaret found a beautiful ring at a great price and after trying to negotiate realized that they really don’t negotiate prices here…  We knew we had found a great piece at a great price so we checked out and went to find Sherrie and Nick.  Sherrie had found a watch she wanted and was quite excited! (PS: Turns out that this WAS a great ring at a great price and Margaret has really enjoyed it!)

With the ladies happy with their purchases we decided to walk around in the high end shopping area of Ipanema to find one of Margaret’s girlfriend back home an official Brazilian bikini.  But, unfortunately, the store our guide had highly recommended had a power failure and we couldn’t even go in!  Ugh.  We came all the way to Brazil for a Rio bikini and were shut out.

We headed back to the Mariner to cool off and get ready for dinner!

Our 2^nd day in Rio we went on a tour in open-air 4 wheel drive jeeps that held 8 people each.  It was another blazingly hot day…but, we made the best of it driving in the heavy traffic of Rio, heading to the Jardim botanical gardens and Tijuca park.  Both were interesting and we learned that the Tijuca was, at one time in the 1800’s completely deforested.  A wealthy, far-sighted man decided to invest in reforestation and it is now a full-fledged jungle area!  There were some beautiful waterfalls, some very nice viewing areas and it just kept getting hotter and hotter.  So again we went back to the Mariner to cool off!  It was nice to see this part of Rio — it is an interesting and diverse city.

Today we said goodbye to some new friends as Rio is the culmination point for segement 2 of the “Discover South America” cruise.  We are expecting 400 or so new “friends” to join us as they embark on the final leg of the trip — from Rio to Ft. Lauderdale.  Only 21 days left!  But, we leave you with a ton of Rio pictures.  (PS: Galleries 3 and 4 were added later so check them out)

Rio de Janeiro 1 Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Rio-Feb-22-2010/25177252_vJFDZj#!i=2065046447&k=NtNWsP7