Salvador, Brasil

       As I finally post the first installment about the trip, it is the last day of the World Cup and Germany will take on Argentina for the title they will hold for the next four years.  I can't believe it is over and I am not sure what I will do with myself next week (probably catch up on these and hopefully Infinity On Demand will still offer all the Univision telecasts).  It seems like a perfect time to recap and I will post something every couple days this week.
       Looking back, Salvador was probably my favorite city of the three we visited.  Rio was over the top, Recife a little boring, and the hotels in those two locales were just not nearly as nice and accommodating as the wonderful Mar Brasil Hotel in the Itapua neighborhood and beach area on the northwest of the large city in the state of Bahia.  Although we were situated on the far side of the city from most of the action, a good 30-minute white-knuckle cab ride away (more on that in a future post), it was just our style, a small, locally run hotel along a quiet beach with good food, beautiful decor and ambiance, including a TV in the lobby that played every game, and absolutely exceptional service.  The staff was always available to help, direct us to many great nearby restaurants, help plan travel and make reservations, and when we were not provided an "ocean view" room as promised, they refunded two nights stay!  (Needless to say, this did not set us up well for the general service we would receive the rest of the trip, but it was certainly nice while it lasted.)
      The first night we tried out some local food at a small family restaurant.  The hotel porter actually walked us to and showed us four restaurants in the area, including the "expensive" one, to make sure we were safe and that they were still open.  By the end of the trip we had tried all four and they all had great food, with shall we say "interesting" service according to our "American" standards.  When we awoke the next morning we were treated to a fine buffet of fresh fruits and baked goods, numerous hot dishes, an egg station, cereals, cheeses and meats, yogurt and two types of fresh juice. We were certainly able to start each day with a good breakfast.
           We quickly jumped into World Cup spirit and as we left the hotel to get into our cab for the Germany-Portugal game, we heard a "Ha-lo! Good Morning! Are you going to the stadium?" in a strong German accent from across the street, as an older man with a Germany flag draped across his shoulders as a cape was jogging toward us.  Although it may not be advised to allow a random stranger to join you we both readily welcomed this jovial fellow, who actually spoke great English and fair Portuguese and he gave us a history lesson and tour of the city, asking the cabbie anything he didn't know and passing it along.  It seemed most local Brazilians were favoring the Portuguese as they were quite eager to rib him in stopped traffic as he waved his homeland's pride. We actually still had to walk up over a kilometer to get to the stadium which is situated on a hill in the middle of a bunch of favelas.  There was a strong police presence along the way and the crowd was jovial, taking a lot of pictures of the stadium and area.  When we got inside it beautiful, the Fan Zone has tons of fun activities and free junk, and our seats  ended up being quite good.  This stadium was constructed on the site of the old one, using over 90% of the materials from the old structure.  The game itself was a blast with a huge group of Portuguese behind us to the left and numerous groups of Germans to the right, keeping the chanting and singing going throughout the game.  The Germans really dominated from start to finish, neutralizing the disappointing Christiano Ronaldo and helped by Pepe's stupidity to thrash the Portuguese 4-0.  The game left me very impressed with how well the Germans space themselves and control the ball, and it wasn't the last time during the month that I had that thought. That evening we actually ended up just watching the US-Ghana game back in the hotel lobby, as a nice crowd was gathering when we got back. It was a really great full first day and perfect way to start this trip.
       The next morning we actually were involved in a minor fender-bender while taking a cab to the old town Pelourinho area.  It actually wasn't even the cabby's fault, although he was your typical crazy Brazilian taxi driver: goes ways too fast, brakes at the last second, comes way too close to nearby cars, uses indeterminable number of lanes. Although we had some very interesting cab rides to say the least, this was our only accident of the three weeks.(again, more to come on this topic). We were in stop and go traffic and the guy behind us, who likely was on his phone, lightly bumped into us. Luckily, everyone was fine with minor damage to the cars and we were able to continue on our way.  The entire neighborhood around the Pelourinho, the main plaza in the Alta (high section) of the Old Town that used to serve as one of the world's largest slave auctions, was decked out beautifully with the trademark yellow and green national colors. It was here that I first noticed how many people were wearing the familiar Brasil jersey, more often than not number 10, and how many places were adorned with streamers, flags or other decorations.  As the city was also setting up for their Sao Joa festivities, there was a lot of general activity, including Capoeira (dance/martial arts) and Oludum drumming performances in the public areas.  There is a very old tramway that takes you between the Alta and Baixa (lower) parts of the old city.  I got my Mexico Havaiana flip-flops down below before we went to the Fan Fest for the much anticipated Brasil-Mexico match-up.
        When we got to the Salvador Fan Fest area out at the coastal point and Farol da Barra, we immediately spotted and were drawn toward four guys in Mexican jerseys sitting below the Lighthouse there and went over to join them.  It was refreshing to hear and speak Spanish, even more so than the English I had spoken.  Our crowd grew and grew with a lot of verde jerseys, Lucha Libre masks, Mexican flags decorating a diverse crowd of fans including your typical rowdy diehard male fans, numerous young couples, two different teenage boys taking their birthday trips with their padres, and one young man who had saved four years to take his grandparents to Brasil (he even had sandwiches in his backpack for them and his grandma was one of the rowdiest fans).  After watching the first of Belgium's late game heriocs on the big screen and before the Mexico-Brasil clash started, we went in search of some food and stumbled upon what would become a "staple" of the trip-"bowl of meat" as we liked to call it, or a simple churrasco/grill stand that simply cooks kebabs of meat and then serves them in a small bowl with not much more than maybe some "farofa" or manioc root powder that really only adds a little texture.  It is simple perfection and filled us up for the intense match-up that was to come.
       The seemingly large Fan Fest area filled up quickly and watching this Mexico-Brasil game in that electric environment was almost like being at the game (it is described in further detail in a previous post "Salvador Fan Fest").  I like to think that from above the crowd looked like a Brazilian flag with our group of Mexican fans a green circle in the middle surrounded by vast yellow all around.  After the intense and exciting 0-0 draw (Americanos just don't get this!) the attitude in the Mexican group was that of celebrating a win. Getting out of the Fan Fest was another story as the entrance/exit was very narrow (another example of brilliant efficiency here) and anxious and slow-going as waves of people inched the crowd slowly forward.  Luckily, the Brasileiros were generally calm, certainly patient and good-natured, joking with us as we all were pushed and pulled along, often body to body and face to face, excruciatingly slowly toward the exit.  We finally got out of the sweaty hoard and hailed a taxi back to the hotel.  All in all, this ended up being one of our favorite days of the trip.
       Although it was a little cold and windy, with huge waves, we spent quite a bit of time walking up and down, as well as sitting on the beach, and also relaxed by the pool.  It was just a very pleasant and comfortable place to be.  One afternoon we were interviewed by a local TV sports reporter who was fishing for someone to sing "The Girl from Ipanema" but he couldn't get anyone to bite. The last night in Salvador, we went to Mistura, the "expensive" restaurant the porter had pointed the first night, as I realized it was one that I had written down after having seen it mentioned numerous times in my reading as "the best seafood in Salvador".  It was quite nice and had impressive large screen TVs that appear to be large paintings but then can convert and show a soccer game when needed, which is often in Brasil.  It was a nice way to end with a great meal but definitely sad to be leaving Salvador early the next morning.