Brazil

Day 1: We arrive in Brazil just in time. I think I was starting to get a case of cabin fever. Oh well we're finally here and a me and a big crew of guys are itching to find some locals, some surf, and a couple of cold Brazilian beers. After a logistical pre-port meeting with a representative from the U.S. embassy in Salvador we are free to leave the boat. I grab some boardshorts, my handy voice recorder, a camera, and my best attempt at Portugese.

Once outside the ship we can see that Salvador is a city of hustle and bustle. Shirtless men on horses trot down the street, the Salvador police are helping us jaywalk (which is one of the scariest things you can do in Salvador), and taxi drivers proceed to attack us from all angles knowing that we are fresh from America with full wallets. We find one that speaks decent English and begin to pack nine thirsty college students into his bus.

The beach we are heading to just north of town is called Stella Maris, and the taxi ride offers us a view of downtown. Salvador is a big city. Dirt-poor favelas line the cliffs looking over freeways into a modern downtown city-scape. The freeways are tagged with a mix of unique cartoon graffiti-art and portugese billboards displaying the latest in high-tech gadgetry and high-brow fashion. Shoeless men ride on the back bumpers of garbage trucks doing 60. The shopping mall is surrounded by dazzling architecture and skyscrapers and sewers line the main road. The disparity here is shockingly apparent. Evil Knieval couldn't clear the gap here between the rich and the poor.

The taxi driver is cool and teaches us how to order beer in his country and plays us some of the local music. We finally start to see sand and arrive at the beach and see that it is packed with Brazilians. Apparently this is a very popular beach for Brazilians to travel to and today happens to be the day of independencion. We luckily find a large table at the on-beach resteraunt, and proceed to order everything on the menu. After more than a week of ship food we were all ready for some fine cuisine. Our host Jonathan spoke English and was a native of Uruguay working in Brazil because the work back home paid less. He took care of us and soon we were chowing on fresh oysters, lobster, calamari, shrimps, and local fish while washing it all down with a local brew called Skol.

With a full belly and a good buzz going, Darren, a fellow traveller and native of Washington, and I went to try to find some surfboards. The surf scene here is just like Southern California, the surfers wear rip-curl and o'neil and ride a plethora of short and long boards. Beautiful Brazilian girls tan on the beach while young kids set up coconuts as goal-posts and play soccer. There are a few older guys that rock the speedo like its nobody's business, but aside from that this place is modern surf culture.

"Chris Man we have to play soccer with those kids." says Darren.

"Dude I'd get worked I just ate two pounds of fish"

"No man, I'm going for it"

Before I can stop him Darren runs up and hops into the game, and soon enough the fifteen-year olds convince me to get in on it too. The kids were really cool and were good soccer players. I felt like an old man playing against them. But eventually my soccer skills came back and we ended up playing for a good hour with them, it was a blast. The language barrier seems not to apply to sports. We said goodbye to our new friends, and went back to join the group. By this time another load of Semester at Sea kids had shown up and we had ourselves a good old fashioned Brazilian carnival.

After some coconuts and a few more beers I felt confident enough to wander the beach alone and did so. I heard it from a distance, at first some people singing, then a guitar playing. I ran towards the gathering, people singing songs I know, but wait, in a different language. I quickly ask the group if I can join, I don't know if they understood but I sit down and one of guys in the group pours me a beer. Brazilians are friendly people. After a couple renditions of Beatles and Chili Peppers songs in Portugese by a dude around my age I make a gesture that I want to play. I play jammin' by Bob and everyone sings along. If there is one thing that I've learned so far in my travels it is that Bob Marley is universal music. A person may not know English but they will know the words to some Bob songs. The guitar is passed around, everyone is jamming having a good time as the sun sets. Then a young light skinned Brazilian girl with crystal blue eyes comes up and wants to jam. I start recording with my handy voice recorder and she begins to sing. She has a beatiful voice and sings some really excellent songs that I had never heard. One thing I noticed about the jam session was that every person there knew the words and was helping to sing the songs (I tried but stopped when I realized Portugese is harder than I thought). With everyone singing and having a good time the music came together and sounded great. I had a permanent smile on my face. Eventually I had to say goodbye to my musical friends, and head back to the group.

Dominic, a good surfer from Cocoa Beach, and Colin, from Santa Barbara, managed to get a hold of some boards from our host Jonathan and were out surfing a mushy reef break left that looked pretty fun. Our taxi driver needed to return his bus so once they got out of the water we took off. We head back to the boat to prepare for our individually planned trips for the night.

I signed up for a trip through Semester at Sea called the Welcome Reception. It was supposed to be a dance party at a local Brazilian University where we would be able to interact with some students our age. I hop on the bus and see that some good friends are on the trip along with me. An enthusiastic friend we nicknamed Hershey is there as well as a couple of girls from Colorado. The bus takes us to a big tent set up off of the freeway, kind of looked like cirque de la sole or whatever and it turns out to be just like that except Brazilian style. We walk up and are immediately greeted by women with bright dresses adorning us with necklaces and wristbands. We walk in and there is young men playing capoeira on stage. Capoeira is a really cool style of Brazilian martial arts that looks like an acrobatic dance. Those familiar with the video game Tekken will recognize it as Eddie Gordo's fighting style. It originated as a way for African slaves brought to Brazil to practice fighting while their masters thought it was just a dance and not self defense. It is really cool to watch. They taught us some simple capoeira moves, and then the dance party started. Brazilians know how to drink. Hosts with pints wandered around constantly refilling everyones drinks until 100 college students were plastered.

I ended the night back at the ship listening to the music I had recorded earlier with some friends while I waited to leave for a trip to the Amazon which left at 2 am. I lost track of time and almost missed my bus but luckily I barely made it. The next 12 hours were spent travelling to Northern Brazil for a 3 day float down the Amazon river. I slept mostly.

Day 2-5: The Amazon river is a truly beautiful place. The amount of wildlife and water that lives there is truly mindblowing. Our guides were down-to-earth locals that were very knowledgable about survival in the Amazon. We stayed on a two-story riverboat and slept on hammocks. We caught caymen (small gator), piranhas, hiked the rainforest, visited a native village and played soccer with the locals.

I finished off the trip with a traditional Brazilian BBQ. Every kind of meat you can imagine all you can eat. Truly Delish.

If you made it this far I'm sure your tired of reading so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.