Salvador de Bahia, Brazil

Getting off the boat in Salvador de Bahia

First stop:  the sugar cane juice man.  I grew up with these in St. Maarten, and all the kids were weirded out by an internal combustion motor making juice for them, but then delighted by the end result.

Chesterton on wavy sidewalk stalls downtown.

The beauty of ruins is all around Salvador

Imagine New Orleans abandoned for forty years.

And you get a sense for the crumbling architectural ruins.

Too beautiful to tear down.

But too expensive to maintain.

The ship's smokestack seen between two buildings.

Genevieve at the fruit stall, where they are selling the fruit (not the nut) of the cashew tree.

The flag of brazil, made into a handbag, out of metal can pop-top lids.

The buildings were all gorgeous in the upper city.

Genevieve and Mom and I walked all around the first day.

Colorful Caribbean colors everywhere you looked.

The view over the harbor from the upper city elevator plaza.

The view looking down from the upper city.  The building in the center is the model market, which is a tourist trap

Genevieve and Mom and Dad had a date night:  Genevieve got her "very own" bowl of spaghetti carbonara… which was awesome.

Ceramic piggy banks that you actually have to break open to get your money.

Genevieve in front of a statue that she liked:  "Dad, take a picture of me in front of this statue."

Genevieve, Oliver, Jasper, Chesterton, Mercer, Dad on the beach.

Genevieve and Mercer play in the surf.

Genevieve has a long history of flying, and loves the chance to go higher.

Genevieve begins her routine on the beach...

Cartwheels and handstands and these things...

Frolicking five year old.

Running back before the waves catch her.

Adler runs away from a big one coming in...

And in this moment, is himself flying (or hovering?) over the sand.

Rachel in her happy spot:  grilled shrimp on a stick at the beach with all the family… what else does a girl need?

Seriously: not much else.

Momler and Mercer

Walker and Mom

Adler runs away from yet another wave:  he did this pretty much all afternoon.

Family at the beach… pay no attention to Adler who is crying, nay, shrieking, because we have ruined his fun.

Family spread from smallest to tallest to mommest.

Trying to leap in unison, but Adler remains firmly grounded in his sorrow.

Later on, the real fun began when the flying lessons resumed.

Genevieve got into the stratosphere.

Adler stayed low but enjoyed the sensation.

Genevieve kept saying, "Higher!"

This is her returning from the moon, landing safely in Mercer's arms.  Yes, this was a bad picture.  And yes, I photoshopped it like crazy in order to show some of the details.

Genevieve flies from brother to brother.

This one too needed heavy photoshop treatment to see anything clearly.  

Pointing skyward to show the territory we have just conquered.

Big bro very proud of lil sis.

Mercer and Chesterton with SAS girls on the beach.

Mercer strikes a pose.  Felt like a king all through Brazil because yes he could, in fact, speak fluent Portugese, and so got to be the hero and do all the ordering, taxi-directing, and menu-translating for the whole crew.

Mercer and Jasper.

Jasper, Mercer, Chesterton

Chesterton and Mercer shoulder Genevieve.  A lovely, long, and luxurious day at the beach.

Later on, back on ship, dressed up for the evening.  

The next day was my birthday, but I had to take my students on a field lab through the whole city.  

Here's the Intercultural Communication class on the upper elevator plaza.

Sao Francisco Church and Convent, of the most famous churches in Salvador.

Andrea Young and I both had our birthdays on that same day:  she's holding up a 4 and I'm holding up a 5, which I believe signifies that we are 45, but I think she might be younger than me, so maybe I was turning 45 while she was turning 40.  In either case, this was how I spent my 45th birthday.

Locals performing Capoeira, the kick-boxing dance style that started out in slave trader days as a martial art among manacled slaves, and has since transmogrified into a way of freaking out impressionable college girls.  

Going down the colorful walkways of the Pelhourino.

Yes, that is Michael Jackson on the balcony (or at least his cardboard cutout), in the place where Spike Lee filmed his video, "They Don't Care About Us."

This area is probably one of the prettiest, and most touristy, parts of Salvador, for mutually confirming reasons.

A Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Pretos (Cathedral of Our Lady of the Black People's Rosary), a church built by and for slaves beginning in 1704 (and completed a century or so later).

Mosaic detail above the central window

At the gates of the Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim

You've heard of the banana-phone?  These are the coconut phone booths.

The curse of the digital age:  students enjoying dinner, each other, the rich conversation, the lovely day of learning they've just had, their devices in the one spot where the wi-fi signal is good.

Inside the side room of the Nosso Senhor do Bonfim church, where the symbolized body parts are brought for display by those who have had prayers answered by the healing of that part.  

Students getting back on the tour bus.

At the real market, where the locals shop, away from the tourist crowd.

The meats were oh-so fresh, no refrigeration was needed.

Eyes and other inedible organs for use in cultic ceremonial rituals, or so we were told by our tour guide.

Blood sausage, something I grew up eating in St. Maarten, which here didn't seem as appetizing, but which I still tried and it was still delicious.  

Lots of fresh peppers and other veggies.

Birds and wildlife galore.

All sorts of fresh fruit.

Tobacco, ceramics, vegetables, all in one vendor's area.

Sugar cane and bananas.

Birds exotic and domestic.

The crucifix of Christ and the cross of modern electricity.  How like a poet I tried to juxtapose these two images, but couldn't quite get the images to "scale" with each other.  

Back on ship: Adler washes the whole day off with a dip in the tiny cruise-ship pool, which of course he and Genevieve thought was enormous, since their scale of reference was their own bathtub.

Genevieve in the pool. 

Adler wondering, "Dad, can you put the camera down and actually swim with me?"  Yes, I can.

But first one more shot of Genevieve.

Vivi in her new shirt.

Looking coy.

And looking sweetly exhausted from being photographed too much. 

Adler and Dadler at the aft.  

Adler, me, and Mom just before dinner time.

This was the one time they took the ship up to "full speed" which was so fast it produced a fairly impressive rooster tail.  This is apparently one of the awesomest and fastest cruise ships in the world.  

Jasper proud to be photographed against the ship's wake.

The ship's speed registers at 28.1 knots on the in-cabin monitors.

Jasper and friend Alex on the top lookout deck.