Greg and Lauren in Brazil

Monday, January 19, 2009

Home

We're home now. Our flight was delayed so we got stuck in Chicago for an extra 5 hours, but that's all over and we're back at work.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Sandro and Mila's wedding was fantastic. It was like something out of a movie. There was a singing Rabbi, a beautiful sunset ceremony outside in the marina, crazy brazillian drinks, and a whole lot of dancing.

Crazy Jewish chair dance!

My face is so red because it was 30 degrees, so I took of my tie the first chance I got.

The Brazillian/Canadian guys...

and the girls

Free booze!!! Wooooo!

The happy couple!

They even got a giant cartoon on the dance floor

SALVADOR (not El Salvador)

Welcome to Salvador!

After Praia do Forte, we went into the city of Salvador to stay with Bruno and to go to Sandro and Milena's wedding. Bruno has been living in Salvador for 3 months now, but was a tourist with us when Douglas took us around, because he knew nothing! On our first full day in the city, Douglas took us all around to see the forts and the old town which were all built when Salvador was the capital of Brasil in the 16th (??) century. This fort is the first of a line of 14 forts built around the bay to protect it from invading Dutch and French people. The bay is the second largest in the world, after Hudson Bay, and is the reason why the state is called Bahia, which means Bay.

This is the Old Town, with Douglas and some homeless guy we found.

The buildings are all different colours here, too, just like in Olinda.

This is the view from the upper half on the city. You get to the lower half in a big elevator. I thought the elevator would be all glass, but it wasn't, so it was pretty cool, but not SOOO cool.

See, that's the elevator. Notice how it's kinda cool. The yellow building at the bottom is a huge tourist trap. I mean market. We bought stuff there, because we're tourists.

Capoeira (sp?). Gregi had to take this picture covertly, because if they saw him doing it, we would have to give them money. Because we're gingos. Capoeira was born out of Salvador, where it was developed by slaves as a form of self-defense. They had to disguise it as dancing, though, because they weren't allowed to know self-defense. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any real Capoeira demonstrations; only these guys practising.

The sun setting really early! It goes down at 6pm all year round, which is strange for us when it's so hot out!

Mouquequa, the traditional Bahian seafood dish. We ate this at a restaurant that looks like a jungle. The sunset picture was taken from the restaurant.

Us with Douglas, Bruno and Gabriel at the pub!

Here's some more churches made from gold. On our last full day there, Sandro and Milena's friend Carlos took us on a tour of the city. He's an actual tour guide, so he knew a lot about the history, and had a story about almost every building that we passed. It was very cool. This is one of two churches he took us to.

That's the other one. Surrounding this one square in the old town, there are five churches. The Portuguese were a little obsessed.

This is us and that homeless guy at a street bar. The band and everything was out on the street, and caused traffic jams. But no one seemed to care.

We heart beer.

Tequila!

On our last day, before we went to the airport, Gabriel took us to the beach. It was so busy, but we had a great time. I think Salvador has been my favourite city here in Brasil. It has a very distinct culture, lots of history, beautiful beaches and the people are fun, friendly and easy-going. We really enjoyed Salvador and I can't wait to go back!!

Praia do Forte

Beautiful Praia do Forte, where Sandro sews in a Speedo!!

After Recife we flew to Salvador, where we were picked up at the airport and immediately whisked away to Praia do Forte, about an hour out of the city. There we stayed in a Pousada (which is kinda like a bed and breakfast, if bed and breakfasts were like hotels...) with Sandro and Milena; Dale, Nancy and Rick from Seattle; Felipe and Ana, and Priscila, all of whom made long flights to go to Sandro and Milena's wedding.

Greg got to hang out in a Hammock. But when Greg sits in a hammock, it looks like when we wrap the kitten up in a t-shirt. (Kitten pretends he hates it, but we know he loves it).

This is the beach! That kid is walking on water. He's so the new Jesus.

Actually there's reefs all along the shore, and you can walk on them and see all kinds of cool fish and crabs and sea cows (giant slugs).

More beach!

These kittens and their mum lived at the Pousada. They were pretty cute. I wanted to wrap them in a t-shirt!

Sandro and Milena being Brasilian. They taught us how to dance forró.

The Di Segni family!

Sandro's entire family was staying at a resort down the beach. We went to the resort for dinner one night and it was awesome! But the next day when we trying to visit Sandro and Milena there, we were stalked by security on the beach. The security guard harsh looked like Tiger Woods, and he watched me read my book on the beach for 20 minutes before he called for back-up.

At Praia do Forte is a turtle-breeding project called Projeto Tamar. They've hatch sea turtles there and provide them with a safe passage way to the ocean. This is the 30th year, and so these turtles are now returning to breed. The baby turtles hatch every day around sunset, and then they let the turtles go down to the beach and swim away. Everyday except the only day we're there to see it, though, so there's no pictures of baby turtles. I bought a t-shirt, though!

Recife Pictures

The view of Recife from our hotel balcony.

Us with Marina, Renata, Nubia, Andrea and some of their friends. We got pretty lost trying to find this place, which has two locations in Recife. But we found it and it was great!