Sleep??

One isn´t supposed to be tired on vacation, right? But Brazil has left me exhausted. I have been here for two weeks and I have been to bed only twice before 2AM. Nights have been filled with samba, caparinhas, new friends, and pathetic attempts to speak Portuguese. I got to Salvador (a coastal city in northeastern Brazil) yesterday afternoon, checked into a nice hotel, and sat down on the bed at 5PM. I woke up this morning, 14 hours later, in all my clothes and my contacts still in.

Salvador promises to be an interesting city. More than half the city is black, descendants of slaves brought over by Portuguese colonizers. (Speaking of slaves...I was half amused and half horrified to see the Cheney/Queen Elizabeth picture in my inbox from a friend. No, they aren´t in Brazil; its a picture from the 400th anniversary of Jamestown last week. Does anybody else see the irony?)

The slaves were able to retain a large part of their culture, and Salvador´s vibe is much more interesting as a result. The city is home to some spicy dishes found nowhere else in Brazil; capoeira (a martial arts practiced by slaves and outlawed up until the 1920´s); and candomble (a religion practiced by slaves and still quite popular). Apparently this is the place to celebrate Carneval, as its parties are far crazier than those of Rio de Janeiro. I´ll be here for another day and then going treking for a week in the interior.

Thank you all for your congratulatory emails and comments about the bar. Each of them brought a smile.