A Brazilian Thanks Giving: Our last excursion ☹

Our last excursion ☹:
Nov. 26 2009

Although Brazilians don’t celebrate our thanks giving, (I don’t know if they have anything similar though either) Clara wanted to do it for us because she "knows how important it is to us". So she invited us to her parent’s house near Praia do Forte so we got to see the castle/fort of Praia do Forte on the way there.




And took the opportunity to have a photo shoot.










It was very cool being there in its ruins but I have no idea what it was about. This is one of the things that I would suggest that they do better because I feel like we just get a little information about where we’re going but it’s not really put into context. Like when we went to the caves when we went to Lencois, I don’t even know if that was in Lencois or what it was called and in Cachoeira too, what were the costumes about?

Anyway then we went over to Clara's mom and dad’s house which was amazing.








It was near a river where we were swimming and just chilled out on the front ...yard? garden more like. And they made some pita pizza for us: vegetarian and meat options.

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And we had music and, while the feast was being cooked by several ladies in the kitchen we were swimming and playing music. Some of my friends played the guitar, one played the harmonica and it was great. We had a drummer too.


For the feast we had, fried beringela (eggplant) several salads, one was like a sea food salad, another the lettuce and tomatoes etc., two turkeys, and a sauce that was supposed to be kind of like a cranberry sauce, but since there aren’t cranberries in Brazil, it was made of something else, clara wouldn’t tell us but I think it might have been jabuticaba.
Either way it was delicious I didn’t even miss the cranberry sauce it was very good and very similar. And well there was a lot of food—in the beginning, but man this time I didn’t stand next to the table so I was toward the end of the line and people totally took almost all the turkey, there were little scraps left ☹. It made me really really really sad. But I overcame that quickly.

Oh yeah and they were making fresh juice all the while :abacaxi (pineapple), limão (lemonade), and maracujá (passionfruit juice). And then we went back into the river.




Later on that day we did a toast and Clara kind of made us all go up to the Mic, but man there was soo much crying. We are a really big group, but what was a recurrent idea is that, even though we were such a big and diverse group people really connected and we all got to interact with one another at some point and everyone had made really strong connections and friendships with people.

It was the case for me anyway, I got a long with everyone I think, but there were a good like 10 people that I really want to visit after the program ends, and like 5 that I think are going to be life-long friends. I have actually not had the best of luck when it comes to that, but I was really lucky to meet some amazing, intelligent, and genuine people that have been sooo good to me, with whom I share so many good memories and I really will miss them.

From what people said for the toast, there were a lot of things, but the whole friendship thing and also that people noticed how this experience abroad has made them grow, how they’ve changed etc. I feel like coming from a little town of 700 people, going to school with the same people pretty much from when I was 2 and a half to when I graduated high school. And even my campus town is not a big city. But it think it was a nice jump. By no means was I literally by myself in Brazil, but when I was traveling around a foreign country, like going to Sao Paulo with one other girlfriend—we were by ourselves, and one day I was actually around like the San Francisco of Brazil by myself because my friend got sick ☹. But it was just amazing! I love doing this to myself though, I like creating challenges for myself and another thing I like to do is making myself do something I don’t want to do because I don’t feel like I like it.

In high school I found drawing portraits of people soo hard so I didn't like to do it and I hated watercolor and pastel, so I decided to do my Advanced placement concentration portraits all in water color and pastel, sometimes I don’t like a food but keep eating it until I like it (if it’s good for me). And I like to go and give speeches in front of lots of people when I’m unprepared just to see what happens.

But this trip kind of showed me that if I can do this, it opens up so many other options as to what I feel I can do and also for more likes, more ideas of what I would like to do.

Other people also mentioned stuff about Salvador. I think like I had said somewhere in November, a lot of people were really ready to go home, they were just mentally done with Salvador. Many people were specifically done with Salvador because they didn’t like the city, were complaining about how dirty it was, the smog, the dog poo and the occasional harassment on the street, "why couldn’t we have studied in Morro de Sao Paulo blablabla".
I never felt that way necessarily but the smog and harassment and fear being out in the streets was not pleasant. But someone mentioned that he really enjoyed it overall, regardless of all those things Salvador is a really important place historically and culturally. It was a real experience that we didn’t just see the European Bahia and history that we’re always learning in class while others like African contributions and histories are footnotes or incomplete (twisted ehem*) at best. But that was the focus of our studies and it would only be appropriate to be in the city richest in afro-brazilian culture.

Anyway it was a ridiculously nice time that Thanks Giving-- I think for everyone, despite the fact that I did not get to eat as much as I had wanted. And the general sentiment was that we really really were/are thankful to have the opportunity to be here and were really going to miss it.

Sao Paulo IV (ultimo dia)

23 Nov 2009

LAST day

It's kinda sad that we're leaving and we still didn't get to do a lot of the things we wanted to do, but --just a reason to come back right?

Since it's our last day we just decided to go back to the places we really liked, like Liberdade again, and may be I was thinking we could go back and find that head band from the Mercado Chic, because I decided I really want it and I want to support that creative woman who made it. And I don't know what else, but we have to be back somewhat early because our flight leaves at 7 in the evening and we have to still figure out how we're getting to the airport and an hour early to check in our bags etc.

On our way back to Oscar Freire I remembered this place that caught my attention: it's called "The Best Chocolate Cake in the Whole World" and for some reason... we didn't go in, and now I really wonder why. Well another thing to go on my "future to do in Sampa"

But anyway I found no Mercado Chic, but we went by all these other super expensive shops that were closed last time and so we decided to go in, and yes I tried on stuff I liked.

I tried on a 2,000 DOLLAR dress!!!

Oh my gosh the dress was beautiful--we'd hope so, right. And it was a really fabric de calidade that doesn't wrinkle. I went to try it on and the dressing/fitting room, it was bigger than any room I’ve had, and had mirrors all around and a huge empty clothes rack on wheels (supposed to be for everything I want to try on I guess).

There was also a pot with beautiful plants and a couch. The dressing room was pretty much a master bedroom with exaggerated amounts of mirror. And then the guy came in (after I was done putting it on—but either way he didn’t seem to be very interested in people of my sex) and asked me how it was, blablabla and he helped me fix it up a little. He was totally obviously a Fashion-Nazi by the way he was dressed and his hair and yeah, he just generally had a great sense of style.

And I'd just like to comment on how this experience made me feel so weird. Because, first of all, I don’t usually go and try on expensive clothes or anything and then secondly because—yeah he was trying to sell me something—but I DO NOT get that treatment in expensive stores back in the states. A worker at a boutique in Paris actually once straight up told me that the clothes there was too expensive and that I should leave!!! Okay? And even in the states when I go to Nordstrom with my family (granted we’re usually just go in because we like to park in the structure next to it, but we browse etc. ) people just ignore us or give us looks that virtually say what the French lady said to me. And so many other situations, at other stores, restaurants, I have experienced a lot of racism and this is in California, which has had such diversity for a long time, but yeah diverse in the sense that we’re all there just geographically economically segregated. Oh man sometimes I just get really hopeless to think of how “backwards” things are.

Anyway so I was again reminded of those power relations I was talking about before. So all that discomfort in being in places like this and all the bad treatment I have received through racial profiling in the U.S. disappeared in one of the most expensive shopping places in the WORLD!!! Really, would I be treated the way I was in Oscar Freire in Fifth Avenue, New York? I really doubt it.

And again I have to ask why. As soon as I spoke without a Paulista accent the guy was like “oh where are you from?” and I said California. And I honestly feel like that came with the assumption that I have money to go out and buy 2,000 dollar dresses like that OR that I should be treated with more respect I don’t know. And is it because it’s the U.S. or is it because it’s California?

Would it have been different if I had said I was from Mexico? Hmm… But at the same time, again, only a few people from Mexico can do what I’m doing, so is it because I’m traveling? It is obviously a luxury, and a privileged experience in this society, and like I said before: it is not a random thing that it is I who am traveling somewhere instead of this clerk or my house keeper back in Bahia; she isn’t traveling to visit me in the U.S. How likely is it that it would be reversed, and the reasons too? If she went to the states she said it would be for working, meanwhile I’m…well…trying on expensive dresses and having fun, and studying. It definitely presupposes some power and privilege dynamics.

Anyway this is a instance of intersectionality because I’m sure all these factors interact. But these instances are the ones that really make me be more aware of what I’m doing and who/how I’m affecting, how I’m perpetuating the tourist dilemmas, and I really don’t want to take advantage of this position. I didn’t come here to be relatively superior since back in “my country” I’m constantly reminded “I’m inferior”.

Anyway…

Lena started feeling really sick and I kept looking through the stores because about one hundred years ago I was interested in fashion design and I still must say that Sao Paulo, as the fashion capital of the Americas, is very creative and I love their use of colors in fashion. So anyway Lena just kept getting worse so she decided to just sit at a park and then go to back to the hostel.

And I kept on going, I wanted to eat something at Liberdade, so I went. This time I looked around more slowly walked into Japanese bookstores and chilled in the main plaza:

and tried to find one of the restaurants that was on that other blog that I had looked up—but I didn’t find it. But it was okay because I ended up eating somewhere that was dericious and super well priced although it wasn’t fancy or anything, the food was authentic, good, and filling.

I had some raw salmon, tempura, tofu, miso soup, a bowl of rice, and pickled cucumber.

It was so good. And the place was lined with bookshelves stocked with manga! Oh if only I were interested. Jk. It’s okay. I liked Ranma 1/2 and that’s about it. Oh yeah and then before leaving Liberdade I got this:

a mix of snacks from Kanazawa.

I talked to a few of the people working there--mainly in Portuguese because I don’t speak Japanese, but one guy was a pretty fresh immigrant he was in Brazil for 3 years and he was speaking to me without much of an accent either (I mean compared to how I have trouble understanding some people from Japan who are new to English) so I guess it's Portuguese may be pretty easy for japanses people to pronounce, and that makes sense there are pretty much the same phonmese like the /zh/ and the nasal sounds, and /z/ etc. for any liguists who know what i'm talking about much better than I do.

it was really cool and I slipped in a few of the Japanese words that I knew while I was speaking. It was a really cool experience, but yeah then I ran back to the hostel. Since we had already checked out, Lena was just laying on a couch in the living room watching some movie and apparently she felt better now but still she had been feeling really sick.

She was thinking may be it was food poisoning or may be because she had been walking so much the day before, but I was glad she was feeling a little better.

Then quickly we found these 2 other guys who were also going to the airport and we split a cab! Yay!

And we rushed off..only to be slowed down by immobile traffic for a while, and we got to the airport like 15 minutes before our flight was supposed to leave, but we made it! And I was just sitting in the room eating my leftovers. I forgot a fork so I just used my hands after washing them well.

oh man this was quite a trip,

I'll see you later Sampa!

<3
Sonia

the plans of a study abroad student

16 Nov. 2010

So over this weekend Fred gave us some sales, or promocoes in travel to Sao Paulo. He said there was a deal for 200 Reais ($100) round trip to Sao Paulo, and I really want to go so I'm thinking I might, but I have to make up my mind soon because I only have this weekend pretty much because then finals are coming up!

But this is so weird I've never made such a last-minute air travel deal, and I'm not sure but I'll check it out. Because I would like to see a different face of Brazil and I'm just thinking, i'm so close right now, if I ever want to come I'll have to pay way more than the US$100 or US$200, so I think. But...oh I don't know it depends on whether my other friend wants to go, I don't think I'm ready to go there all by myself with no ACBEU or program and...oh and then looking for a semi cheap place to stay--oh lots of things to think about, but I'm already getting excited without knowing whether i'll be super dissappointed if I don't get to go.

Being a Tourist Part VI: Resolutions

Now that I’ve said all these things that make me feel bad about being a tourist, I’ll say some positive things—because really it’s not all bad and it doesn’t mean that I don’t enjoy myself. So I’ll tell you a little big about how to deal with it seeing as I am traveling and I am a tourist and things are the way they are.
But I mean just look at me! I cannot lie and say that I’m not having a great time.

I do think it helps to be aware that by being a part of this study abroad program I am supporting most, if not all, of these problems above--at least indirectly. I think that being aware can affect the way that I behave, because I am not here to see beautiful people in bikinis and sungas (speedos), or to just party and drink água de côco on the beach.
What I want to do is communicate with people, to open my understanding of the world, to have culture shock (hopefully a shift in paradigm), to be more understanding, and see more alternatives to what I’ve learned by my experience prior to this. The way it has helped constructed my view of life. I want to learn different people’s ways of living to possibly incorporate the parts that I really like into the way that I live. I love to make Brazilian friends (and my EAP friends I’ve learned so much from them too) and listen to their perspectives. Also to learn about histories and other people’s struggles.
And I think that although that doesn’t mean that what I do isn’t problematic, I do think that a different attitude can help because it generally leads to different behavior.

But it’s also not like I will learn different things from these people because they are Brazilian, and they’re supposed to be different from people of the U.S. Sure there might be distinct cultural patterns but I think it offers different experiences communicating with different people as they are different people, not just because they are different ethnicities. So try as much as you can to not homogenize any group of people and expect that what information you gather on the culture and history etc., be true for every single person of that community. Expect variety.

I am also conscious of not being a patronizing, “generous American helping these poor people of the Third world”. I know lots of better off people of the “first worlds” dream of this, but this is also problematic and can, understandably, offend a lot of people. If what you would like to do is not just travel somewhere and take advantage of everything while not giving anything back to the community, then there’s nothing wrong with that in the sense that you are wanting to participate in something that is beneficial to the community. I would love to participate alongside community members with what I can, but like I’ve said before, you need to know the history, culture, and politics of the community and much more in order to best participate. And very importantly DO NOT assume that people can’t know what their problems are and they need someone to solve them for them. People know what their biggest issues or problems are if they have them, and possibly they just need to get more organized or have more opportunity for discussion with each other to experiment and decide how to take steps. Make sure that if you are involved in this kind of thing that you don’t see it as a charity—I don’t know if I can really go deep into that issue as it’s a different one, in this entry. I might be able to in another one but it’s complicated stuff as well and if you do think of it as charity it can take more than reading to be able to change that mindset, but the point is that it is patronizing. It’s still taking that power position and undermining the community members’ agency. That they have agency, the ability to act and see results in other words.

Anyway, how else do I deal with it? I’m not really sure. Thinking in this way makes it a little easier, kind of just hoping I’m not the worst tourist EVER. However, I’m not sure that this cognitive dissonance will go away any time soon. And by cognitive dissonance (out comes my psychology) I just mean like a contradiction between different thoughts or beliefs that you have or differences between what you think you should do and what you want to do/ what you actually do. At the same time that I feel bad about it, I’m obviously still here, I knew most of this before coming and still decided to do it, but at the same time I love being here in Bahia. Again look at my pictures—even the ones in which I think I look like such a big tourist, I can’t say I’m not happy.

I love having met all the people I have and learning about things and seeing the consequences of historical events in person. I liked seeing that Quilombo community and seeing the striking differences between the Portuguese and the ex-slave church. I like going to Capoeira class, I love the sound of the Berimbau, and all the heavenly food that I’m eating. I love the sun and I do like going to the beach. [And I do wonder whether that is so “touristy” to go the beach for fun when all the locals that I’ve asked “hey so what do you like to do on the weekends or on your free time here in Bahia?” and most people despite being from different backgrounds here in Bahia will be like “ir à praia e os barzinhos” = go to the beach and bars. Without even asking them though, this is quite evident when all the beaches super crowded—and with locals, evenings and especially weekends. And I keep hearing everyone saying how they can’t wait till the summer to be able to go out to the beach every day. Which just left thinking “ummm…it’s soo hot already, does it really get much hotter?”]

The point of all of this incoherent rambling is that I try to do what locals do and really I am trying to be flexible. I don’t expect being catered to all the time. I do not want a constantly air-conditioned, English-speaking, American-food-eating Brazilian experience. I think it’s great that I’m living with a Brazilian family instead of staying at a hotel. (Well I can’t really afford a hotel but I like hostels you get a good mix of people in them.) I don’t take tour buses outside of what this EAP program already has but prefer to just walk around and check things out. Not just the regular tourist sites.

Tips I would give are:

To just kind of NOT follow a map, or tour book; have days that aren’t so structured, and see what you find. Preferably don’t go alone if you go very far in case you get lost, but sometimes it’s cool to just go by yourself so you’re not carrying around an English-Speaking bubble that flat out points you out as a tourist and kidn of keeps other out.
And really try to go in as informed about the community as you can, but don’t think homogenous dichotomous thoughts or stereotype just from that knowledge. Try not to have a set idea of expectations of people or situations. Try to be flexible, act wisely, be respectful, try new things! And really try to enjoy your experience as much as possible BUT with consideration.

Being a Tourist Part V: Race, Class, and Power Issues

As I said in the beginning, tourism is embedded in power/race/class issues. Race because, class is very strongly tied with race to this day and that just has to be acknowledged. I think this clip art depicts this quite nicely with the Black person catering to the White Man. The White Man is typically the one in this direction of the power. And I know that I am an exception. My family and I are below the National Poverty Line, I am a woman, and I am of color, so I am not the regular candidate--but at the same time I cannot say that my poverty is the same as the favelados because obviously I am not starving and I am very very very thankful for that.

I am studying at an expensive University of California living in a town with a pretty high standard of living, I have the privilege(?) [I am still having an internal debate about what should be considered privilege and what should have been a guarantee in this context] of being able to eat organic food (I chose food over apparel, cars, and technology)—but the point is that I have all and more than my survival needs met--obviously if I have the luxury of traveling and studying abroad. But the point is that even though I am poor and a person of color, there still are different power dynamics between me and my host family, and my tour guides, and the people who “entertain” (Afro-Brazilian culture shows intended for tourists, capoeira shows) and work for me (our house cleaner, people making souvenirs) etc. And this can’t easily be reversed. Most of these people will not have the chance to come and visit me and take pictures of me while I entertain them.


Going off of the race thing, I do think that I feel a lot more comfortable not being White I feel like I might be less intimidating or foreign-seeming because I have a Latin American background too.
Short story time:
one time a few and my friends and I were talking on the street with this one guy who had a really cute baby and another really cute son who was around 4. We were just talking and playing when the 4-year-old mentioned to my friend “I like your color” and she’s like “oh you like the color of my shirt?” and the boy said “no” pointing to her arm “your skin color”. And she was pretty much left not sure as to how to respond. She just wasn’t expecting that, kind of in shock. Afterwards she regretted not saying something like “I like your color of skin too”. But really she was just shocked and had never had anyone say that to her before.


Michel Foucault is a good read on "Power"

And So-Min Cheong & Marc Miller, also wrote a good article titled
"Power and Tourism: a Foucauldian Observation" (1999)

Another article is found at:

www.pasosonline.org/Publicados/1103/PS020103.pdf

Being a tourist Part III: Taking Pictures

Pictures are really complicated to me and I try to be aware of what they potentially mean.

Political and Philosophical Issues:

From my Indigenous struggles in the Americas class at the UC, our professor who specializes in ethnographies of indigenous peoples in South America told us that several indigenous communities really don’t want their pictures taken; it is seen as a form of violence.

Many people find it really hard to understand photography as violence, (even I’m not sure if I can fully understand that) but photography really is imbedded with philosophical and political issues that may not be very obvious.

It’s kind of how here in the states it is illegal for magazines and to show nudity (like nipples etc.) when it isn’t porn which can only be restricted to sales in adult stores and the like. However, there are exceptions: when the naked people aren’t White or from Euro-industrialized countries. It is fine when National Geographic shows naked African and South American people in their homes, but really it is an invasion of privacy.

They always justify it with “well it’s because this is their natural state where they live”--and that is the key! This is normal where they live but by taking their pictures and publishing them in millions of other communities where it isn’t, changes the meaning. And even if the photographers ask for their permission it isn’t likely that it is informed consent all the time since those people may not really know how widely the magazine is viewed. And even more they may not know how different the context is and how different the perspectives of these viewers who are allowed to enter their privacy. Do they know that many people looking at them sexualize their bodies, exoticize them or think they’re backwards and savages? Probably not, so I think that it is a form of violence to invade such privacy and create an image of something different than what it is.

These tactics have been used as tools in colonization before. To depict people as savages in need of civilization. Or Muslim women in the Middle East as oppressed because they may wear headscarves. “Liberation” of women has been the recent false justification for current occupation and exploitation of countries.

I personally am not planning on taking pictures of women in thong bikinis or starving babies. Even though I don’t think that I am exoticizing Brazil and Brazilians, doesn’t the whole taking pictures of fruits and people and forests and beaches that aren’t so common to me kind of imply that? I’m doing it because I think it’s interesting because it’s different, or beautiful, and isn’t that what exoticizing is?

And this inner conflict is intensified when I’m posting pictures on this blog because I am necessarily taking them out of their context. They don’t mean the same thing to you than they do to people who live here. But I do think hard and weigh the benefits and harms of every picture.
And I usually don’t post pictures of people without their permission but I didn’t get permission from every single person who is in the pictures I take. I usually do if they are the focus of the picture but sometimes there isn’t the opportunity to do so, and I always prefer candid shots. So many pictures of people, I don’t post and I try to cut out their faces or something because they have a right to privacy too, even if they’re performing for us. I mentioned in the Lençóis entry that I felt uncomfortable posting pictures of the capoeiristas. I can’t really explain it, and not everyone has to think this way, though. These are just my feelings and perspectives and well obviously I end up taking pictures and here is how I go about doing that:

When and Why I Take them:
In general when I decide to take certain pictures I mainly do it for the purpose of assisting my memory. I am a very visual person and pictures really help me. I also just think of it as with taking pictures with my family and it’s not because I feel more powerful than them or think they’re exotic. It’s because I really liked that moment and wanted to capture it in an image to remember it for longer. There is emotion attached to all of the pictures I take. So those are my personal rules for taking pictures: for the sake of memory; they’re primarily for me and I will only show those pictures to people that I trust if at all. Another rule is, not only get people’s permission, but ideally after we consider each other friends or at least had meaningful conversations so it’s more to remember the people I meet than to “take a picture” of someone doing something “different”.

Deciding which to Post:
The reason I post up pictures though—apart from breaking between lots of words that can become a little tedious and boring—is to open up my viewers’ world by sharing visuals of these places and in hopes that you will view them with respect and try to understand what’s going on I guess. I do it especially for people who don’t have the opportunity to really see things like this or know too many people who have studied abroad and I feel that pictures really help orient. I have been lucky to see this and want to share. I know that there are many places that I will never get to see personally and I would really appreciate pictures and stories so I can travel vicariously through others.
The pictures I post are those that I don’t think would invade people’s privacy too much and hopefully to take them in a way that I’m not exoticizing or scandalizing anything. These are people or places just like anywhere we’re from. From my perspective though, there are fewer differences than similarities and I see more familiarity in things than not. But, anyway if there is ever any picture that offends you that I post here, or possibly a different way that I should post it, or if you think I should give more descriptions, let me know. Whatever your comments I would really appreciate them. And also if you want to discuss these issues that I mention here, I would love to!

Being a Tourist Part II (visiting Candomble terreiros and Quilombola and more)

Sometimes, although I love to be able to see the many parts of Bahia, I do feel like I’m invading when I go to Candomble terreiros as a tourist, or the Rosario dos Pretos church and the Quilombo descendant communities and even doing capoeira.

I went to a candomble ceremony wondering if it would resonate with me. But of course curiosity and I did really feel bad because it was potentially treating such sacred grounds and space like a tour site. I did NOT take pictures at the ceremony obviously but still people there were members of the religion and I was not. I heard from our professor who is a Pai de Santo, that it was okay, they don’t care, and that’s the only reason I gave more consideration for going because may be they are just open to all potential followers but still. This I felt I was invading.

(My group visiting the Candomble Terreiro, kind of like a church)

Then going to other important historical places like the Rosario dos Pretos place and Pelourinho are just saturated with significance. Like the Rosario dos Pretos which was the Blacks’ and slaves’ church that took forever to be built because slaves didn’t have that much free time or resources or energy after having spent so much time building the White people’s churches and buildings and mansions. And then the Quilombo community… Quilombos were created as places of refuge for runaway slaves! These people were escaping from conditions that I will never understand no matter how much I read about them. It is such a personal issues to so many people still--descendents especially, and although I do take it seriously and find it really uncomfortable and frustrating when people make jokes about slavery (and many other issues including rape and mental “disorders”) it isn’t quite the same thing. And I did feel like dang all these EAP people having the privilege to see all of this; I feel so out of place sometimes. I am still not sure how to feel about this but I do kind of justify it I guess by knowing that at least I really appreciate it and take it as something important and try to be as informed and emotionally prepared as I can.

Being a tourist Part I: the rainbow bus and tourist groups

11 Oct 2009
How am I feeling as a tourist?


Although I am really glad that a lot of the time when I’m alone I just blend in because I can look Brazilian and understand and speak Portuguese (although I have a distinct accent), there are still many times that I feel uncomfortable being a tourist, for several reasons. I will explain a few of these issues that have to do with being in a large tourist group, with taking pictures, having our tourist sites be things that have such a significance that we couldn’t likely understand fully. Also about the complications that tourism brings to communities, and the inherent racial/class and power inequalities that tourism entails.


The Big 99 Rainbow Bus



Being on the big rainbow bus, separate from all the people outside, being high up above everyone and just looking from behind the window, I feel like it is symbolic of the barrier between us, the EAP people and the local Brazilians.

The bus is like our own little air-conditioned bubble and there is only so much that can be experienced from it.


There are times when I will also feel uncomfortable when for example my EAP peers and I will plan on doing something or going somewhere but when we’re there we tend to be an exclusive group sometimes just standing in a circle talking to only each other and in English. I always find that pretty hard, learning Portuguese but speaking English out on the street. The thing is that a lot of the people on this program didn’t take an courses in the language before since it’s not required for this program. So my other peers that can speak Portuguese would feel bad doing that while so many don’t understand so we just end up speaking our common language.

It kind of feels inevitable that when we travel we travel like this and it is very obvious were "Americanas". But what are we going to do? We are. It may be uncomfortable to me once in a while because of things that I've mentioned, but it doesn't keep me from enjoying myself obviously. We have a lot of good times and I am less self conscious most of the time. Especially since most places we go here in Bahia it is not uncommon to see tourists so people don't react especially in awe or anything like that--with the exception of Asian people I suppose.

Praia do Forte (Part II)

Dia Dois at Praia do Forte:
We woke up pretty early because 1, the sun is super bright already at like 5AM (the sun rises at 4AM, Bahia is an exception to daylight savings). The hostel offered a small breakfast, they usually do but if they don't they usually have kitchens. This is my first hostel experience.
Something I wasn't expecting was for them to ask for my passport number, but most hostels do apparently.

HOSTELS: (ALBERGUE em Português)

So for people who don't know what a hostel is, (I didn't know before, I just thought it sounds like brothel--but it is not the same thing!) it's an alternative to a hotel or inn because they're cheaper. There are so many youth hostels because usually people who go to hostels are usually traveling all around and want to save money. Hostels also tend to offer facilities like laundry and internet, skype equipment etc. because a lot of their frequenters are usually backpacking and don't have that many changes of clothes so they just wash and reuse. They also usually like to have contact with loved ones while away.
Why is it cheaper? Because you don't have your own room, or daily room service, and you pretty much take care of things by yourself, there's no restaurant, usually the room isn't too fancy either. Some don't have airconditioning, the bathroom is also pretty small, no mini fridge in each room. Sometimes you have to bring your own pillow or towels or they'll charge you extra.
Back to the not having your own room, it's usually shared with around 6-8 other people. It's really convenient when you have enough people you know to fill a room, but otherwise you share it with strangers. I don't know how comfortable I'd feel with that, but they usually do gender segregation, and each person gets a drawer or locker with a lock and key.


I personally sometimes find breakfast a little difficult. They had some fruit juice, cooked plantains, coffee, regular milk, and many different types of cake and bread. I enthusiastically ate the plantain, and some fruit but coffee makes my head hurt (althoug I love the smell) and I'm lactose intolerant (although I will endure the pain for some ice cream and yogurt and cheese once in a while) bread constipates me, and the cake and juice was too sweet for me. Gosh I really don't mean to be picky but I don't want to have a headache or be constipated and bloated. And the sugar thing: half my family has diabetes and alhtough I don't have it, my blood pressure and energy are affected when I eat sweet things.
It was convenient that they offered us some calories to be up and about but I usually have this focus on balanced meals--balanced according to me. I really need some protein, fat, only a few complex carbs, and fiber--preferably fibrous carbs, well at least that's my mindset, I guess I don't NEED it, but I will tell you this, it is much easier for people who don't care so much about this, for me I guess I just try to be flexible, and obviously not get upset that my Santa Cruz standards of whole grains, soymilk, and organic everything aren't met everywhere I go right? But I still try to search for things, like I'll tell my mae that I'll have mamao (papaya) every morning and that way I'm sure I got certain vitamins and lots of fiber. I looked in stores near my house for soymilk so that I didn't have to make my mae have to go all over the place looking for something unfamiliar, and I found it. I am sure I'm telling you more than necessary but the point is...oh yeah, see sometimes it just helps to look, but really prepare to be flexible. And if you can have cake and coffee for breakfast and feel great afterwards that's great and I'm a little jealous but in a good way. Happy for you.

There can't not be hammocks right?
This is a picture outside our room. We had the "estrela do mar" room. Sea star.
So then we were off to eat again. We went to this little lanchonete type place because it was on of the cheaper options. I ordered a sandwiche de pure de frango, on a pao integral (wheat bread) and asked for them to add lettuce and tomatoes which was on the list of condiments/addatives for like $0.25 that type of stuff. And it was really quite filling.
The funny thing is that apparently the waiter was new; it was her first day, so after I finished ordering she's like "okay is that it?" me: "yes" her "okay" and then she left back into the restaurant/kitchen. oops, so I ran after her and told her, "sorry I meant that's it for me, but my friends also want to order". It was pretty fun.

They just got pão de queijo as a snack. This is also a typical Brazilian food. Literally it means "cheese bread" and it's pretty much what it is, the bread part is usually made from manioc (also known as cassave) flour (mandioca/aimpim in Portuguese).

Lots of little kids are out helping their family sell these cocada desserts/snacks. It usually has some sore of candied coconut, or coconut otherwise ("burnt" or toasted in the more tan ones) and the redish purple ones have peanuts in them! those are my favorite! can you tell!
We then went to the sea turtle and marine life reserve type thing. It is run by the same groups that work against poaching of turtles for the use of combs and such. I never realized that people used to use turtle shells to make combs. There's actually a type of turtle that still has the colloquial name of "tartaruga pente" ="comb turtle". We saw a lot of beautful marine life and learned about the struggles of these fellow inhabitants, and
this is Allegrinha and me as sea turtles.
Is this not the coolest bathroom facility you've ever seen?!! There are two stalls in there too, and a sink with a cool mirror.


We also supported these women who were making these goregous purses, bags etc. They were using techniques that have been passed down for generations from their indigenous group the Tupi-namba from the Amazon.



This lady speaking in this video was really nice in letting me record her explanation of the short history and process. At the begining she mentions that she and these ladies are Tupi-namba descendents, and she talks about what the traditional style and that's when she points to that big bag behind the ones at the right. the 17 pairs I guess is what they're called. But later they started doing different styles, influenced by the current fashion and what people what to buy. They use a certain type of mata to make them and traditionally they used to get the colors from seeds and other plants and even fruits like genipapo (which I've eaten :)) but apparently they've started working with other pre-made artificial dyes because it's hard to get so many bright colors like the ones pictured above. They cook the material/straw? with the dyes and dry them straight and from there work with them.

We later went for a walk around town. Lots of colorful houses. I know that if I ever have a house I will not stand for it to be grey or beige or white. The door pictured above totally reminded me of the matrix. and so did the sand the day before. When we were walking back it was like crunching under our feet in a sound so unlike sand. It was like squeeky almost and then is when I had suspicions that machines messed up big time in simulating the sound of sand. Any Matrix fans out there? I hope so, but if not, I guess I'm pretty used to the blank stares since I was always around one of my ONLY friends who hasn't seen the Matrix when all of these events occured. :(

Moving on, then we decided to have eat before leaving, we were leaving that evening, so we decided to go back to that lanchonete where we had had lunch since it had been a pretty good experience.

So it had been a rather funny day, I can't explain but everyone was in a funky mood, not bad but just weird. And I had lost a 2 L water bottle so I bought another one to eat my lunch with. We all sat down at the same table and wanted to wash our hands so we asked for the key. The yellow door in the picture below there in the back is the door to the bathroom and it had a lock on it. A few of my friends and I washed our hands and came back, and one friend had to use the restroom. And we're all talking over at the table and in the meantime the waiter had locked my friend in the bathroom and realized a few minutes later when she saw that one wasn't at the table with us, and she ran to unlock the bathroom and opened the door, and luckily my friend wasn't caught with her pants down though! She was just kind of wondering what happened. So then I ordered the same thing I had earlier, another ordered the something similar, like a sandwich with added tomatoes, another friend ordered the "Big Egg" --it was literally called The Big Egg, in English and everything. and I don't think it had egg in it. But it had two meat patties and my friend just asked the waiter if she could just put in one patty. Waiter "sure, I can have them put some corn in it if you want to replace the extra meat patty" So my friend was like "sure, that sounds good"
About 10 minutes later, the manager comes and tries to double-check our order in a very assertive way. So I told him what I ordered and he's like "but that sandwich doesn't have tomatoes and lettuce"
Me: "I know would like to add that stuff like it says in the menu"
Him: "But, then, that's a different sandwich, because yours has..."
Me: "Well I will pay for the added tomatoes and lettuce, I know it's not the original sandwich.."
And the he just kept talking over me and not listening and I told him I had just ordered that earlier that day.
And then I think he finally understood, and I'm sure it was not a language issue, this was just a really hard manager, because I was being pretty clear I think, and for sure my friend who is fluent in portuguese, she is Portuguese and has a Brazilian partner, but even she was getting the same reaction from the guy.
And all she wanted was to just not have the extra patty And he'd be like "oh so you want this sandwich" "or this sandwich", and mention some other food on the menu but those would be very different and she explained that she didn't mean to pay less just because she didn't want the patty. But finally I think we got him to understand. Which is really weird because the waiter had understood it quite easily. When he left my vegetarian friend was like "That's why I just like to keep it simple". She ordered a pasta.

Later we finally got our food. Two of us got what we ordered. My Big Egg friend kept finding surprises in her hamburger. They had said they'd put corn in it but there was like extra cheese instead, and bacon fat! oh I can't help but laugh about that. She'd just bite in and get bacon fat.
Then lastly the past came....with MEAT SAUCE all over it!
As soon as it reached the table we were all like "oohh...:(" after all of that, it was such a contaminated structure of a story. So my vegetarian friend retracted her "that's why I like to keep it simple" and said that that's why she should always make sure--especially her becuase she is a vegetarian. We all helped her eat and pay for it because we just felt so bad, and really it must suck. She went to a nearby little market and bought some yogurt and crackers. it was sooo sad.
But then we kept having trouble later, we asked for some napkins like 5 times but the waiter kept forgetting and it was still all kind of funny just weird stuff happening.
like I didn't see when the waiter took some of our garbage really quickly and among that was the bottle cap to my 80% filled 2 liter water bottle. and there was no way I could drink all of that right then and there, and i'm not going to be traveling with a huge open bottle, so I asked if it by chance was still around and she came back with a coke bottle cap and...well I was desperate I just used it, whatever, it does the trick. see a flexible germophobe is not that bad. But that one little bottle cap made all the water taste like CocaCola.

Then just as that had happened this guy comes floating up to our table, holding a wooden structure with smoke coming out of a hole.
This guy (pictured below) was really nice, he was practicing his English with us. And asking us how we were etc in a VERY relaxed kind of way. And he's like "so my friends, you like the Lord of the Rings, yes? Because...this is Gandalf?
And for reasons I can't explain in words, I burst out into laughter. And following me, my friend. Then he's like
"oh but look", and smoke starts coming out of Gandalfs mouth "o" and he lifted the Gandalf up over the wooden little platform and voila a stick of incense.
And again for some reason it exponentially increased the humor to me and my friend, and the other two were just laughing at our laughing.
My friend:
"How much does it cost?"
-"R$30, but if you really like, I'll make it R$25"
that only brought more laughter, to me because it just contradicted what i've learned about supply and demand and imagined the future conversations of "so I'll make you dislike it and then I can raise the price"
And then we just started speaking portuguese, and my friend was saying it was
"it's too much for me" and it was kind of interpreted by me as the gandalf with smoke is too much for me, but she meant it's too expensive for me.
And out of a need to explain why we were laughing so that he wouldn't be offended and so that he knew we were not laughing at him or thought that he and his product was a joke, but my friend didn't know how to put it into words in portuguese. but she said something like "I'm sorry we're just not in the right frame of mind" and just guessing by his reactions of "Ohhhh, I see"
he probably thought we were all just super high.
But she was trying to say something to the effect that we had all just been through quite a lot and were laughing because of that state of mind.

Man it was such a weird last hours there. We kept joking around that exu got mad that we ate at the Ogum restaurant. Exu is anothe orixa who is known as the trickster and mades things go askew much like they did here. We could definitely feel his presence.

Gandalf guy.
Oh my friend regretted not buying it later. she was actually considering it because her older sister is a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and also loves incense. But we could not find the Gandalf guy at all later. :(
This is on the bus ride home. We were getting anxious though waiting for it because it was much later than we had expected and we thought we were going to have to go home in one of the vans that came by. It's a cheaper option by far, but they do pack people in those vans and sometimes you're not sitting, so just things to consider, oh and they drive those vans really really fast.

And that is the end to our praia do forte experience.