Falta Sexo
5 July 2005 (Tuesday) – Salvador, Brazil
It started to drizzle since morning and never really stopped the rest of the day.
I popped in and out of tourist shops and art galleries around the Pelourinho area. Although the area is quite small, I could not help but discover new things each day.
OK, I cannot stand the typical Salvadorean souvenirs. They have a lot of canvases of artworks that seemed to be churned out by the factory-load, tiny to large paintings, done in naif art style, of the colourful houses and undulating streets of Pelourinho, with capoeira dancers and Bahian women in their white dresses. All very colourful and kitschy looking. Because it is done in naif style, it seemed anyone can paint them. Occasionally, there would be different kinds of artworks but they do not look very nice to me at all.
Then, they sell a lot of berimbaus and other musical accessories, in various sizes and materials. The berimbau is the typical instrument used for capoeira. The rest of the mass-produced things are tiny magnets and other terribly kitsch table displays of everything representative of the Bahian culture – from coconut to Bahian women in white bouncy dresses to orixas. Also, they sell laces, a lot of T-shirts declaring SALVADOR and other clothes.
What I discovered today were the art galleries, which had sculptures, wall-arts, ceramics and various types of weavings on narrow sticks. Some were rather interesting, I must say.
In order to get out of the rain, I went to Mercado Modelo, which is a huge covered market, another place that spells TOURISTY. You can buy all the same sorts of souvenirs here. There was a display of capoeira dancers. OK, this is Salvador. While you are bound to see capoeira, please do not bring out your camera here to try and take photos of them. This place is pure tourist-trap, the minute your bring it out, even if you suddenly have an urge to check the battery or whatever, the watchful guys will pounce on you, demanding a bombastic price for the photo. I do not know how much, I just stood there and observed the tourists being accosted.
It seemed that the capoeiras I had seen before in Rio de Janeiro were of the capoeira angola school. That style is slowish, with a lot of balance and endurance. Now, here in Salvador, I saw another school – capoeira regional. This one is very, very swift and with a lot of force! The capoeira dancers swing their legs at each other’s faces continuously as they spin their whole bodies around. It was absolutely amazing to watch!!
By evening, I started to see many stalls being set up around the main square in front of the cathedral at Largo Terreiro do Jesus. There was even a stage set up there. Ah, I later understood that Tuesday night is party-night. Besides the frequent excuses for parties in Salvador celebrating various saints or what-nots and every weekend, Tuesday nights in Salvador are guaranteed party-nights as well. The Bahian government actually organised concerts for the people. There was a huge sense of expectation from 8pm onwards as locals started to arrive and gather for the anticipated party. No wonder last night, Salvador was a dead town.
Raquel and I wandered from Largo do Pelourinho to Largo Terreiro do Jesus and back through the various little alleys. These 2 squares had some traditional Brazilian musical groups playing forros and other types of music that sound horribly like cumbia to me. The crowds gathered to enjoy the music, some were dancing but Raquel and I did not particularly fancy this type of music and we moved on swiftly.
In all the tiny streets around, there was music coming out from bars and the streets themselves. We happened upon an Olodum group called Swing do Pelo and they were creating a racket along one of the cramped streets. They had just started when we popped by and soon, more and more people gathered to dance to the beats. The drummers did numbers after numbers. A few of them actually did stunts with the drums, by tossing them in the sky and beating the drums in 101 ways! The beats and rhythms were stupendously infectious!! The crowd followed a couple of guys way in front, who were moving to the beats with various dance steps which needed a lot of energy and the crowd went absolutely mad! When the Olodum drummers started to march away, they were like Pipe Piper with the crowd following closely behind, dancing wildly.
Mingling with the crowds were vendors selling cigarettes, sweets, snacks and cans of beer… and people with garbage bags, picking up the beer cans that were being tossed around. These guys were very quick to pick up cans, even sometimes when the drinks were not even finished!
We had come upon a girl having her hair braided at around 9pm. This morning, many of the braiders sitting by the side of the streets had been calling out to me to have my hair braided. Não obrigada, I smilingly insisted and avoided them like plague. Now as I was so near, I could observe what was going on. The girl, Betty, has really short curly hair, like most people of African origins. The braider, Barbara, was attaching long strands of fake hair to the tips of Betty’s short curly hair and then, braiding them.
I asked Betty, how long she had been sitting there. Already 6 hours! How do you wash it? Only with shampoo, no conditioner. Later, by 11:30pm, we returned to look for her. She was still there, her head slanted to one side, as Barbara yanked and pulled. She still had 2 more sections to go which I estimate would last another 5 hours or so. I would die!!
Two nights ago, Raquel had gone to a bar by herself. As she really loves dancing, she soon got up and danced away. Not long after, a big black African-origin guy came and joined her, dancing the night away. When Raquel was ready to leave, the guy actually bluntly said to her, “Falta sexo.” (What we lack now is sex.) Raquel had laughed and said, “Er… obrigada mas não.” (thanks but no) The guy then followed her, trying to entice her with his various…er… capabilities, even pointing out how near his house was, etc… It was really funny.
And now, we ran into Mr Falta Sexo. He came up smilingly and chatted with Raquel again. I just KNEW who he was at once, as Raquel kept giving me the funny look. I kept on eating my cheese-on-a-stick and tried to keep a straight face. He later followed us around the streets, even inviting Raquel to another ‘dance’ in a bar again. My goodness! We managed to subtly ditch him later in some street, phew!
Some of the bars are bars purely for locals. One, very dull-looking small one, named Bar Galicia, just had a couple of tables and a counter. But in there, a band was playing superb music and the crowd of locals kept streaming in endlessly, buying a drink, dancing, laughing, chatting, looking.
There was also an Olodum concert going on. Priced at R40, Raquel and I did not go. But, being Oludum, the music is loud loud loud. We simply stood outside the place and listened to the fantastic music, with great singers. We were not the only cheapos out here. There was an immense crowd there, as well, bouncing, jumping, swaying away, listening for free. Even the can-pickers with the garbage bags could not help but dance along. Great great music! I am sure it is a superb concert!
OK, I had kept my vision of great-looking Brazilian women in my head all this time. I guess, my first time in Rio in 2002 was during really great, summery weather and I saw fantastic-looking girls on the beaches everywhere in Rio and in Ilha do Mel. This time round, I had been somewhat disappointed. I had seen mostly girls with huge waistline (thanks to feijoada), giant butts (dende oil, I am sure) and with everything (triple layers of fat) hanging-out. And they like these tacky spandex-material clothes that are horrendously tight-fitting, and jeans that appear to be painted on. Their big gigantic boobs are just bouncing around, waiting to burst open into the air. Just one wrong move, stretching up to wave to a friend would pop one breast right out! I am a woman, and I find them thoroughly distracting (and revolting). I spent the night (grossly) checking them all out.
We would also see couples, usually a very blond lady tourist and a huge Bahian stud (only the best of the stock), stopped right in the middle of the alleyways, lips locked, paws exploring each other, right in the way of and oblivious to the Olodum fanatics and everyone had to walk right around them. They sure do not have the problem of falta sexo.
Tags: 03) The Land of the Spirits, Salvador
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