Feira São Joaquim
4 July 2005 (Monday) – Salvador, Brazil
I moved today to Raquel’s hostel. Same price of R15, with hot shower and free breakfast and much nearer to the centre and safer! Sheesh, I should have known… I am not trusting Japanese anymore… but nevermind, I am here now.
Raquel and I made our way down to Cidade Baixa, which is the Lower City, by way of Elevador Lacerda. Yeah, Salvador actually has a city elevator to transport people up and down the undulating city. It costs just 5 centavos and it is great fun!
We took a bus to São Joaquim where I heard that there is a market. It turned out to be a MARKET market, one of those wet markets that sell vegetables, meat, fruits, live chickens, cheapie clothes, slippers, and other odds and ends of the household.
But it was very, very interesting for us as we also found shops selling Candomble accessories, including some really gorgeous costumes, headgears, the various orixas‘ implements like sword, serpents and cuffs for the arms and wrists. As it was absolutely non-touristy at all, we just enjoyed ourselves walking around and browsing at every little surprises, like strange herbs and spices, we found being sold.
People here were really really friendly as well. Several noticed me hanging around and called out ‘linda china’ (pretty Chinese). Oh, obrigada (thank you), ahem…
We then took the 1+hour ferry boat to an island opposite Salvador, Itaparica. The island was rather ‘country-side’, with a lot of greenery and plantations around and fishermen working along the coasts. We had arrived late, so we did not really explore the island. We just spent another lazy day at the beach, but this time, the waves were really gentle as the beach faced Salvador.
Tonight, finally, I felt well enough to head out with Raquel for the party nightlife that Salvador is famous for. And guess what? Today was the quietest night we had ever experienced in Salvador. All the bars and the open areas for dancing appeared to be closed. Maybe Monday is their night off. Yes, the party-goers must rest for at least one night. Oh well, tough luck for me.
As Raquel had never tried the typical Bahian dish – Moqueca de Peixe, we splashed today in a tourist restaurant and ordered the dish to share. The Bahian dishes listed in menus here in Salvador are mostly for 2 persons. Hence, she had not had a chance to try the food. For me, I had been cooking for the past few nights. So, we had a nice, quiet evening sitting NEXT to a restaurant that had ‘live’ music, so we listened for free, haha.
Tags: 03) The Land of the Spirits, Salvador
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