Salvador de Bahia for My Birthday Birthday

Rhonda: Hi y'all. Yesterday (Tuesday) I had a fabulous birthday! Monday was a big ole rest up day. I got a great massage and we went to dinner in the main dining room . We met a lovely couple from England and went to a Salsa show in the theater.

Tuesday was our first port at Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. It was a slave trade port in the 1700's and today is populated by a majority from Africa. We had researched and knew that the traditional food is acataje. It's a dish made from peeled black-eyed peas formed into balls and then deep dried in dende oil. It's a street food that's also found in Africa. They serve it with vatapa ( a dip made with okra) and caruru ( a spicy paste made from shrimp, ground cashews and palm oil).

We found a taxi and had him take us to the historic center known as Pelourinho . It's rich in historical monuments from the 17th century when Brazil was colonized by Portugal. It is also straight up a very steep hill. I wasn't sure we were going to make it there though. The taxi ride views were of trash and plight. A couple of times Chris hinted that maybe we should just go back to the ship. But we agreed to keep going but if we got to the square and it still looked like that then we would just ask him to take us back.

Thankfully when we got to the top the square was lovely! And the views down every street off the square were so pretty. We quickly settled in at a sidewalk cafe for a beer and the acaraje.

Chris: Rhonda read my thoughts and mood perfectly in the cab. I wasn't feeling it, I was still tired even after a day relaxing on the boat, we didn't really have anything specifically planned, just go to the old town, and it was pretty grimy and dirty around the port. Just a city. I was thinking, I'm over this, I've had a great great time up till now but I'm over South America, I'm ready for the Canary Islands and a change of scenery. But Rhonda seemed eager to go so I'm thinking, I'll do this for her but I could just get back on the boat.

We showed the cab driver a picture of where we wanted to go and hoped he understood. There were a lot of places we didn't want to be. But he understood and we soon arrived in the old town and my mood instantly changed. It was so cool, narrow cobblestone streets, brightly colored colonial styled buildings and colorful interesting looking people of multiple races strolling and sitting in sidewalk cafes. We walked a few blocks and then settled into a cafe and had the local beer and acaraje. Rhonda told you about the acaraje but I will add that it is served with tiny little shrimps boiled, I guess, in the same oil and served shell on. They are way to small to peel, you are supposed to eat them shell on. The acaraje looked like flat cornbread muffins. The waiter showed us how to cut them open and load them with the other ingredients. I tried the shrimp, shells on. They were pretty crunchy and actually not bad but to my taste the acaraje was better without them. But I did it so I was satisfied.

It was delightful, just eating strange food in a strange but colorful land.

Rhonda: The local beer was served in yeti like coozies. But giant ones. While we were eating it starting pouring rain so they rushed us and our giant beers and food inside to a common table. That was fun. We got to sit and watch the rain and try to converse with our table mates. We stayed until the sun peeked back out and then we went exploring. We were at the top so anywhere to go was downhill. So downhill we went. We did some shopping and taking pictures and just strolling. We strolled downhill until it was too far to go back up so we grabbed a taxi. I just said please back to the top? He said ok. No price discussed. When we got to the top I had a 20 and a 10 reels ( brazillion currency which would be $4 and $2). I offered both and said how much? He choose the 10. Talk about honesty. He could have just taken both. And earlier at the cafe I bought wooden spoons from a street vendor and our waiter came over and checked what I got and how much I paid to make sure I was charged fairly, I was but it was nice that he took it on himself to take care of us. We found this honesty and good humor everywhere here. We decided we had walked enough and went back to our now favorite cafe for another giant beer.

Chris: We were sitting outside again, having a great time and visiting as best we could with Brazilian people sitting next to us and, it started raining, again. So, back inside, same table, different wonderful people. Our Brazilian table mates ordered shots of what we do not know but we were obviously curious so they ordered shots for us too. It was really good, kind of like cinnamon tequila and we did the salt and lime thing too. We had such a great time, nothing like shots of who knows what with people who speak a different language to really form a bond !!

It was wonderful, the very essence of travel. It was just a wonderful day and exactly what makes travel so special, you just never know what the day will bring, you just don't know until you go.

Rhonda: AND it was my birthday! And it was so special. The crew decorated our cabin and left a birthday cake and a bottle of champagne as a surprise ( I suspect Chris helped with that). We had a nice dinner and watched the world baseball classic in the Irish bar. My choice , I love all baseball.

Today we did all the cruise things.... slept late, had lunch, got in the hot tub, had fruity drinks, read books, played rummy cube.. dinner , show. But tomorrow is another stop in Brazil at Recife. So we will update you tomorrow night.

Love y'all.