MJ Trip 2009

My first day in Salvador was not especially fun. I had the runs pretty bad, so I decided to go stay in a hotel rather than destroy the apartment of the stranger I had met off couchsurfing.com. I stayed in a hotel in old town, which ended up being really nice because it gave me a chance to explore. I took some meds and went out on the town to go explore.

My first night, I had to go get dinner in old town. A samba troupe was performing near the restaurant I was eating. They were really good and hundreds of people were following them as they headed down the street. Little did I know, Liberachi is alive and well. He was doing all he could to steal the spotlight with his own dance moves. He would do a few shimmies with his shoulders, a few poses for the camera, and then show off that he didn't have his dentures in.

Forol de Barra

Praia de Futuro (Climerio and me)

The day after hanging out in old town, I met up with Climerio and Welber who are in the top picture with me. They lived in the building behind the orange one pictured left. Both of them taught physics at the biggest university in Salvador and were gone during the day. Oh, did I mention they are 22 and 23. Because they were gone during the day, I had to figure out how to find my way around without getting lost. I actually took this photo in a series of about 30 pictures to make sure I could find my way back to the apartment building.

The girls pictured left were some new friends that we made. Both Climerio and Welber were total players so it was funny heading out with them. They would go up to girls and tell them that they were professors of physics. The response from girls was basically, "please can we have sex with you." I would occasionally sneak up to the side of them and mock them by saying, "I am a professor. I am very important." in a really high-pitched sarcastic voice.

The flight from Sao Paulo to Vitoria was a bit turbulent. I was pretty sure the oxygen masks were going to drop at any minute. The girl to my right was balling and the girl to my left was hyperventilating. But alas, we landed in Vitoria with clear blue sunny skies. Diego(left) and Hevelyn(right) met me at the airport. Both of them are some of the warmest, most friendly people you could ever meet. To boot, they are both ridiculously smart. Diego is studying journalism and Hevelyn is finishing law school.

I stayed with Diego who lives only a few blocks from the beach. The first day was a bit crazy because of the plane ride in and then going into a mode of only speaking Portuguese whereas in Sao Paulo I was speaking mostly English. I wasn't understanding a whole lot, but there were smiles so I figured that was a good thing. The first day, I got to see a lot of Diego's neighborhood, the mall, and then later we went to a free concert. Speaking portuguese on this trip has been tough. Although, I've been speaking it probably about 90 percent of the time, I still can't understand a whole lot. I think my grammar and pronunciation are pretty bad too, but it's a work in progress. I've gotten a lot of laughs over my pronunciation. One of things that I've had trouble saying is I can't eat bread, because what I've really been saying is "I can't eat cock." Also, apparently my name Matt (pronounced mattch by Brazilians) is slang for "fucking."

I have had some amazing food here. Some really great Brazilian barbecue. Most of the restaurants in this city are buffets, which are so nice. I've been eating a lot of tasty yet healthy food. My only big gripe with Brazilian food is they give you a thimble size cup for coffee. They might as well give me an eyedropper.

We have been to some pretty cool night clubs as well. They are normally just packed with beautiful people. One of them that I went to on Saturday was like the most chic club you would find in Los Angeles or New York.

To the left is Praia Jacaraipe. It is supposed to be a pretty good place to surf in the morning, but the wind really picks up in the afternoon and it gets too choppy. Diego and I took a bus there. It is about an hour away from his house.