a bunch of bananas

In other news, carnaval starts tomorrow! and goes till Tuesday night. I might try to take some pictures for you guys, but I'm worried about getting my camera stolen, so I'll see if I can work something out.
Thursday and Saturday I'm going out in a bloco...that's when you follow a band on a big truck/float with tons of speakers down the street. It's corded off by security so that the millions (literally) of people in the street don't rush in. Friday Heidi will (hopefully) be getting here, and we'll go watch all the bands go by from above, in a camarote. Sunday, who knows. Rest a little. Then out of the craziness of Savador and off to southern Bahia to relax for the rest of the time. After that I might hang out in Heidi's little town for a few days, and mayyyybe head down to Vitoria to say hello to my host family from the last time I was in Brazil. All this by bus, yay.
So, it should be a busy week. I'll be sure to give updates whenever I get a chance.

A Tour of Salvador

I finally did a bunch of the touristy stuff this weekend. This will be mostly a bunch of pictures of the city so you guys can get an idea of what i'm enjoying while you sit reading this with cold hands, cold feet, and sky-high heating bills.


The view from the Farol da Barra, or Barra Lighthouse. Those are mostly people fishing out on the rocks:
Here's a picture of the lighthouse itself. It's a famous landmark in town. It used to be a fort way back in the 16th or 17th century- whenever it was that the white people came.

This is a square, usually called Campo Grande, I guess the real name is July 2nd Square. It is supposed to commemerate the independence of Bahia (which came after the rest of Brazil). It's got a bunch of temporary construction stuff up because this is one of the main areas during Carnaval.

The Elevador Lacerda, that takes you from the upper city to the lower city (and vice versa) for 5 centavos. Come here to see tourists.

Some houses that are next to the Elevador, yes people live there, yes this is a touristy area. I think the fact that it has no roof is slightly charming.

In Pelourinho, the really touristy part of town. This is also the oldest part.

One of the three hundred and something churches in Salvador. This one is special because it's some odd kind of baroque, I don't remember exactly.

This is inside another church. I should remember the name but I don't. The whole inside is covered in tons of gold leaf, imagine the walls and ceilings all looking like the background of this picture. It was also very hot inside.

Guess where we are now? Another church, that's right! This is Bonfim, another landmark, and one of the more famous churches in Salvador. Maybe the most famous. Those little colored ribbons are sold outside; people put them on their wrists too. I could tell you a lot of things about this church, it's actually very intersting, but I'm tired. Google it if you're so inclined.

Some kids playing in the ocean:

I think this is part of a museum, but it looks like it used to be a church:

Me inside an art museum. A not very good modern art museum.

Ignore the water bottle and this is a very nice picture:

Another sunset:

a couple of pictures of the man in my life ;o)

Sailing

This past weekend I went sailing. Well, to be more specific, I sat in the boat while the people who knew what they were doing did the actual sailing.
We left Saturday afternoon, racing in a regatta to the island of Itaparica, across the bay from Salvador.

Here is a picture of some boats....some "rustic" sailboats:

On Itaparica:

If you look closely, that's a person walking on a sandbar, and a boat stuck on the sandbar:

Stopping for a drink:

I just like this house:Leaving the island (those are people playing soccer on the beach):

boring pictures

i was recently told that this page was boring, which i must admit has been true recently.

i feel like i haven't actually been doing that much, so that might be part of it. the past couple of days we've been redecorating the houes, moving stuff around, had new light fixtures and switches installed through the whole house, got a new fridge and freezer, and various other exciting domestic things.

here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:



a very flattering picture of me putting the first coat of yellow paint on the wall:
just to put a new outlet in, a huge hole had to put in the wall. this is our crappy repair job:


a mess, but almost finished:




everything is a lot cleaner now, and if anyone cares to see, i'll post an after picture when it's all done. though who knows when that will be.