Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, Brazil

Rio de Janeiro..

Before even getting off the boat I was scared of Rio, the ship made sure to thoroughly frighten us with statistics and stories of the bad things that happen there. I had a field lab on the first day there and I was actually really happy about that. Ive found that seeing a lot of the city in the first day, even if it is on a bus, is the best thing to do because you get a little bit familiar at lease and you are able to orient yourself. The field lab was for my Popular Music in World Cultures class and we were supposed to spend the day exploring the samba. Supposed to.. we were originally told we would be getting a samba lesson but the plans changed a bit. We started off in the city of samba, a large area of warehouses where the 12 elite samba schools of the premier league house and create all of their floats and costumes for the upcoming Carnaval. Carnaval is a huge deal in Rio de Janeiro and Samba as you probably know is key in Brazilian identity. There are 83 samba schools in all and they are broken up into different groups of varying levels. So, our class got to take a tour of the samba school Grande Rio and see the floats and costumes for the next year's festivities. I really enjoyed most of it. We saw all the effort that goes into the production, the way themes and costumes are thought up and executed, and the general enthusiasm that Brazilians have for Samba and Carnaval. We also made shirts with sequins and feathers, which was odd considering it was a group of twenty something year olds, but whatever. I had a good time. We then had an amazing buffet lunch, around 4pm, and because the field lab was running late they gave us the option of going back to the ship or finishing the day and going to a "samba performance". I thought that the samba was the whole point of our field lab, so I opted to go out and see the samba. Another misunderstanding, we thought Samba performance meant a formal performance butttttt we ended up in the suburbs of Rio at a local neighborhood bar/ club where there was live music and lots of locals dancing. It was totally unexpected but it was probably the best way to learn about Samba anyways as well as Brazil in general. It wasn't dangerous or anything, it was almost like a block party. There were a bunch of people with their kids and everyone was drinking dancing and having a good time. We only stayed for half an hour or so and then headed back to the ship.
So like I said, I was totally paranoid about Rio, especially at night, so I didn't go out and just had a movie night with some friends. From what I saw of Rio on the first day, I thought that it was a bit dirty and way bigger than I thought it would be. Most people that live there are black or colored, but interestingly all the ads and billboards featured white people. I saw a bit of downtown/central area as well as the sambadrome, a large street where the top groups of samba schools parade through during carnaval and huge stands line both sides. No sign of Copacabana or Ipanema yet!
Next morning my friend Sumi and I ventured out into Rio with no idea what to do. We took the subway to the Copacabana stop (it wasn't sketchy during the day) and unfortunately I started to feel really sick. This slowed us down a bit, but we eventually made it to Leblon shopping center. Leblon is the area right next to Ipanema and we got to drive through it a bit. This part of Rio looked a lot nicer and more touristy. The mall totally made me feel at home.. there were christmas decorations up before thanksgiving, a real live santa (whom we took a picture with, naturally) and even a starbucks! Our mission was to buy a brazilian bikini before we left so we hunted around the mall for four hours. It was successful and we both left happy. Sumi had a field lab the next day and she really wanted to see Christo Redentor aka Christ the Redeemer aka my friend Jesus. I hadn't seen him yet so we headed off. We left the mall at 5:30 so it took us forever to get there, but cabs in Rio are dirt cheap luckily. We made it there in time for a bit of daylight. The train up the mountain takes a solid 15 minutes but the trek is worth it. By far it had one of the most beautiful views I have seen on the whole trip. Its tied with the view from the top of Table Top Mountain in Cape Town. Stunning. Its the kind of view that makes you happy to be alive and just feel like the luckiest person in the world. We got a the last bit of daylight and stayed up there for the sunset. We also got to see the city slowly light up as darkness fell. I changed my mind, it is the most amazing view of the whole trip. I would have traveled to Rio just to see my friend Jesus. We finally head down in darkness and didn't have much trouble getting a cab back to the ship. Didn't go out again.
The next days plan was to show some other friends where to buy the bikinis and then go to the beach. We only made it to the mall though. I should have known. When girls try and shop quickly it just never happens. We did take a cab to the mall though, so we drove the whole length of Copacabana and Ipanema, and I am happy I at least got to see them. I still had a good last day in rio, I bought another bikini at a little place by the terminal and also got a nice dinner before getting back on the ship with kebabs and yucca and yummy foods. I got back on the ship that night and had two more days before we got to Salvador. These two ports were overland ports, meaning I could stay off the ship when it was in transit between the two. I decided not to do it because I was scared plus it would be hella expensive. Im really glad I stayed on the ship because the crew did formal dining for those of us who stayed on (about 25 percent of the usual amount of people we have on the ship) and I got to lay out and tan and relax for two days.


We get to Salvador, the murder capital of Brazil, and I prepare myself for the worst. It wasn't bad though. The population of Salvador was more black than Rio, it was a major port in the slave trade era. An unbelievable amount of slaves passed through Salvador. The states got hundreds of thousands of slaves, Salvador alone saw 4 million.. just to give you an idea. We heard that there was a huge market of hand made crafts very close to the ship so we headed there. I bought some christmas gifts and had a good time exploring. Afterward we didn't know where to go, so we just picked a place on the map that looked cool and luckily were right! We took a huge elevator up the side of a cliff basically to a beautiful, although touristy, area and walked around for hours. They had more crafts and little stores all around as well as restaurants and cafes. We bought some more goodies and then stopped for an early dinner. We sampled the drink of Brazil, the Caiparinha ( I spelled that incorrectly) and had a great dinner. We walked back to the ship. It was dark by that time but still pretty early and I felt safe.
Day two we decided to do one of those double decker city bus tours because we literally didn't have any idea what to do. As the trip has progressed I have become increasingly lazy in researching things to do. The bus tour was nice though, they took us to the neighborhood with the best ice cream, I had a scoop of acai sorbet, and they also took us to the biggest mall ever where we got off for a while. My roommate was still searching for a Brazilian soccer jersey and I needed a Brazilian Vogue cover for my bulletin board. We also got some much needed wifi.. I am suffering from Pinterest withdrawals!! I got to see all the ingenious diy christmas decorations, new ideas for elf on the shelf and millions of recipes for peppermint bark and pumpkin goodies that come along with holidays on Pinterest. We hopped back on the bus and then back off in a different neighborhood on the water where we had appetizers and frozen beers. This is where our day gets a little interesting.. night is coming on and we were told to meet the bus at the spot it dropped us off at by 5:50.. 5:50 comes and goes and then 6:20 comes and goes too. Just as we are talking about getting a cab back home we see the bus! The bus comes to the intersection and then pulls a loop and goes the opposite direction!!! We were like…. what the hell. So, after establishing that the bus wasn't just turning around, and that it did indeed leave us, we tried to get a cab and hoped it would take us all the way to the ship with the only 20 reals we had left. Very luckily for us the first cab we hailed was nice and was ok with being paid a bit shy of the meter price. We made it back to the ship safely after a great day. Most of the drinking that seemed to go on in Salvador included people just buying bottles and drinking them near the ship. I again opted out. Im much more into movies… because Im cool.
I am kind of annoyed that the ship made such a big deal about the crime in Brazil. I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I feel like had I not been so nervous I may have been a bit more adventurous and seen a bit more than I did of Brazil. But I also understand and am glad I was cautious because there were several cases of students being mugged and even one case of attempted sexual assault of a girl by a registered cab. But she was alone.. I feel like I wouldn't do that alone and maybe wouldn't be in that position, maybe it was bad luck. Rio seems like its a pretty safe place if you stick to being a smart tourist and just a smart individual in general. mixed feelings.. but I did really enjoy my time there, regardless.
Today is Thanksgiving!! The ship made us a turkey dinner with stuffing, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and even pumpkin pie. Even though yesterday felt like a summer day, I am definitely feeling more in the holiday spirit today! As I write this I am listening to my Jimmy Buffet Christmas album, dreaming of the not so cold winter Ill be having in Tampa so very soon. So Happy Thanksgiving to all my peeps, a mere 12 day stretch at sea, three days in Cuba and exams are all that stand between me and a Merry Tampa Christmas.

TTFN