Some Bahia action

Ok, so month 2 has come and gone. We've been here in Rio de Janeiro since wednesday, the 15th. We really like this city..much more than Salvador. The thing with Salvador was that it could've been done in about a day and we had set aside 5. So we hopped on a boat and headed out to Morro de Sao Paulo..a beach town about 2 hours south of Salvador. The place was beautiful. The water was clear and warm and the town was fun to walk around in. After the boat trips to and from the island, I came to the conclusion that i am now susceptible to motion sickness. The boat rides were miserable and i was green by the time they were over. In Recife, we met some family friends who invited us to stay in their other apartment in Rio. We were all for it and hoped that it wasn't drunken Carnaval talk. When we saw them later on, the offer was made again so it seemed to be a sure thing. After lots of dropped calls on the horrible pay phones down here, we got the address to their place and took a cab from the airport. The set up couldn't be any better. Not only is the apartment 3 blocks from the Copacabana beach but the whole family was scheduled to go back to Recife for a wedding the whole time we're here! So now we have a nice apartment on the top floor of the building to ourselves! It really is nice. We don't have to worry about other people's schedules or feel uncomfortable for being someone's guest. It's a very fortunate thing because our trusty ol' Lonely Planet guide doesnt list any budget accommodations besides gross hostels. So here are just a few pictures of Salvador and Morro de Sao Paulo. I'll put up Rio pictures later this week. SALVADOR

We went to this large market where the basement was once used for keeping slaves.


I told brett not to take a picture of me. This was also the location where a huge cockroach crawled across my ankle. I was not a happy camper.


Brazilians have some tough times translating. These "cookies" were actually little stuffed fried balls...and "charque" is a kind of meat.


See steph, I'm learning some law too. I got a kick out of the name of this place.


Some late-night maracatu sessions in the streets.


MORRO DE SAO PAULO

Beaches 1 and 2. There were about five of them. Here's a zipline that ended near that cluster of rocks in the distance.


They told us we could let go as soon as we jumped off the little wooden platform but clearly I was holding on for dear life.


So was brett.


Sidenotes (little examples of Brett's fury): On a little sidewalk outside of a church in Salvador, we were reading this plaque that described its history. This older guy on crutches missing half of one of his legs comes by and says excuse me. To which brett responds sighing and says, "were we really in the way?" The old man sees his response and feebly says thank you as he heads down a cobblestone street.

Today we went to a botanical garden in Rio. Of course the pressing issue was getting to a Japanese garden before the place closed (brett loves everything asian). There were these little wooden planks over a tiny pond where there was a fountain that brett was interested in. This girl about 12 years old (slightly overweight) was going back and forth over the planks enjoying herself. Brett says, "Well if this fat cow would move, i could take a picture of it."

Hope all is well with all. Kelly, ill email you soon. Steph, what's your shoe size? No, i'm not buying you anything. I just like your feet.