The sounds, sights and smells of Bahia

Sounds

Pretty and peaceful.  Pelourinho, Salvador by day

‘Tuesday night is party night’ is what everyone tells you when you first arrive in Salvador, the Afro Brazilian capital of Brazil and Bahia region. Acknowledging it with some suspicion, you think back to your student days when Tuesday was a totally acceptable night to indulge in ‘all you can drink’ events, dancing until the early hours. But in a grown up city with grown up people, could it be true?

 

 

 

The samba reggae drummers of Salvador 

We got our answer loud and clear when we ventured out onto the cobblestone streets of Pelourinho, the epicentre of Salvador, a UNESCO world heritage site due to the preservation of its colourful colonial houses when Tuesday came around.  The pounding beat of the samba reggae drums echoes throughout the neighbourhood.  It lures you in like a Brazilian Pied Piper who has taken up percussion and got his friends involved. You turn each corner, it gets louder and louder, you step in time with the tempo until suddenly the band of drummers are in front of you along with a hundred other revellers parading and dancing along behind them, creating a mini version of the famous Brazilian ‘Carnaval.’ 

 



Fashioning my 'Olodum' souvenir vest

Samba reggae is the big thing in Salvador. It was put on the world stage when Bahia’s very own ‘Olodum’ group played in Michael Jackson’s ‘They don’t really care about us’ music video, which was shot with the group in Pelourinho. Coincidentally, Santa Teresa, the favela we visited in Rio was the other setting for parts of the video. You could not get away from Olodum in Salvador, from the drum and theatre schools to the branded clothing and accessories (a must have souvenir), they are a real brand of the city and state.

It was great to learn that the group was originally set up to offer cultural activities to young people (particularly those from impoverished backgrounds), largely centered on music. Founded in 1979, the wider aims of the group are to combat racism, encourage self esteem and pride among Afro Brazilians, and to fight for civil rights for all marginalized groups.



Tuesday night party in full flow

Back on the streets we discovered that the central square ‘Terrico de Jesus’, which by day sees tourists huddled round city guides or peacefully sipping on a café com leite watching the world go by, now had a full on stage erect with lighting and speakers and an 8 piece samba band were blasting out song after song.   Wherever there was an emply space music was playing, people were dancing and it was fully confirmed that Tuesday in Salvador is where the party is at!!

 

Sights

On top of Morro do Pai Inácio
(the one that looks like a snail)

After the party we needed somewhere 'away from it all' to clear our heads so leaving the coast we travelled to Lencois, a 7000 strong community some 7 hours by bus inland from Salvador. This town is the gateway to the ‘Chapada Diamentina’ national park, an area that was once famous for its vast diamond mines. The diamonds in Chapada unfortunately weren’t to be forever and these days the discovery and extraction of them is almost unheard of. Now appreciated by both Brazilians and foreigners for its magical caves, spectacular waterfalls and, most dramatically, vistas with hills that resemble living creatures, including the snail and the camel (if looked at from the right direction and distance).

 

At the start of the trail to the Cachoeira da Fumaca

The highlight was a 4 hour (round trip) hike from the village of Vale do Capao to the Cachoeira da Fumaca (translates as the 'Smoke (water) falls') due to the tiny amount of water flow which is sprayed up in to the air by the wind (like rising smoke) before it hits the ground some 340 metres below. We also met Armaund and Sylvie from Paris who we enjoyed both the scenery (and once the Tuesday night hangovers had subsided), several caipirinhas with.

 

 

 

Ian , on the deserted sands of Imbassai, Bahia

I could not write about the sights of Bahia without making at least some reference to its most famous assets – its beaches. The coast forms an endless unravelled golden scarf hugging the Atlantic Ocean for over 1000kms of Brazil’s eastern coastline. We spent a few days some 65km north of Salvador on one of Bahia’s most beautiful beaches, Imbassai. As far as the eye could see were deserted immaculate sands. It reminded us of the Gambian coast we visited earlier this year – a strange parallel it must have seemed to the thousands of Africans taken as slaves from Gambia and Senegal who ended up in the  sugar plantations of Bahia.

 

Smells

Outside SENAC in Pelourinho

The ‘Moqueca’, a stew of palm oil, coconut milk, vegetables and typically fish (but also shrimps, crab or stingray) shares many similarities with West African cuisine and is the most famous dish of both Bahia and the whole of the north east of Brazil.  The delicious smell wafts from the large cooking pots which are traditionally cooked over an open fire. We visited SENAC, a hospitality training school for young Salvadorians which housed a museum about the history of the Afro influence on culinary developments in Bahia and an all you can eat buffet style restaurant which was AMAZING. 

 

Sampling the Bahian streetfood, cooked by Mary,
one of the Baianas of Salvador

Delicious street food is served across the city by women in traditional Bahian dress - the Baianas. The 'Stuffed Acarajé' is the most popular choice. The Acarajé is made from peeled black-eyed peas, crushed and formed into a ball, then deep-fried in palm oil (similar to a large falafel in texture). Split in half it is stuffed with vatapa (a paste of peanuts, cashew nuts onions & coconut milk thickened by bread), a salsa of tomatoes, peppers and onions and topped with shrimps and hot pepper sauce.  The coconut 'Cocada' was  perfect to follow for those like me that have a sweet tooth.

We would highly recommend a trip to Bahia to anyone. A fusion of beautiful colonial architecture, mountainous landscapes, endless beaches and pulsating always with excellent music.  We also never went hungry!