New Apartment

It's been almost a week now since I've moved into a new apartment located in the Porto da Barra (See photo below).

Praia do Porto da Barra (Source: Bahia Press)

And so far, it has been great living here. I am less than a two minute walk from the beach, and if my classes aren't too early in the morning, I wake up, go for a jog on the sea-walk, and then jump into the ocean for a quick swim before starting the day. True, I no longer have a maid to do my laundry, clean my room and cook me food, but at least now I have a reason to finally learn how to cook Brazilian dishes! Also, I'm living with two Chileans, one Belgian, and one Spaniard and am learning so much about other countries from our nightly conversations. Just this night we were discussing the possibility of making a documentary about a day in the life of a policeman in Salvador. Right now, in Brazil, it is illegal to drink and drive, there is a 0% alcohol tolerance policy. The problem with this, as I realized after discussing with several Brazilians, is that the police cannot force you to take the Breathalyzer. You have the right to say no to it. So then how can they prove that  you've drank if you don't take the Breathalyzer? The system doesn't make that much sense. Another problem is bribery. For example, let's say you were caught with marijuana. Rather than charging you a fine and putting it on your criminal record, they (I won't generalize and say all policemen, but a good number of them) will search you for what little money you might have, take it, and let you go free. There are too many examples of things like this that happen all the time here, which is what frustrates so many of the Bahians.