Ilhéus, Itabuna and Barra Grande

After my two relaxing days in Porto Seguro, I was ready to head back to reality. My plan was to take the bus from Porto Seguro straight to Barra Grande, my paradise that wasn't nearly as commercialized as Porto Seguro had become, at least not yet. At the bus station, I found out that there were no direct buses going straight to Barra Grande, but I was assured by the saleswoman that there would definitely be a direct bus to transfer me from a layover in Itabuna. After roughly four pleasant hours of busride into Itabuna, I found out that this was not to be the case. The only next available bus onwards to Barra Grande would leave at 11 at night, and arrive at 2:30 in the  morning - definitely not a good idea. I resolved to stay a night in Itabuna and take the bus the next morning at 6am. After asking several people what there was to do in Itabuna if  you had a full day here and hearing them all reply "the shopping mall", I decided to take the 30  minute bus to Ilhéus, a quaint little seaside town, famous for Jorge Amado, a well known Brazilian writer who had lived in Ilhéus for much of his life.

Walking the streets of Ilhéus (1)

Walking the streets of Ilhéus (2)

The Christo of IIhéus

Sunset beach

Church in Ilhéus

Jorge Amado statue - Downtown Ilhéus

 Ilhéus was definitely worth the bus ride, but I only stayed for about two hours, taking a walk downtown and on the seafront. By the time I got back in Itabuna, it was dark, and I found a hotel across from the bus station - it looked a bit sleazy, but at least it was cheap, 25 reais a night with TV. Watched a bit of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics in London then to sleep.

1 night cheap hotel room in Itabuna

 The next morning, after my five hour bus ride, I arrived in the city of Camamu, the closest you can get by road to Barra Grande. I was happy to already have an idea where to go and not get caught by the tourist trap like I did the first time. Right when you get off the bus there is a speedboat that will take you to the island in 45 minutes, but costs 30 reais. What they don't tell you is that there is a normal boat that takes 45 minutes longer, but only costs 6 reais. Someone even tried to sell me a ticket to it for 10 reais, but I knew better. I walked off in the direction of the ferry, bought some tapioca cake and coffee, and waited.

On the way to Barra Grande

On the ferry boat I met a nice old man who sold me the most delicious tangerines. He spent most of the time on the boat talking to me, telling me that he had seventeen children, which was nothing compared to his father, who had had twenty two. He lived on a farm but worked in Barra Grande, selling produce. I was lucky enough to meet him because later on when I saw him again in Barra Grande, he gave me several more tangerines, this time for free. And the third time I saw him, he even paid for the coffee and sandwich that I was having for breakfast. I thanked him, and he told me that if he ever came to visit me in the town of Canada, he was sure that he would have a place to stay there, and besides, he had my number if he ever needed to reach me.

Arrival in Barra Grande

Arraial d'Ajuda

Getting of the ferry at Arrail d'Ajuda

This sums up how my day went

Fried Aimpim

Church of Senhor do BomFim in Arraiail d'Ajuda
(same concept as the one in Salvador - you make a wish and attach the ribbon to the gate)

My second day in Porto Seguro I decided to take a day trip to the nearby town of Arrail d'Ajuda - a tiny touristy town with nice beaches, and, once again, too many souvenir shops to choose from. The atmosphere of the area was a bit resort like, with helicopters landing to drop off famous celebrities and paragliders flying over head - so I decided to pull up a chair, order some 'aimpim frito' (Fried Aimpim - Mandioc Root - A bit like Fried potatoes except much more delicious) and relax.

Itacaré Sunset and Porto Seguro

It's been much too long since I have updated my blog - a month now, and I'm not even sure where to start. Since my last post, I have went travelling to the south of Bahia (Porto Seguro, Ilhéus, Itabuna and Barra Grande) and also been to the interior (Irecê and Lapão) for part of my research project at school. I'll start with a description of my travels to the south.

It took me an enormously long time to get to Porto Seguro, as I decided against the direct bus trip, which was much too expensive - and decided to spend a night in Itacaré instead. Itacaré is a beautiful surfer's paradise which  must be visited, but since I had already been there twice before, I used it as a layover and was back on the bus the next morning. The timing worked out perfectly for me to catch the sunset and have some delicious 50cent ice cream. I also got a chance to see the now 'famous' guy who does headstands on his longboard in front of the sunset (apparently a magazine wrote an article about him and now he is there every single day for the sunset on his longboard so people can take pictures of him). Here are a few pictures from my stop in Itacaré.

Arriving in Itacaré

2 fishermen

Sunset

I arrived in Porto Seguro the following afternoon, after passing kilometers of green valleys and rivers. Porto Seguro is where Pedro Cabral, the Portuguese explorer, first set foot in Brazil. Now it has become an extremely touristy city, with more souvenir stores than are really necessary. During the day there are several trips you can go on to nearby beaches, and during the night there are shows and beach parties to go to. Porto Seguro is famous for it's parties. There is even an exclusive island that opens only on Friday and Sunday nights, with a 50 reais (25$) entry fee, called "Ilha dos Aquarius" (Island of the Aquariums). It is filled with expensive bars and nightclubs. I think my favorite part of the trip was the tapioca - I had one (crêpe style) filled with 'carne do sol' (dried meat), tomatoes, oregano, and cheese - a complete meal for only 2$. It was at 'Tapioca da Neguinha'. Here is a youtube video of the very same person I got it from, that shows how it is  made (in Portuguese). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjd9L8oaBwc. I've never seen Tapioca powder ('Goma') in Canada though, which is the base of what you need for making it.

These next few pictures were taken on a day trip to 'Praia do Espelho' (Mirror of Beaches). It was a beautiful but exclusive beach that stretched on for miles. The downside was the cost of the lunch - costing me 25$ to share a Moqueca (fish stew). A ridiculous amount when compared to the normal cost of a Moqueca (between 5-15$ for one portion). I met some nice Brazilians to share lunch with - several ladies from São Paulo, who loved to joke about the Bahian accent (to them it's as if you are talking through your nose, very nasally) as compared to the São Paulo accent (to Bahians it's almost as if Paulistas (people from São Paulo) are talking with an American accent - they pronounce their 'r's very strongly. (Ex. PoR favoRR). (Please in Portuguese).

 On the van ride back we stopped at an Indian village. All the Indian children were dressed up in typical Indian attire - grass skirts and headdresses, and they held parrots on their fingers. This was obviously set up for tourists - as the Indians in the region all use regular clothes no different from the rest of us. It did make for a nice photo shoot though - which I would've done had the kids not told me that it would cost "1 real cada um" (One real (50cents) for each kid you took a picture with) - so if you want to take a picture with all of them that will cost you 5 reais. I think they made a lot of money with that, with several tour groups stopping by throughout the day I'm sure they made at least 40-50$ just in picture taking - and I didn't even have any change left, so no pictures of me with cute Indian children were taken. I did, however, take a picture of the 'berimbau' tree. The fruit hanging from it is what is used to make the 'berimbau' instrument used in Capoeira. I had no idea it was the dried shell of a fruit. Here is a picture of the berimbau instrument, and following is the tree.

Source: http://zoio-capoeira.blogspot.com.br/