quero saber a verdade

quero saber a verdade=i want to know the truth

this afternoon i took a tour of historic salvador. when the small bus arrived to pick me up i was warmly greeted by Wilson, my petite dreadhead strong-lisp having tourguide.

on the tour i saw the following:

farol do barra: a light house built in the 1300´s. it is part of a series of "forts" built on the bay to protect the first capital of brazil, salvador, from invasion. it´s very old looking.

forte santa maria another one of the forts (there´s 13). the portuguese built all the forts on the Baia de todos os santos (bay of all the saints) to protect the city from invasion. they mistakenly did not protect the Atlantic coast of salvador under the assumption that the high embankments would serve as a barrier to the Cidade Alta (upper city). the dutch proved them wrong. they hired some pirates to do the dirty deed and ruled the area for 1.5 years. i guess the dutch were not as nice as they are now. :)

elevador lacerda this is a very tall elevator that connects the lower city with the upper city. at the base of it is the "mercado ____" (forgot the rest). but it´s the slave market. hmph. the elevator is powered by electricity, although it was previously powered by steam and before that, slaves. it´s really tall, ya´ll!

sidenote: wilson insists that i can understand portuguese. he also gave me props for naming all the membrs of Tribalistas, a popular bahian music group. (*pats self on back*)

ride up to Pelourinho: on the way up to the upper city we passed the first mcdonalds. in true bahian form, it is an open-air mcdonalds. we passed through a posh neighborhood with a posh name, victoria corridor. imagine quaint colonial homes with huge-ass high rise condos behind each one. wilson pointed out some mystical gigantic tree, but the english description came long after we passed it and the hotel where michael jackson stayed. Salvador is forever in love with MJ. (this is evidenced by the plethora of jeri curls and references to spots where michael has been).

catedral basilica: this old church was actually built with segments shipped directly from portugal. the style is baroque (sp?), which i don´t qyite understand. while it supposed to be the city´s most beautiful church, i say it is quite ugly. way too much gold. but i guess that was the style back then-- gold plated humans, vegetables, and pelicans. yes. pelicans. the pelicans represent Jesus because (under dire circumstances) they feed their offspring with their own flesh. most interesting about this church is the asian influence. the portuguese and dutch made an agreemetn that the dutch would be nice and not invade again. part of this aggreement was also to end the trade of slaes between the countries. the churches, down to the most intricate design, were built by the africans. so this aggreement effected an artist crisis in bahia. chinese artists were brought in to finish the job. so, there are some dragons and saints with slanted eyes located throughout the church.

igreja são francisco: yes another church. this one actually got me energized. no. i didn´t catch the spirit. lol. são francisco is a catholic saint. he used to be a rich man, but he gave up all his mone to...be holy. i guess. anyway, this church is totally ostentations (read:very overdone.) 80kg of gold. i don´t know how much that is but it sounds like a lot. there is a statue at the front of alter of são francisco and jesus hugging. this is considered special because the two never actaully met (differetn time periods) and also because it symbolizes the uniting of catholocism and christanity. i don´t really understand it, but that sounds cool. what was really fascinating was the histor of the construction of the church. again, it was built by africans. teh plan was to allow the africans worship in a very small, undecorated room with no view of the church. many would not even be allowed to attend the church because they still practised their african religion. this upset the artists so much that they did things to ensure that the church would always have an african presence. they used ebony would in many areas (color of their skin). the cherubs (baby angel like people) had huge erect genitals. (the church had to ask the pope permission to remove them.) many angels were made to appear pregnant. there is also a statue of christ with his back to the congregation. he is supposed to be looknig out to the poor people and turning his back to the wealthy church. what is so amazing to me is that the 15 or so artists who beautified this church felt so passionately and strongly about their treatment and recognition as humans, they sacrifised their lives. their punishment was 200 lashings at the pelourinho (whipping post). they definately won, though because this church is now so beautiful.

pelourinho: this is also known as the city center. the city´s oldest architecture is here as is lots of beautiful art and music. i can see myself overdoing it with the art here. i will have to have rotating exhibits at my house. wilson assured me that i can buy art much cheaper from the artists themselves. the school of oludom is also in this area. this is a very, very famous drumming group. they were in a michael jackson song/video for some song i don´t remember. but a recent example of this drumming style is snoop doggy dogg´s "beautiful" video at the end. hopefully i will get to see them perform soon.

igreja rosarios dos pretos: this is the church that the slaves built for themselves. there is a mixture of catholocism and candomblé practiced at this church. candomblé is a yoruba religin. hopefully i will learn more about it. the africans beautified this church by sneaking gold and jewels from their masters in holow saint dolls and in their hair. lol.

after visiting the 2nd church i became inspired to really learn about bahia. i mean there is so freaking much here. so much history and...i don´t know. sutff. i pulled wilson aside and asked him if he was sharing everything on this tour. he acted like he didnt know what i was talking about. so i asked him if i could hire him for a tour of the real salvador. none of the touristy crap. i wanna know the real deal man!!! he felt me. so much so that he said he would give me a tour for free. now this is good for yours truly. wilson can be my way into salvador. and maybe even the state of bahia. the whole tour we kept running into people who know wilson. one fellow tourist even commented that wilson should be on city council. plus he really knos his stuff, which is helpful because i ask a lot of thoughtful questions. lol. i´m the girl who is always at the head of the tour group wth my hand ready to be raised. i told wilson i will be here for three months. "oh, i have an extra room. you can stay with me.". yeah. ok. no! now i noted mentally that the Salvadorans have a demeanor very similar to Southern (US) culture in that people speak to strangers ("everything alright with you?") and offer assistance without hesitation. however, wilson´s offer of a room is just plain ole suspect. thanks but no thanks.

pelourinho is where i need to stay. i could feel really good energy there. its definately more fast-paced than barra, the beach neighborhood i currently stay in. we´ll see.