Archive for July 2nd, 2007
Bahia Island Tour Photos
Monday, July 2nd, 2007Here are the promised pics. I can’t do any descriptions now because today is Bahia Independence Day and we’re off to watch a parade! I’ll try to post descriptions (and a video clip!) in the next day or so though. First a bit of back-story…
On Friday night we decided we wanted to go on a tour of the bay (”Bahia” is the old Portuguese word for “bay”), and check out all the little islands, or at least two of them. So Saturday we stopped at the hostel we had stayed at previously, because part of staying there is that they’ll book island tours and other outings for you. Unfortunately, we got there at 6:30 pm and the booking office closed at 6:00. Russell, the guy who runs the hostel, was awesome enough to still try to call, and when he didn’t get through, told us to just do it on our own and gave us all the details.
So, bright and early Sunday morning, we caught a cab to the docks and, when we arrived, were quickly shuffled by some random street person and convinced to go on a different, but similar, tour. I was a bit skeptical, but since we didn’t pay anything up front, and since it was cheaper and Tanya and her friend Cassie felt okay with it, we went along.
The tour was for two islands: Ilha dos Frades and Itaparica. Ilha dos Frades has only around 70 inhabitants, while Itaparica has around 70,000. We were to leave at 9:30, get to Ilha dos Frades around 11:00, stay there for 2 hours, take a 40 minute trip over to Itaparica, get lunch and stay there until 4:00, then head back and get to the mainland around 5:30.
The tour started out really great, with a fun three-piece band singing traditional Brazilian songs.
All Saints’ Bay is quite large, and still seems to be a major port for the country, as we saw many large (and some ridiculously large) vessels.
Three different men took turns navigating, and a few of them caught Ali’s eye for little Brazilian flirting sessions.
Not long into the trip we were told that we would have to make a stop and let on 10 more passengers. I had no idea this “stop” would consist of sliding upside another boat and precariously helping people over.
Salvador is big. Really big.
1 1/2 hours later we pull up at Ilha dos Frades, with its crazy ruins and bizarre landscapes.
Ali and I pose for a pic… apparently wind-swept boat-ride hair is my new fashion statement.
Ali is a ham, no matter where in the world we are.
Tanya thought the sand was brown sugar, and had to snap off a shot of her and Ali’s feet. I concur… it was the softest, most perfectly brown sand ever.
I have a good story about the natives of Ilha dos Frades, but I’ll save that for later.
After a quick 40 minute ride we’re over at Itaparica, which means “circle of stones” in the native Amerindian language.
We were served a buffet-style meal of “food typical of the Bahian people”, the best of which was spaghetti. :)
Shortly after 4:00 it was time to head back.
It’s winter here now, so it starts to get dark right around 5:00…
…thus leading to an amazing sunset and the most magical colors on the waters of the bay.