Bem-vindo ao Brasil!

The city of Salvador. A city of which I have not yet figured out my feelings for. From my experience at CITYterm, I have learned that I cannot judge a city from my initial experience, but from multiple encounters with the city itself. Two days is nowhere near enough time to come up with a generalization about an entire city the size of New York! So I can explain to you the experience I have thus far encountered, and let you judge Salvador for yourself.

Salvador is a city of great diversity. There is a huge Afro-Brazilian presence that is unique to this particular city in Brazil. On the economic side, there is a huge problem. The so called, middle-class, has quite a small presence, if any. This leaves two options, having a lot of money, or none. The latter is definitely more prevalent. The beach close to the volunteer house feels like "a mixture of Jamaica, South Africa, and Croatia" according to a co-volunteer. Although I have only been to Jamaica, I can certainly understand her thoughts.

When riding in the VW from the 70s to the volunteer house yesterday, I was amazed at how impoverished the city was. Favelas, or shanty-towns, were taking over both sides of the highway, and continued to creep into the downtown area. The beach I wrote about before is always incredibly busy, filled with enough people that it is difficult to see the sand. Although all of the volunteers always travel together, we are constantly bombarded by locals attempting to sell us things from bracelets to local cuisine to sunscreen. We quickly learned the correct words and attitude to be left alone, "Nao, obrigada," with a stern face...no smiles. As hard as we try, we always manage to laugh after at each others attempts to be stern.

The area surrounding the Cross-Cultural Solutions volunteer house is what would be considered the middle-class area. Located around the house is a McDonalds, a pharmacy, a HSBC, and a few gas stations. The beach and cafes are a quick walk downhill, and a long walk back to the house. The house is large with multiple rooms and bathrooms, and great areas to hang out. There is a television and wireless internet throughout the house to feed the technologically addicted volunteers' needs. It is clean and safe, although we have spotted multiple cockroaches already (they are a huge problem in this city...we have seen them everywhere!).

Now, let me tell you what I have been up to! I arrived yesterday morning via first class. How did I manage to get upgraded? Well, I received a generous donation to the Rachel Fund from my parents. I could have spent another four hours sleeping on the plane. I was also able to use the Presidents' Club in the airport in Miami. I spent a few days for my dad's birthday in Ft. Lauderdale at a nice resort. We met both sets of grandparents for lovely dinners, and managed to go to the Everglades as well. I still cannot believe that after all of these years of going to Florida, I did not make it to the Everglades until last week. I got some great shots of alligators and the beautiful landscapes.

Ivan picked me up from the airport along with Mary and Abby. We took a thirty minute drive to the volunteer house in which we were the first to arrive. We proceeded to our assigned rooms and began to unpack. The rest of the crew slowly but surely began to arrive. After a morning of unpacking and recuperating from the long night of travel. After, we took a stroll to the beach and had some great ice cream. Vini, the head of the program, had his cousin over, who is sixteen, and she helped us find our way around. She wanted to practice her english, and spoke Portuguese to others when we needed help. Last night, we all went out to Pelourinho, an area of Salvador with bright, beautiful colors and cobblestone roads. After checking out the scene, we found a cute little bar with live music outside. We were enjoying our time there until the rain forced us to move elsewhere. We were fortunate enough then to find a cool club with a huge concert. We toughed it out through the rain, and waited in line to get in. It was well worth the hour of getting drenched to get in. Everyone at the club was dancing and having a great time.

Today, I slept until 10:15 and then attended the volunteer orientation. After, we all went to the beach again for the day. I managed to get a nice tan and no burn! Tonight we are just going to have a movie night in preparation for our first day of volunteer work tomorrow. I will be working in an orphanage in a favela. I will keep everyone updated!

In my attempt to learn Portuguese, Tchao!