Rain, rain go away....

Well, I´ve made it through my first week here in Salvador, Brazil. The first few days were rather rough for me. My Portuguese was rusty, I didn´t know anyone and I had nothing to do. Thankfully, I know my way around now so, there are plenty of things to do. My language skills have improved to the point that even taxi drivers compliment my Portuguese. One even thought I was from São Paulo, haha. I´ve also made some friends here. As an internationally-oriented language school, there are people here from all over. It is a constant flux of foreigners in and out but, as of now, there is: a Spanish girl, a guy from NY, a guy from Minneasota, a guy from Montreal, Canada, a couple from Slovakia, two German girls, a Russian girl, a guy from South Africa, a British guy, and a few that I haven´t been introduced to yet. It´s pretty awesome.

I´ve seen a bit of the city so far, but only a small bit. The weather here has been really tempermental. It pours rain one minute and then it´s hot, humid and sunny the next. This weekend, a group of us had plans to visit the Morro de São Paulo, which is an island off the coast of Brazil. It has a nature preserve, a resort and some of the best beaches in the area. Unfortunately, the forecast is for rain and thunderstorms all weekend long so, those plans will have to wait. I did get to see some of the historic center of the city, Pelourinho, at night. A group of us watched a drum corp and dance troupe as they moved through the streets. It was awesome! Everyone was joining in, dancing and singing-- even tourists. Then, we went to a reggae club and I learned how to dance forró, which is a typical dance of the Northeast of Brazil. The picture here is actually not Pelourinho, but Barra-- the area where I spend most of my time. This is a photo of the fárol (lighthouse) there at night. I have pictures of it during the day but, uploading photos here would be impossible. You get the idea...

Not sure what I´m going to do this weekend. A few students here were going to go out again and the school is throwing a party for us on Sunday night. Still trying to get my research started. I´ve emailed a few people and am waiting on responses. I´ll keep everyone posted!