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The dust from the carnival settled surprisingly swiftly and the next day was business as usual in Pelourinho, the historic centre of Salvador.
“Pelourinho” means whipping post and it was here that slaves arrived from Africa and were traded and treated in a manner that would be considered unethical for cattle today.

Although somewhat rundown, with verbal harassment common, I liked the place and it’s unusual charm. Still a little under the weather, I spent a few days here, avoiding the more modern, built up coastal stretch and bided my time chatting to the locals and being shown the sites.

It`s definitely a generalisation, but it seemed like every male under the age of 30 here was either an expert drummer, skilled capoeira fighter or a drug addict.
Very different to everywhere else in Brazil, Salvador possesses a unique and vibrant zest for life, love, music and history, almost bubbling over with energy, despite the obvious hardships.
The African influence is very apparent and flows through everything – from the food to the rhythms in the music, the religious ceremonies of candomble and of course, the people themselves..

Any music aficionado, particularly one of drumming, would struggle to be bored here, with numerous and varied live music and drum rehearsals and performances every night of the week.

I was lucky enough to meet a guy called Adriano – a resident of Salvador, who knew everybody, both good and bad, was built like a tank and handily, a superb capoeira fighter. He was genuine, trustworthy and friendly and also invaluable – no one wanted trouble with him around.
This meant we could enjoy the whole area, any time of day or night, allowing a much richer experience than were I alone and confined to the safety of the heavily policed tourist spots.

Viva Salvador de Bahia de Todos os Santos!!

This entry was posted on August 9, 2007 at 10:26 pm and is filed under Brazil, Photos. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.