WELCOME TO MY WORLD OF SALVADOR DA BAHIA  

Dique de Tororo, Salvador Bahia

                   
Majority intentionally shy away from the truth because of its bitterness, but "Just Bahia" opens you to the good, bad and ugly realities of Salvador da Bahia - Brazil, through pictures, current events, religious practices, festivals, food, politics, sports, tourism, business, travel, Portuguese learning, social life and additional facts that travelers should know about the state. The style and English that will be used in all the articles on this site will be simple, articulate and explanatory, in order to carry along a non-English speaking reader. 

Click to enlarge the pictures                               

Salvador, does this city ring a bell? When one talks about this city, what immediately comes to mind is the "Republic of El Salvador" the Spanish speaking country situated on the pacific coast of Central America.

A brief visit to this Africanized city hangs one in the balance in terms of decision making of either staying back or returning to wherever one is from. But, having paid a second, third and fourth visit….. What follows next is an indecisive feeling of staying back para sempre .

Salvador which is pronounced in full as São Salvador da Baía de Todos os Santos, meaning "Holy Savior of the Bay of All Saints" is the third largest city in Brazil and the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia. The city was for a long time also known as Bahia, and appears under that name "Salvador da Bahia". With a population of almost 3 million inhabitants, it is ranked the city that has the highest BLACK population on planet earth after Lagos the commercial nerve center of Nigeria.

This old city, one of Brazil's cultural highlights was founded in 1549. As the first capital of the country, it has played host to legends like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Spike Lee, Danny Glover, and star actor Morgan Freeman who comes back and forth. It is a birthplace and home to top Brazilian celebrities making waves in the international entertainment circle. The likes of Grammy Award winner and former Minister for Culture Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Dorival Caymmi, Gal Costa, Ivete Sangalo (3 time winner of best Brazilian music award), Daniela Mercury, Carlinhos Brown to mention but a few.

If beaches are your desire, the only difficulty in Salvador is choice. This is also applicable in the area of beautiful women and handsome men. Bahia is the center of cultural and religious syncretism in Brazil. The vibrant African influence in the areas of religion and culture including food, music and dress codes have been richly preserved that its traces could be noticed in every nook and cranny of the city.

In addition, the elements of catholicism brought by the Portuguese colony, the Tupinaba Indians beliefs and the religions of the Africans have blended to create a fascinating religious experience. If you enjoy partying and hanging around crowds, no where comes close to Salvador during carnival. Carnival in Salvador is not nubile women in feathers high up on floaters dancing in a surrounded enclosed stadium like you have in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo; it is you out there, doing it on the streets until you drop.

Having looked at some of the goodies that this exotic tropical city offers, one will almost forget that majority of its inhabitants are languishing in abject penury. Unemployment is the order of the day in this city, manipulation by political office holders is visibly seen and physically felt by the people, the gap between the well to do and the poor can be easily noticed, the bureaucratic and sluggish nature of handling general issues reigns supreme, spitting on sight is considered normal, jumping the line in supermarkets, malls, banks etc are day to day activities, blasting music as loud as ever in private cars, homes and street bars is considered cool, reckless driving and breaking traffic rules are daily routines, waiting at the bus stations on weekends for hours can be a pain in the neck, calling ones house and authoritatively asking "who is speaking" is habitual, standing one up or coming extremely late for an appointment without any notification is no big deal, wearing skimpy clothes and exhibiting ones protruding stomach when pregnant is a part of the open culture. Whichever way you want to criticize the life style of Baianos, you should have it at the back of your mind that every country and people have their flaws and shortcomings. So let's simply stick to the maxim that "nobody is perfect".

If there is one thing that is unbeatably impressive about this great people of Bahia, it is the simple fact that they are not only amazingly creative, but receptive, hospitable and highly accommodating.

Mark Stevenson Fuo
Welcomes you to dtruth.