From Salamanca to Salvador

         After all the time I spent with Brazilians in Spain, it was inevitable that one day I would travel to Brazil. After a few years of saving up, my mother, my sister and I all made the trip from the frozen tundra of Northern New York to the tropics of Bahia, Brazil. Anyone who knows anything about Bahia, or its capitol Salvador, will have heard that it is an enchanting place with warm and friendly people and a certain kind of magical happiness in the air. All of which is absolutely true and I find myself lost for words to describe it.  

A brief breakdown of the trip:     

                                                                

My snorkeling souvenir

Praia do Forte: We arrived in Salvador and were taken immediately from the airport to a hotel in Praia do Forte, small vacation town about an hour and a half north of the city. Highlights included the Projeto Tamar (a Sea turtle sanctuary), snorkeling, and the fort/ Garcia D’Avila Castle. Of these three activities, I’m fairly sure my mom enjoyed the castle the most, while Alyx obviously loved the sea turtles (turtle was one of her first words and has always been her favorite animal), and I loved snorkeling.  A success and a miracle: everyone was happy.

Projeto Tomar- We make some pretty awesome baby sea turtles

Garcia D'Avila Castle

Salvador: After a few days of beach and a mixture of sun and rain it was time to go to the big city. We spent the majority of the remainder of our trip in Salvador hitting up some tourist attractions (Igreja do Bomfim, Pelourinho, Forte Monte Serrat) and spending time with some pretty amazing people.

Igreja do Bomfim

Fitinhas do Bomfim

Forte Mont Serrat

Forte Mont Serrat from across the bay

Pelourinho

Praça

Jordão:  To escape from the enormity of Salvador we traveled twice to a small town in the interior; once for Christmas and then again a few days later for a memorable boat trip down a river. I say memorable because the battery died and we were stranded for a little bit. In true fashion, while everyone else was worried about being stranded I took this time to take some deep relaxing breaths of fresh air and focus on my tan. It seems (or at least I noticed a little while in Brazil) that sometimes I worry too much about the little things, and in some cases maybe I don’t worry enough about the big things (like being stranded in the middle of a river with no food and limited water, caffeine, and alcohol).

Sister

Bonding

Some General Comments/Insights:

1. My mom and sister are not as experienced travelers as I am.

2. It is difficult to travel with inexperienced travelers.

3. It was nice to take a family vacation together to somewhere new that didn’t involve me competing for skating.

4. Alyx seemed to have enjoyed her time (everyone spoiled her rotten) and I hope the trip has had a positive effect on her view of the world. She clearly missed out on the lesson on how she will not always been spoiled by everyone in life, but hopefully she learned something from the trip and grows from it.

A few extra pictures to brighten your day : )