Tag: Music

Salvador de Bahia – The culture capital of Brazil

The state of Bahia is located in NE Brazil & its capital of Salvador is the historical capital of Portuguese Brazil. The city is perched high above the bay & celebrates its predominant African heritage with its colored colonial architecture, narrow cobbled streets, incredibly delicious food, nonstop samba music & drums, & proud fun people. I’m writing this after having visited 4 states in Brazil & 3 different locales within Bahia & I can say without a doubt that the Bahia people certainly seem to be the most proud, banding around its Bahia statehood. It definitely feels like a special unique culture & has an electric fun energy. Nowhere is it better on display than Salvador. I felt it as well in Morro de Sao Paulo & Boipeba, no doubt, but I returned for my second stay in Salvador after my jaunt to the islands, to find the locals setting up for Sao Joao festival. It was still a few days away but the city was already bursting with color, the drum beats were never louder as all day long, small drum corps held impromptu street marches to get everyone on their feet dancing, & the main town square in the Pelourinho neighborhood was littered with tables & an even-larger-than-normal stage had been erected for the bands that play nightly as the crowds gathered for music & dancing. Celebrating Sao Joao in Bahia is definitely high on my list of future trips.

Just 2 blocks from my pousada & on a steep hill was a plaza featuring this stunningly ornate blue church surrounded by multi-colored buildings & buzzing with people. While not the main square, it was my fave as I wandered through several times a day. A bit obsessed.



São Joao decorations. My pousada owners said São Joao was just as big as carnival for locals & maybe more so bc it didn’t attract as many tourists.


[caption width="4032" id="attachment_2793" align="alignnone"] The main square with lots more churches

Caju, or cashew, fruit juice is my fave new addition to the traditional caipirinha

I LOVED this lady. I typically steer clear of folks dressed in costume as they’re preying upon tourists who just want to snap a quick selfie. I was minding my own business taking a photo when this lady did a sneak attack & started talking to me before I realized I was ensnared. She started telling me about her “traditional dress” & I apparently was feeling a bit saucy as I told her, in my embarrassing Spanish-Portuguese mix, that her traditional dress didn’t seem very practical bc it was so big. She paused, as it was clear she wasn’t accustomed to being challenged & especially by a smart-ass gringo, looked me up & down & then burst into laughter. She tried to convince me, I remained skeptical. She refused to take any money from me, gave me tips on Salvador to-do’s & made me send her this cool photo I took of her. She was fabulous.
These guys were practicing capoeira in the main square. It’s a Brazilian martial art that incorporates dance, acrobatics & music. I was watching them, mesmerized, when I made the mistake of creeping a little too close to try to capture it on video. Then they went into “tourist performance” mode posing for pics & trying to get me involved which was a whole lot LESS cool than the actual art form they were practicing before.
The elevator, the most famous of transport options between the upper city (historical center) & lower city (port & market but not much else).
Moqueca, a famous Bahia stew, made with seafood, tomatoes, onions, peppers, garlic, cilantro, palm oil, coconut milk & served with the traditional hot sauce called piri-piri (it’s actually hot!!!), rice & farofa, a toasted cassava-flour mixture served all over Brazil with many different meals. Delicious!

Rewind… to Trinidad

It’s not often to be lucky enough to find yourself smack dab in the center of profound world changing events so I haven’t had time to post some already written blog entries on Trinidad, the hippest place to visit outside of Havana & only a short 1.5hr bus ride from Cienfuegos. It’s a lovely city set in a valley surrounded by Cuba’s version of mountains. It has small winding cobblestone streets w very picturesque vistas of lovely colored casas against the lush green mountains, that is, if you can stop watching your feet for fear of tripping & falling flat on your face due to the vastly uneven cobblestones. I wandered for hours in local hoods past parks w kids playing. Came across kids flying kites – right above the same power lines which seem to have made a habit of collecting a lot of former kites. I guess no one really does ever learn. Or they think they can beat it. 
There’s a lovely town square Plaza Mayor & nearby a big wide set of stone steps perfect for people watching & after 10pm nightly, the steps are transformed into the music center of the city w multiple salsa singing & dancing acts performing while competing storefront bars selling “the best mojitos in the world” allow you to enjoy a cocktail while taking in the scene. My one gripe w the music scene in Trinidad is it was very clearly catering only to tourists, no locals. In both Havana & Cienfuegos, I found higher quality music in venues w a good mix of tourists & locals so you felt like you were experiencing real Cuba. But I think I’m in the minority here as everyone seemed to absolutely love it. 
The primary thing about Trinidad that left a lot to be desired was the food. I read somewhere that in 2011, before the change in laws regarding private restaurants, there were 3 private restos. Now there are over 90. So it seems as if everyone is trying to throw their hat in the game & reap the awards that come w increased tourism. It certainly doesn’t mean they all have good food. Far from it. The best meal I had in Trinidad was cooked by my friendly casa owners as I found even the LP recommended restaurants to be shit. It really is a beautiful city but between the food & what seems to be a nonstop focus on making a buck, I wonder if the city has lost some of its local charm due to its newfound trendiness. Havana & Cienfuegos had loads of it. I’m hopeful it will sort itself out w time. 

Some of you know I stink at taking selfies bc I don’t ever do it so you’re lucky the intended tower is in the photo & I’m somewhat looking at the camera. After a summer full of rainbow colors (pink, purple & Cub blue), my early-retirement-hair in Cuba has essentially faded back to platinum w a hint of pale blue & purple near the roots. I’ve found the platinum isn’t super ideal in a country full of Latin men. So I try to keep it hidden everyday under my new World Series Cubs cap that’s quickly getting broken in & I certainly intend to return to my natural brown before South America bc the attention is just ridiculous.

I was awakened at 7am to what sounded like a marching band & found this outside my casa. After they finished playing a few songs, they all started drinking rum. A lot of it. At 7:15. I have no idea. Nor did my casa owners. https://youtu.be/6u7y3tn9Nmk

Santa Clara BEFORE the world changed

After a day of touring Santa Clara, I found myself on Friday Nov 25 in the early evening sitting in the town’s massive square, Parque Vidal, writing down my thoughts on the city & its people in my stream of consciousness methodology. As I was rereading them for purposes of writing a blog post describing my observances since Fidel’s passing, I noted that while I’m sure they may seem unimportant at face value, they seemed very relevant & poignant to me given the changes that happened overnight. For purposes of remembering this historic time in years to come, I think I’ll present it here as things unfolded for me in Cuba.

 
A 9pm arrival in Santa Clara could’ve been much later due to a broken down bus were in not for a handy group of 4-5 Cubans huddled at the back of the bus fixing this smoking engine in just under an hour. If anyone can fix vehicles, it’s the Cubans right? After foiling a plan by a couple jineteros to scam me on the way to my casa, my casa owner directed me to a great restaurant. Well the food was good but the best thing about this place was the hired band they had playing. After sitting down w only 2 other tables filled, they played almost-acoustic versions of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah followed by Michael Jackson’s What About Us!!?!!!? Then they played a medley that featured about 10 songs from Stand By Me & Hey Jude to finally some fun Cuban music. They put their own twist on everything. It may sound silly, but I’ve been hearing the same traditional 3 Latin songs from every band I come across in restaurants & outside in tourist locales which is several times throughout the day bc music is so central to the way of life down here. They play them the same way & it’s just become less & less interesting. These guys have a fresh unique take on everything & just given the song choices, they had me so they wrote down where they play for the next 3 days bc depending on what else is going on, I may become a stalker. In Havana & Cienfuegos, I had a lot of success finding good music but it was generally late night spots known for music & frequented by a mix of locals & tourists. The music here has been maybe my favorite part of the trip so I really look forward to seeing this band again. 
Returning after dinner, the city center was empty but for pockets of young people looking to be heading out for the night. While it was dark, I could tell these young people looked different. They seemed to be hipsters. I hadn’t yet seen that pocket of people in Cuba. This morning while re-reading my travel guide on Santa Clara, I was reminded per LP that this is the “edgiest city in Cuba”. Roaming about town today confirmed it. Near my casa is the central Parque Vidal, the city’s massive city plaza, & it is hipster central. My oddly colored hair that captivates everyone else is no big deal here. Half of the park seems reserved for “normal” folk lazing about & gossiping. The other half features various pockets of different types of hipsters congregating in certain corners. The goths wearing black Megadeth & Iron Maiden vintage tees w dark eye liner, tattoos & crazy piercings huddle on one side drinking the local Bucanero beers at all hours (I must not be cool as I’ve been drinking Cristal). They must bond solely on a love of rock & black tees as I also saw Nirvana, Beatles & AC/DC tees mingling. The punk rock spiked mohawks, colored Ramones tees, studded jean vests & bandana wearing crowd gathers in another area. The guitar playing traditional hippies seem to have teamed up with the beanie wearing dreaded reggae fans. At any point in time, I almost expect a musical street battle a la West Side Story to break out. Yes, I watched for hours while reading & jotting down notes. I would’ve loved to get pics but they would never have captured my intrigue & would only serve to make me look like a narc. 
A couple hours later, I ended up w a few of these hipsters at Club Menjune, this hippy joint I walked past earlier & this dude grabbed me & invited me to this poetry reading. Why not? I hadn’t yet been to a poetry reading in Cuba. I found out the next night they were hosting “Cuba’s only official drag show”. Umm why wouldn’t I go?!?! Actually, the friend of my Havana casa owner, whom himself owns several Havana casas & does quite well, said as recently as 5 years ago, being LG was very frowned upon in Cuba, as of today it is generally accepted, & he joked that in 5 years, it would be compulsory. Trans, less so. Which is why I wasn’t at all surprised to find out the edgy, welcoming, liberal & open Santa Clara featured THE show in Cuba.
Overall thoughts on first 1.5 days in Santa Clara – I walked a lot today. Covered the main Che memorial, museum & mausoleum – biggest thing to see in SC. It dawned on me that while I’ve taken photos of tourist monuments, I haven’t really taken many photos of the city itself. Maybe bc it’s just not very picturesque. But I really wanted to come here to visit. My Havana & Trinidad casa owners told me to skip it or limit the visit to 1 night max. I refused to listen. While it may not be a picturesque city, there’s so much revolutionary history here, including the key battle in Fidel’s revolution, & I can be a big history nerd. I’m pleased & not that surprised to see the same city w such a massive revolutionary history feature citizens of such a diverse nature. I like the feel of this city.