This week we moved out of the apartment in Barra and into another apartment in a neighborhood called Iguatemi. The price of our apartment in Barra was about 10 times the usual price for the week of Carnaval. This is why we moved to Iguatemi for Carnaval week. Barra is right in the center of one of the Carnaval routes. Iguatemi is about 30 minutes away by bus.
We did some site seeing in Pelhourinho this past weekend and visited a few museums and churches. The Afro-Brazilian museum displayed the African history of the area and the strong influence of Africa in the local culture. For centuries, Salvador was a hub for the slave trade in South America. The culture and traditions of the slaves play a large part in Salvador today. Camdomblés occur frequently, which are some type of religious ceremony which I don’t quite understand. Capoeira dancers can be seen along the beaches and in the festivals. The food has a distinct African influence with the spices used. Orixás (Pagan divinities of African ancestry) are worshiped here.
For example, Febuary 2nd is a day commemorating Yemanjá, the goddess of the sea. This is a festival where locals make contributions to the sea for Yemanjá. Our language school organized a group outing to the festival. People pay homage to Yemanjá by throwing flowers, soap, mirrors, and items that represent beauty into the sea. Once these items are thrown into the ocean, Yemanjá either accepts them and the items are swept away in the waves, or she rejects them and they are swept up on the shore. We threw some flowers into the ocean that immediately washed ashore. Ahh well.
Here is a very short video clip of the festival on the beach. You can hear the drumming and singing in the clip. You will have to download it onto your computer and open it up. It´s about 3 megabytes.
Also, I added pictures to some of our previous posts. Check them out!