I am pleased to report that Carol has sent me a huge amount of information about Salvador and our trip there. It’s amazing to read her chronology and catch the stuff I had already missed. She is an organized machine of efficiency, and we will all appreciate her efforts.

Our first breakfast (and every breakfast, for that matter) was an incredible sight: fresh fruit of all kinds: pineapple, guava, passion fruit, pinha (custard apple), etc. along with rolled ham and cheese, bread, the best coffee in the world, fresh orange, and/or guava, passion fruit juice, and these little cheese roll things that come in the freezer. They’re little round rolls with cheese (not processed, not American, not cheddar) in the middle, and they were a staple in Brazil. You could even find them in snack counters at the various attractions. Pettus got hooked on them, and we had to fight her for them every time they were served. They were fantastic, except for the times when Jean or I felt a little queasy for one reason or another. At those times, the thought of one of those cheese biscuits was pretty revolting. (I kind of analogized it to when Jean got drunk at one of the Legion Field Alabama games when we were in college, and threw up the Hardee’s that we had eaten on the bus on the way to the game. Ha ha! Drinking bourbon and coke with flecks of shaker and Birmingham steel mill fallout was fun–and productive. She couldn’t eat Hardee’s for years after that, and still winces at the thought.)

The Kennemers were coming in that morning, so Patricia and I went to the airport to get them. Same Hollywood feeling, with palpable excitement in the air. These folks were pumped for Carnaval.

I had taken my camera, and pulled it out for the first of over 1300 pictures: Robo in the backseat, going through the canopy of bamboo leaving the airport. Patricia was driving, and explained that one of Carol’s friends always said it was like going through a time tunnel, leaving the modern airport and going into Salvador, the heart and soul of Bahia.

On the way home, it seems that every billboard was an advertisement for one of the acts appearing at Carnaval. VoaDois was everywhere. They’re a boy/girl duo that Carol said was new. “Prazer, Katê!” or “Prazer, Fred” were the headlines accompanied by a giant picture of either one of their photogenic selves. Katê looked like she was wearing Invisalign braces in the picture, but it made her look even cuter. Jean said that Fred reminded her of Donny Osmond.

When we got back home, Jean was getting a pedicure from Carol’s pedicurist, Amparo, so we all trooped upstairs to Carol & Nelson’s bedroom to harass her and act grownup.

Amparo has been giving Carol manicures and pedicures for years. She not only comes to the house, but charges what to us would be a ridiculous bargain. But she makes a nice living doing it, and seems happy with her life.

Amparo’s attitude is indicative of the Bahian people. They are so much happier with whatever their lot in life happens to be than Americans could ever be. They are said to be lazy, but that is a total crock. They are very industrious, but they accomplish this without taking life seriously enough to get anybody bummed out. Personally, I think part of it has to do with the music they listen to.

We admired the view from the the bedroom windows and balcony, oohed and aahed over the ventilating windows that were between the bedroom and the hallway, and raved about the upstairs “cold tub” and the office down the hall replete with two computers, internet access, air conditioning, and a piece of art I had done!

After Jean’s manicure and pedicure (for about 10 dollars American), Carol swapped us American money for Reais (hay-eyes). She explained that there was a tourist exchange rate, a black market exchange rate, and a bank exchange rate. The black market rate is the highest, with the tourist rate being lowest, I think.
She gave us between the black market rate and the bank rate. It ended up being about 1.9 Reais to 1 dollar–almost two to one!  She then told us how a couple of years earlier, it was almost 4 to one! Our sad, sad little dollar couldn’t push anybody around much anymore, but the exchange rate was still very favorable to us.