Itacare

OK so long story long- I went back to Salvador to give it one last chance to seduce me. It didn´t so after about five days I hit the road. Almost on a whim I grabbed all my stuff and caught a taxi to the ferry terminal. I had this idea that I was saving time by catching a boat and then a bus? Well, I caught my speed boat (just barely, I was standing at the wrong spot even though there was a sign saying it was right and two guys said it was right; a nice cleaning lady came over and told me my boat was about to leave from another spot and she took me there) and made it to the island of Itaparica, across the bay of Salvador. Salvador is the only spot in Brazil where you can see the sun set over the ocean, what you are really seeing is it setting into the clouds over the island of Itaparica. My idea was that I could ferry to Itaparica, then catch a bus across the bridge and down to Itacare, my destination. Well the next bus left at 730 PM, and only got me to the exceptionally shady bus terminal in Ilheus at one am. I would have to stay the night and catch the 830AM, so much for saving time. It turned out fine, I found a reasonably nice pousada right on the beach, enjoyed the fading light from a barraca sipping a drink and listening to the rustling palm trees. The full moon came up through the clouds on the horizon. Some really crappy music was playing, but it fit somehow. I took a walk around town and became obsessed with having some ice cream. The local architects have found a great way to tell tourists from locals. Every twenty feet the sidewalk changes elevation slightly, which makes for some stubbed toes and near falls, if you don´t have it all memorized. I had seen a few brazilians trip over these spots and found it was worth a chuckle, until I started my quest for ice cream and fell victim a few times. In the middle of all this I glanced up at the full moon in the sky and something was a bit off. Actually something was totally totally off. The full moon was no longer full, it was more like half, but not the usual half either. It pretty much looked like Ms Pac Man in a wedding dress up there. Something fired in my skull somewhere; its an eclipse! I´ve really only seen one of those before, and never on such a clear night with such a bright moon. It seemed unreal. I promised myself to check in after I found my ice cream. Well I guess that was some good ice cream cause I didn´t think of it again until I was watching the news in my hotel room and they said it was the first full eclipse of the year. Apparently they are common down here? Anyway the next day I spent on a bus and now I am in Itacare!

Itacare is sweet. I´ve been hearing about it for years so its nice to finally be here and check it out. It has a lot in common with some other spots I´ve been in brazil, and I´m still exploring, but does have a unique vibe. Surfers, international hippies, rastas, baianos, moneyed brazilians, little bit of everything. This is the first place I´ve been this trip where I knew no one and was going with no one. So one hour after I hit the street what happens? "Mike! Is that Mike?!" This has happened to me in every corner of the world, from downtown Bangkok, to the Gulf of Mexico, to remote islands in Brazil, London Heathrow, to forest retreats in Bali. It just goes to show, you can never really leave Santa Cruz, because Santa Cruz is everywhere. It turned out to be Amy, an ex tenant of mine, of all things. We had talked about her trip to Brazil months ago and she promised to get in touch for some travel tips. We didn´t get in touch but boom, three months later there we were on the same street at the same time on the same continent!? We hung out for several days and I met some of her local friends, including a capoiera mestre of exceptional talents and a local singer who entertained us all night long with samba and forro.

After that second night with her and her friends, which lasted until 5 am, I woke groggily and hungover at 10 remembering I had promised someone to go on a canoe excursion the next morning. I thought about it for a second and threw myself into the shower. Sleep when your dead, right? The guide showed up right on the dot and from the smirk on his face I figured I looked just as bad as I felt. As we walked down the main drag to pick up the others and get to the harbor, I asked sarcastically if his canoe had a motor. He laughed and punched my bicep- "just that motor!" The four of us piled into his canoe, including Amy who also rallied, amazingly. The harbor in Itacare is a tidal flat, twice a day a vast mud flat, then a deep harbor. At this time of day it was mud. We trudged through the mud in the heat of the day and set off paddling. As it turned out there was only one paddle, and he got it, so we got to sit and admire the view. As it turned out, for the first bit anyway, the view was of the docks and the industrial district. As the midday sun beat on my hangover and I watched the garbage float by and the rotting boats on the shore, I began to question my decision to get out of bed.

However things turned around before long. Soon we left civilization behind and the river became quite picturesque, bank bright green with mangroves, coco and cacao plantations, and the occasional brightly painted fishing boat, canoe, or tourist speed boat. After a while on the expansive main river, we took a turn up a creek. The mangroves and trees closed over us, so paddled through a green tunnel. I almost felt like I was on the bayou in Lousiana. We passed locals fishing with line from the banks or from canoes, and a woman and her children pulling clams and crabs from the mangrove roots. After a while of this we stopped at a grassy spot for a short hike to a waterfall. Waterfalls are plentifull in Brasil and always refreshing. The water is cool and fresh, but not cold, and the hike through the jungle always puts you in the mood for a swim and a little high pressure waterfall massage. A dry-off nap on a rock and we were ready to head home. On the way back we stopped for a bite, some fresh fish moqueca (yummy fish stew with palm oil broth sweetened with papaya) and bahian traditional foods. After lunch I made good use of the hammock to catch up on sleep and digest, lazily watching boats motor past. We finally arrived back home to a filled bay, and a sandy landing on the beach. Amy, a competitive volley ball player in school, couldn´t pass up a chance to play in one of the matches going on on the beach. So I wrapped up the daylight watching their game and trading time on the pull up bar with some Israelis. All in a days play, right?