Life in Barra

Originally published April 9, 2009



Today concludes my second week of Portuguese classes at Diálogo here in Bahia. Tomorrow we don´t have classes in observance of the Easter holiday, and this week there have been a lot of festivities for Semana Santa. I really look forward to my air-conditioned classes each morning, but I suppose I will have to go here tomorrow instead:


Barra Beach... Literally yards from my host family´s apartment.

Luckily, most of last weekend´s sunburn has peeled away, just in time for this weekend´s beach festivities.

This week I went to my first Brazilian dance class. We learned beginning samba steps, and did some basic dance movement choreography. I can honestly say that I have never sweat more in my life than I did during this class. I still don´t feel like I have sufficiently rehydrated. Next week I will be going to my first capoeira class.









My host family´s apartment is on the edge of an undeveloped green space, and almost every day I see this family of micos skirting across the cement barriers of the apartment complex. I´m not exactly sure what these monkeys are called in English, but wikipedia says they are capuchin monkeys. These little guys are so common in Brazil that they are actually on the R$20 reais note.







Next week I will be paying a visit to Bahia Street, an educational outreach center for impoverished young women and girls from the favelas of Salvador. Dance Lest We All Fall Down by Margaret Willson is a book about the author´s experiences living in Salvador for many years, and how she co-founded Bahia Street, building it into an internationally renowned organization with the help of her dear Baiana friend, Rita. Visitors to the center here in Salvador are actively discouraged, as it is a distraction for the girls studying there, but I have been granted a rare exception in support of my academic interests. Only Portuguese is spoken at Bahia Street, so today I had to put my language skills to the test. I spoke with Rita on the phone and made arrangements to visit the facility on Tuesday of next week. I am deeply honored that I have been granted this privilege, so stay tuned for a report about my visit. In the meantime, you can learn more about Bahia Street by visiting their website at www.bahiastreet.org, and even if you are only slightly interested, I highly recommend reading Dance Lest We All Fall Down. It is an amazing book, very well-written, and most importantly, a true story.

Até logo!