Ipanema and last sunset in Rio de Janeiro

After almost 3 months of traveling we reached our last destination - Rio de Janeiro.
Here our travel comes to an end.
We feel little bit sad but at the same time we are looking forward to meet our friends and family again. :) :) :)

Salvador - colonial pearl

Brazil's northeast coast was home to large sugar plantations originally built on slave labor, which is evident in the distinct African influence that can still be seen today.

Nicknamed the “City of Happiness”, Salvador is noted for its music, food, arts, and architecture.

 

Understanding Brazilians

Brazil isn't growing - so why are Brazilians so happy ?

Brazil, really put itself on the economic map. Having grown by 2.3% a year between 1995 and 2002, it grew by 4% annually in the following eight years. The Brazilian research institute, regularly finds that two-thirds to three-quarters of families say their financial situation improved during the past year, and that they expect it to get even better in the year ahead.
In December, a global pollster, found that those optimistic about the economy outnumbered pessimists by a wider margin in Brazil than in any other large economy. (Source: The Economist)

The underlying reason is that even though the country as a whole is struggling, most families’ incomes are still rising fast. Unemployment is close to record lows and pay rises are comfortably outstripping inflation, partly because of big hikes to the minimum wage, but also because of that tight jobs market.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/05/economist-explains-why-brazilians-happy-slow-growth-brazil

Our observations

But apart from that, we have noticed some characteristics amongst Brazilian society. After spending 1 month in this beautiful country we noticed that:

• One of the most distinctive characteristics of the Brazilian people is their generosity, which they show liberally, even to strangers
• Brazilian people adhere to a much slower pace of life than what those from western nations may be accustomed to. There is basically a 'que sera sera' attitude -whatever will be, will be - and the people take things as they unfold, accepting the 'flow' of life with calm and patience. You can expect to spend a lot of time waiting, so just relax, take a deep breath, and enjoy the scenery of this beautiful country.
• they are very friendly and social. They will engage you in animated conversations and especially enjoy talking about soccer, family, and children.
• Do not worry about punctuality.
• Sunday is a hung-up day. It's a family day - as family is certainly in the center of their culture.
• Brazilians are crazy about lotteries. Otherwise, how can you get rich fast? :) Lottery sale in Pipa:

• When having a conversation with them, you may have an impression that they are impolite. They are just direct. !!! (personally I found it not bad).

•   When Brazilians play music - it must be loud. Either loud or no music. You have the impression that everything goes in samba or bossanova rhythm.

•   They are SO excited about the soccer. Especially that the World Cup is coming soon. They are ready. But what about do the stadiums? Not so sure about it...

• The food is religion. 

• English is a problem. They just don't speak English. However, they are willing to use hands and other objects to be helpful. They understand Spanish which made our conversations a great success.

• If you think you are gonna withdraw some money from ATM - think twice. Your ATM will probably not work. Many times we h ad to come back with nothing after 20km drive to the next bank. Cash is a king - as Basti says.

 Sunset in Salvador

...just a little sidestory from Salvador, a beautiful city with visible colonial history

...one night, actually tonight, ok, we just came back from it (and found it worth to blog about it straight away), we went to a restaurant, which tripadvisor recommended us as a must try!

The menu promised delicious food...and everything which I liked was also possible to get in one menu offer including 4 courses.

Karina chose a starter, main and desert of the "normal" menu (see plate de jour).

After a big while, we got served our glasses of wine...and despite ordering two glasses of white wine, we got served one white and one red (which was btw ice cold...why do people do this? :-) ). Changing the one glass back into white wine, we received our starters...but somehow they forgot about my ouvre bouche (my first starter). Oh well, no problem I thought...they just mixed the order of the dishes...easy.

But then, Karinas main arrived...leaving me with nothing but an empty plate...which was filled with my main dish 15min afterwards. OK, bye bye ouvre bouche.

Getting to the desert, the guys forgot about me, again, but kindly offered me half of Karinas desert. How nice is that! I insisted on my own...and felt a little challenged.

This challenge then truly emerged, when I tried to explain the waiter (meanwhile, we had roundabout 3 waiters randomly taking care of us) in my best Spanish/Portuguese mix (because English is a "dead language" here :-) ), that I don`t want to have my first starter now after having the desert, but he should apply a discount and get us the bill.

Not possible...! Karina and I smiled at him and kindly asked him to make it possible...what we got was then an invoice, with only the items which we actually had...meaning, that he calculated all dishes of the menu offer which I had separately...getting to a price which was even higher than the menu offer. Hmmm, someone didn`t quite understand the idea of a menu offer I guess :-).

Finally, the owner of the restaurant appeared and we explained him in English our issue...and then the clarification process started: he ran off our table and was shouting in Portuguese...we didn`t understand the content, but could feel the tension in the air! Then he ran back to our table...which one was it??? Which one of the waiters ("servants") did take your order...he asked very hectic. But we didn`t know, as they all had darker skin and were dressed in black and had similar looks. Also, we didn`t feel like pointing at one to blame him. "But it would really help me", the guy told and was shouting across the restaurant to get all his employees to us at the table.

The picture which we got then was absurd! The "white master" ordering his 3 "darkskinned servants" to our table, the guys were standing there heads down, and we were asked to point out the one which took our initial order (and apparently did the mistake; I guess that was the thinking). Honestly, we were quite embarrassed and somehow felt drawn back into colonial times.

And don`t get us wrong...this post does`t have any racist intention, but what we experienced was just so absurd and shameful, especially if you consider the history of the city.

End of the story was that one guy took over the responsibility, everyone rushed off, and the "white master" told us he is "sorry for the kids".

And we didn`t have to pay for the drinks.

And we arrived safely at the hotel without getting beaten up by the angry waiters.
 

Can traveling make you tired?

Life is not bad. Recife

 After almost 2,5 months of traveling we arrived in Nannai for well deserved 4 days of rest.

Indeed, intense traveling makes you tired. At the beginning, we were so keen on every attraction, every museum and so on. Within the time, we started to be more and more selective.

At the end, we search for some more rest :) :) :)

But of course, these are single days. We have quite a big schedule for the next week: Salvador and Rio de Janeiro are waiting for us.

It's a Mother's Day in Poland today. Mamo, zycze Ci wszystkiego Najlepszego! Mam nadzieje, ze kwiaty dojechaly :)

Next update to come soon from Salvador!

 

Pipa Beach lifestyle

Come and see the sunset in Jeri

 Sunset celebration

It's a tourist attraction of Jericoacoara to watch the sunset, have a drink and dance capoeira on the beach. Not a bad life, isn't it?