8 February 2011
Two lovely local Baianas ladies come to our pontoon and everybody is given a ribbon bracelet, tied with three knots, and for each knot you were granted one wish. But it was not just any knot. This can only be carried out by a true Baiana specially trained in the art of knot tying. They also practice healing like the African witchdoctors. Wearing traditional dress, of huge wide skirts like a crinoline with hand crocheted broderie anglais tops and a colourful wrap around headdress they certainly do look the part.
Party and Prize Giving Time
Now for all the World ARC boats having arrived with the exception of Ocean Jasper who are still on passage and Grand Filou who entered the Cape to Rio Race, a party was held in the yacht club. We were served very fine finger food, the beers and caipirinhas flowing freely. A group of local disadvantaged children gave a demonstration dancing the Capoeira. David won the prize for the nearest guess to how many crew in total have been on all the World ARC legs, the answer, a staggering two hundred and forty eight! It was good to see Tzigane receiving a prize for their epic hand steering feat, very well deserved I should say and Thor VI for the best time overall especially as they lost their forestay only one day out from St. Helena.
And now for the real party....
Jenny celebrated her birthday and along with Irene and Dick we dined in the Amado restaurant. It was an excellent meal and a great time was had by all. The restaurant was very quiet which I guess was due to the high prices they charged. No wonder there were food riots in the city back in the early 1990's. We had our own riot of a time, we were a very noisy eighth some!
We are finding it very difficult to acclimatise to the heat. All our cabin fans are running 24/7 to try and keep the air circulating through the boat. As pontoon power is 60 cycles we cannot use the air conditioning and to run the generator would not be neighbourly. We had to set the alarm so David could do the main and mizzen mast rigging check before the sun got too high, but even at 7am the sun is already on the ascent. He found the attachment to the head of the new genoa had suffered some chafe, but apart from everything else was in good order. We took the laptop to a specialist computer shop and all was put to rights but at a cost. Being right across the city the taxi fare alone was expensive. The traffic is fast and furious here and a taxi ride can be a scary experience. They drive like crazy. In fact contrary to what we expected we find it a very expensive city indeed. Eating out is more than European prices and not always a good experience. However on Alexander Korb's recommendation, Stella's new skipper, we ate in the cookery school restaurant, Senac, and enjoyed a splendid buffet sampling a whole range of typical Afro-Brazilian cuisine. Another surprise is how little English is spoken or understood, not what the guide books lead you to believe.
There are so many shopping malls and hypermarkets to choose from but provisioning here is not cheap. How the people can afford these prices I do not know. I don't think many can. It is a not uncommon to see people raking through refuse bins. The city has its fair share of slums and it is difficult to turn a blind eye to the litter. But the other side of the coin are the many modern hospital complexes (healthcare is free) and its plethora of beautiful colonial buildings which thank heavens are undergoing programmes of restoration.
Situated at the eastern entrance to Bahia Bay is the Farol da Barra lighthouse now a maritime museum. It originated as a fort, because of its strategic position on the Punta de Santo Antonio. Then in 1696 it received the lighthouse, the first to be constructed in the Americas. Among the exhibits were items recovered from one of the many wrecks discovered in the bay using submarine archaeology. The navigation equipment included an amazing example of a tide predictor, made it said in Glasgow and London. Once the light was fired by whale oil at the time when many whales came into the bay for calving and consequently lured to their deaths. The light can be seen from 38 miles away.
Susan Mackay