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American Spirit II - Day 401; Half Day Tour of Salvador; Nuno on NDS Darwin Robbed at Knife Point; 3:00 PM Cruising Seminar; Two Months Until the Rally Ends; & Merlyn of Poole and Adela Arrive; Wednesday, February 11, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 39; Closing on Galapagos; Tuesday, February 11, 2014. At 5:00 AM a loud alarm sounded on the boat. The alarm was a "Position Lost" alarm. Even though we have a plethora of satellites tracking us and giving us our GPS position, this anomaly keeps popping up every few days. Aggravating when its in the middle of the night. My 'sleeping' hours are 12:00 AM - 6:00 AM, so losing an hour of sleep is costly."

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Today is the two month countdown to the rally being over in St. Lucia (April 11).

Up at 5:40 AM. We have to get up early because we're taking a half day bus tour starting at 8:00 AM.

Breakfast at 7:15 AM consists of eggs; potato; chilled pear quarters; and brown bread for Joel and me. And pears for Jeanine. She's out of oat meal.

After breakfast Joel got his 'hot spot' phone activated. Yeah!

We left the boat at 7:50 AM. While waiting for the bus, I was told that Nuno from NDS Darwin had his I Phone stolen at knife point yesterday. He had been talking on the phone when he was robbed. Nuno is Portuguese and doesn't look like the mugable type. But he was alone when it happened.

Our tour bus departed at 8:16 AM; and our tour operator was Angela. As we drove around the city she narrated the history of Salvador and sights of interest as we passed them. Some of the things she told us:

Salvador was modeled after Lisbon in Portugal;
That the city was shaped like an upside down triangle;
That an aquifer is under the 'upper city;'
That the bay next to Salvador is the Bay of All Saints;
That the 'upper city' is 85 meters above sea level;
That there are 36 islands in the Bay of All Saints;
That the mouth of the bay is 98 kilometers wide;
That the largest island is 31 kilometers long;
That the 31 kilometer long island is the only one that has a bridge to it;
That 18 of the islands are inhabited;
That the 'middle city' was developed to relieve traffic congestion;
The Spanish and Dutch also occupied Salvador for a while;
The the light house on the bay was the first in the Americas (1625-1627);
That the Bay of All Saints is the 2nd largest bay in the world (Hudson Bay is the first);
That the Bay of All Saints is 1,250 square kilometers in area;
That petroleum is the biggest industry in Salvador;
That there are 3 different types of Carnival in Salvador;
That there are 200 groups of semi-size trucks in Carnival;
That each group of trucks consists of a main truck with a band on top of it and a support truck, that has a doctor and nurses on it;
That each truck will have 3,000 to 4,000 members walking with it, and that the membership to join a group like this is expensive;
That is a member of a group is caught fighting, they lose their membership for the next year;
That many Salvadoran people will leave Salvador during Carnival;
But that 1 1/2 million more people will come to Salvador during Carnival;
That the small streets can't support the large trucks but that they will have their own bands;
That 'Bahia' is pronounced 'Baha;'
That the British have a cemetery here;
That the yacht club is a good one;
That Salvador and hence Brazil gained its independence from Portugal on September 7, 1822;
That the major street in Salvador is called 'Avenue 7th of September;'
That the Portugal Royal's ruled Portugal from Brazil for 16 years during the Napoleonic War;
That the Brazilian Indians made poor slaves, so slaves had to be imported from Africa;
That the Brazilian Indians would rather be whipped to death than to work for the Portuguese;
That 100% of the people have mixed white, black and Indian blood;
That the difference between a slum and a poor neighborhood is that the slum does not have running water, sewage treatment or electric;
That the houses in the slums and poor neighborhoods are the same, appearance wise;
The Church of the Ascension has the largest collection of blue porcelain in the world;

Our last stop was at the Church of the Ascension, a Franciscan church. It has in it, besides the largest collection of blue porcelain in the form of murals in the world; the most beautiful carved wood in the main church area that I've ever seen. It was breathtaking. Beyond description. Apparently the members of the church 'donated' monies and had the carvings done; and the more money you donated the closer you moved towards the main altar, and the 'closer you were to God.' No kidding, that's what they believed.

After the tour at 11:50 PM, Russ and Laurie from Nexus; Derry from Avocet; and Joel, Jeanine and I had lunch at a famous hotel in one of the squares. The food was good, but the meal took 2 hours and 25 minutes to consume. Talk about slow service!

At 3:00 PM we went to a talk given by a local about cruising in Brazil. The talk was given at the naval base, so men had to wear trousers and women skirts, to attend.

I picked up out laundry at 4:40 PM. The cost of the laundry was 70 Real or $26. In most countries in the world, we are charged by the weight. In Salvador, we are charged by the piece. And a sock has the same cost as a queen size sheet. Interesting.

At 5:30 PM I led Jonathan, Jenny and Sigi from Merlyn of Poole to the Bahia Tour office so they could buy tickets for Carnival. They'll be joining us Friday night at the Othon Palace Hotel for Carnival. We then ate dinner next door. While sitting outside doing Wifi, our waiter suggested that we go inside because it was too dangerous to do Wifi outside with an I Pad and I Phones visible because someone might come buy and take them. This despite the fact that there are Police and Military Police everywhere.

We were back at the boat by 8:15 PM; and then Jonathan, Jenny and Sigi came over to our boat for a night cap of wine. Later, Jeanine showed up with Edward, Terra and Amelia of Adela. Jeanine had purchased SIM cards for Merlyn of Poole and then loaded and activated them onto their phones. Jeanine then took the 'kids' out for dinner, returning at 12:30 AM; the Merlyn crew left; and Joel went to bed while I typed 2 logs.

Our power had gone out earlier but about 10:15 PM it came back on. The power was out to our boat only, not the entire dock.

Brian Fox

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