can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

American Spirit II - Day 403; New Photo's Updated to Joel's Web Site; We Go to Carnival & One in Our Group is Targeted by a Pick Pocketer; Friday, February 13, 2015



One year ago today:

"Day 41; Arrival at San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos; Thursday, February 13, 2014. At 12:44 AM we passed a gigantic rock called Roca Pateadora. 'Roca' means rock. By gigantic, I mean the size of giant asteroid a couple of hundred feet tall. If it was a 'small' rock, it wouldn't have been given a name. We've actually seen and been on islands that were smaller than this roca. Our electronic chart plotter had us in a depth of over 600 feet and 2 miles off shore from this rock. We were quite surprised, then, when our depth meter registered 49 feet. Bummer! We made a course change of 20 degrees,putting us further away from 'the rock.' If the depth had been 4 feet instead of 49, we'd have hit the underwater rocks (we draw a little over 5 feet), and we would have damaged the boat. If unlucky, we could have holed the boat and sunk. Now we were really awake! Kind of like how you feel when driving a car and almost have an accident. The adrenalin really starts flowing."

**********************************************

Joel has updated new photos to his web site; so if you haven't visited the site recently, feel free to do so now.

**********************************************

Up t 6:40 AM. The power to the boat was off; has been off since 2:00 AM according to Jeanine who was still up when it went off.

Breakfast at 8:14 AM consisted of 2 eggs (our last eggs); cut up potato; an apple for Joel and chilled pears for me; and brown bread. Jeanine was sleeping in.

At 10:30 AM I gave our passports and clearance papers to 'Ramon,' who was going to run them thru Immigration and the Harbor Master for clearing us out of the country. For this service he charges 200 Real, or $75. He returned them a couple of hours later. Joel from Rally Control had recommended we use them.

I went to a grocery store with Merlyn of Poole at 11:00 AM. The taxi driver who took us didn't have or use a meter, so he ended up charging us double what we should have paid. The ride cost 30 Real instead of 15. We know this because we found out later that another crew paid 15 Real for the same trip. The grocery store was like a Sam's Club. Very large. It had a great selection of fruit and chicken; but no small pre-packaged meats (just large cuts of beef); no butter (margarine only); and no coke zero in cans. Trying to buy Diet Coke in many countries like Salvador is almost impossible. There is none. When we got in line to pay, there were 4 people in front of us;and it took 45 minutes to get them rung up and bagged. Very slow. I realized that I had forgotten my credit card; but fortunately I had enough cash (430 Real) to pay for the groceries. As usual, no one spoke English in the store. Once we got back to the boat I spent an hour storing the provisions. I still need to go back to another store tomorrow and finish up the provisioning. I always like to provision at least a couple of days before leaving so that the food I put in the freezer can be frozen and not using any battery power to freeze once we depart.

At 3:45 PM we took a cab from the marina to the Othon Palace Hotel. Many of the roads to the hotel were barricaded, so our taxi driver had to ask directions from some military police on the way to find a route there. We got close to our hotel at 4:15 PM, when our taxi driver told us we had to walk the rest of the way. We did so, taking about 20 minutes to do so. Once there we entered the hotel, went to the bar and had a drink while we waited for our 'balcony' to open. I was told by the lady that sold me the tickets that the balcony opened at 5:00 PM. Turns out it opened at 6:00 PM, and then only when the band in our hotel started playing.

The 'gate' to the balcony opened at about 6:10 PM. We had to wear a green T-Shirt and produce our ticket to enter. Once we entered the ticket was taken and we were given a wrist band that said 'All Inclusive - Sexta' on it. I have no idea what 'sexta' means in Portuguese. That entitled us to all the food and drink for the evening, until 5:00 AM, at no extra charge. The person who took our tickets spoke a little English, and he basically told us to be careful if we leave the hotel because someone on the street would try to cut off and steal our wristband and rip the shirt off our backs. Welcome to Salvador.

The type of food offered included hamburgers; pizza; sushi; ice cream; and some other items. And there was a buffet dining area that offered food for a sit down meal, that opened at 8:00 AM and which we took advantage of. I wouldn't call the food we ate 'gourmet,' but it was acceptable. And the drinks that were 'free' all night were never in short supply. Balcony workers walked around all night serving you champagne; hard liquor in shots; beer; etc. And you could get water and coke at numerous bars.

From when we entered the balcony at 6:10 PM until 8:00 PM, the hotel was not crowded. From 8:00 PM onward it was very, very crowded. We stood along the first row of the balcony from when we entered until 8:00 PM, and so we got an unobstructed view of the street below. The balcony itself was about 25 feet above the ground. Every 45 minutes a giant semi-truck would drive by. On the truck's roof would be the best musicians in Brazil. Playing live. During the time we were there 7-8 of these bands drove by. Each vehicle was preceded first by thousands of spectators walking, dancing and especially jumping in the air to the music. Next came the balloons. Balloons small than the one's you see on TV in America during the Macy's New Year's Day parade, but large nevertheless. These balloons signaled the beginning of the 'members contingent' associated to the large band-truck coming. They all wore the same T-Shirts representing their group; were members of the group like those in Tampa are for Gaspirilla; and have to pay to be a member of this group; a lot of money from what I've gathered. There are 3-4,000 members in each of these groups associated with each truck. The band-truck is then followed by a 'support truck.' This support truck has on top of it viewing areas for its members; sells beer out of counters cut into its side; and has toilet facilities in it. Persons wishing to use the toilet line up behind the truck as it moves along and enter the truck when a stall becomes available. Amazing.

One of the band-trucks, groups was composed of 4,000 gay guys. Not only were they dancing and leaping like those in the other groups, many were passionately kissing as they moved along.

Walking up and down the parade route were squads of police, military police and first aid/rescue workers. The police and military police all wore US style combat helmets that were while (for the military police) or blue (for the regular police).

With a truck coming by every 45 minutes or so, the hotel we were in would play really loud music until the next truck got within about a quarter mile, then our music would shut down and we'd listen to the music of the approaching truck. The music was so loud it was 'Indy-500' loud. Really, really loud. So loud it vibrated into your body. Once the trucks passed by us, and the performers were at the same level as us in our balcony, they stopped 300 yards down the road in front of a TV studio stage, where the main performer and band played for a live TV audience for maybe 20 minutes, before moving again.

To put the scale of this in perspective, take Mardi Grass in New Orleans and multiply it by a...lot.

The people in our balcony area had an average age of 28; and they were all dancing or bouncing and/or singing to the music. It was bedlam. Beautiful bedlam. When we were sitting in a grandstand, the young ladies in front of us would be standing up and dancing all night long, even by themselves. I've never seen so many swaying buttocks in my life. And everyone wore shorts, usually the cotton jean type that were cut offs when you bought them. And we all wore the same mustard green T-Shirts. Some of the people went to a location in the hotel where an 'artist' would cut up your T-Shirt to give it a fashion statement. Jeanine went to that location and came back with a very fashionable looking T-Shirt.

It was actually very safe in the hotel/balcony area; with many patrons brandishing their I Phones without any worry that they'd be stolen.

At 11:45 PM we departed the Othon Palace Hotel and tried to make our way to the street, down the hotel driveway. There was no way to walk thru the crowds without physically pushing yourself between two people to move 3 feet; then doing it again and again. It was madness. Once we made it to the street, we had to go under a barrier rope, so now were were like thousands of others in the street moving along in front of one of a large band-trucks. We had about a mile, mile and a half to walk, amongst many people who looked like they were candidates on an FBI wanted poster. Reminds me of a Tennyson poem, 'into the valley of death rode the...whatever.' One guy confronted me and wanted my shirt and I presume wrist band so he could enter the hotel and get free drinks and food until 5:00 AM. That's right, 5:00 AM. That's when the hotel balcony closes and the parade ends for the night. Madness! At any rate, I told the guy I didn't speak Portuguese and then I think he gave me a hand signal which was derogatory. Not a middle finger, but perhaps something equivalent in Portuguese. There were 9 of us: Joel, Jeanine and me; Jonathan, Jenny and Sigi from Merlyn of Poole; and Vlado, Jack and Lubo form Civetta II. Trying to stay together was impossible, so Joel and I would get ahead and then wait for the others to catch up. There was much intimacy being practiced in the streets and along the curb off the streets, with couples in passionate embrace. I mean almost X-Rated passionate embrace; and guys doing the same thing with other guys. Tim and Tracy on Folie a Deux, you were right to skip Carnival for your children's safety sake.

At any rate, about half way from our hotel and to a taxi area that I had been told would exist by the lady I bought the tickets from, Jonathan got targeted by a group of pick pockets and was 'attached' twice. According to Jack from Civetta II, a guy bumped into Jonathan from his left side once; and then did it a second time. This is apparently a technique used to pick someone's pocket. During the second attempt, Jack saw the big, black, very muscular guy reach his hand into Jonathan's left, front pocket; and he exited with a large envelope that Jonathan was using as his wallet. Jack then bumped this guy, hard, causing him to lose his balance; and the white envelope fell to the ground, with the Brazilian money pouring out of the envelope. Sigi form Merlyn of Poole then beat the assailant to the envelope and grabbed it, and in the process the guy stepped on his hand. No worries; but Sigi had a cut for his efforts on his hand. Sigi had the envelope. But the money had spilled from the envelope, about 200 Real ($70), and the guy grabbed it. Gone. I think the reason that Jonathan was targeted was because he was carrying a bag over his right shoulder that he helped secure with his left hand. That left his left, front pocket open to attack. Bringing the bag was a mistake, in hindsight. Jonathan agrees. And since he was with his wife, Jenny, they must have known he'd be focused on your safety and security, also. Which he was.

Once we got to the taxi area we got in a taxi going the wrong way. We had to pick it up going the wrong way or we would never have gotten a taxi. It was going back towards the parage, but it then had to make a dead end U-Turn at the barricades and head the direction we wanted. In 30 minutes we were back at our marina. The taxi had a meter and the charge was 35 Real. Our trip to the hotel was in a cab that did not have a meter and we were charged 70 Real; twice as much. Welcome to Salvador!

Once back at the boat by 12:30 AM Sigi stopped over for some port wine. I shared a couple of glasses with him as he was a little shook up about going after the envelope during the pick pocket attempt. Thinking in hindsight that his going after the envelope may have subjected himself to danger. Perhaps. But it was the right and instinctive thing to do. Sigi only found out before we departed for the hotel from the marine that Jonathan was carrying his 'wallet' in the envelope; otherwise he wouldn't have know its value when it fell to the ground and tried to save it. And by the way, the envelope had a debit card in it which Sigi recovered. Good save Sigi!

In hindsight, we all agree that the trip from St. Helena to Salvador, primarily to experience Carnival, was worth it. Well worth the trip. And we're going into the streets tonight, in the upper city; to experience a different type of Carnival. One where there are no big band-trucks because the streets are too narrow. Not sure what we'll experience. Since we'll be in amongst the local population the whole time, I'm putting some cash (Brazilian Real currency) in a zippered front pocket only; and will be carrying my camera with a wrist lanyard tightly wrapped around my wrist when I'm using it. The I Phone, like last night, is staying on the boat. As are my credit card and debit card. And my only ID will be a paper copy of my passport and my medical insurance card. Nothing else. Nada.

We're sleeping in tomorrow.

Brian Fox


Previous | Next