After a few days back in Seattle, I’m ready to leave again. The next stop on my world tour is Japan. I’ll be traveling with my friend Charlie and meeting another friend, Aaron, and my uncle. Aaron and my uncle live about an hour outside of Tokyo. They don’t live together, however. That would be weird.
We’ll be flying in to the international airport in Narita. It’s a bit outside of Tokyo, but Charlie and I got passes that allow us to ride the trains as much as we want for 2 weeks. They should pay for themselves after a few short trips.
Being in Seattle has really made me realize how much I’m ready to live somewhere else. Maybe it’s the culture shock of arriving home after some time away. Maybe it’s just my own preference. I can’t really tell right now. All I know is that Seattle is really slow. I think I need more stimulation. I also have a strong desire to start things over. I guess that’s why I quit my job, gave up my apartment, and sold my car. The east coast is seeming like a good place to be. I had a ticket to Vienna, but I’m thinking of canceling it now. My reason to go has all but dissolved. Someday I’ll go to Europe, but I’m not sure now is the time.
I went shopping today at the mall in Salvador. It’s pretty nice inside. There’s even an ice skating rink with fake ice. It’s a little strange to see people dressed for summer on ice skates, but I got over it. When I first arrived, I got a cup of coffee and a brigadeiro and sat down to watch people.
I’ve noticed this before, but never really thought about it. The women here LOVE platform sandals. These sandals have probably 6 – 8 inch thick soles. I don’t know why they do it. It must just be a cultural thing, but they aren’t sexy and they don’t look comfortable. I think they also throw off the center of gravity so these poor women walk as though they are constantly falling forward. Maybe Brazilian men like tall women.
To me, culture shock is anything that I notice different from what I’m used to. It doesn’t have to be anything huge or upsetting. It doesn’t even have to be bad. There have been many moments of culture shock since I arrived in Brazil, but I think the biggest one has revolved around the vendors. A simple walk down the beach is almost certain to be interrupted at some point by a person (usually a man) trying vigorously to sell you something. It’s not just the beach, though. I’ve had vendors try to sell me necklaces and pirated DVDs while I’m inside a restaurant. I’m a somewhat shy person when it comes to interacting with people I don’t know so I tend to just awkwardly brush them off.
The problem comes in when I actually do want something. I can’t ever see myself wanting to buy a crappy necklace, but sometimes I want water or food. One of the most difficult things for me has been to consciously assess what they have and if I want it. It took me about a month to come up with this technique, but it works. If a vendor tries to sell me something, I will engage them in brief conversation, look at their wares, let them know of my interest (or lack of), and thank them for the offer. They are much more prone to leave quickly and I don’t feel harassed. These people are simply trying to make some money and they aren’t doing it at gunpoint.
I just leveled up in Portuguese as well so that helps. I think I’m at level 4 now so I have about 66 more levels if we’re going by WoW rules.
This post was started at 2:30am. I never got around to posting it because I fell asleep at the computer. So, here are pictures of my walk around Barra Beach yesterday.
The lighthouse is actually a nautical museum. It looked nice, but I didn’t go inside. Random historic museums don’t interest me much. The building itself was beautiful, though.
On the other side of the lighthouse is a large outcropping of rocks. I took a few pictures from there, but I’m not sure I took any pictures of it. The rocks and the ocean made it look like such a serene place. Upon closer inspection, it’s absolutely littered with trash and smells like pee garbage.
I had an interesting night last night. The pousada was too expensive so I told the guy that I would be moving. He said he had another, more simple room for R$50/night if I was interested. I took a look and it was definitely more simple. The mattresses on the rickety triple bunk were thin and stained with some unknown substance. The fan was plugged into a socket that cut out if the cord wasn’t dangling in exactly the correct position. To get to the bathroom I had to leave my room (which involved touching the mysteriously greasy doornob) and go slightly down a hall. Once there, it was dimly lit by a single bulb. Overall, it had the feeling of a nice bus station bathroom (that means it didn’t smell like pee). This was very strange considering how nice the pousada is. I don’t know why, but I told the guy I would stay there for one night to see if it was okay. Nobody even dared me to do it! The decision may have been horrible, but it was voluntary. I woke up this morning missing about a pint of blood from all of the mosquito bites. I also spent the night stewing in my own juices because the fan wasn’t keeping me cool. It was no fun. I told the guy that I’d be leaving today and he offered to let me stay there for R$40/night. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t consider it for a while. I am now in a 4-person room at a hostel. There are almost no other guests here so I get the room to myself. It has a bathroom attached and A/C. It’s also R$40/night.
This is the view from my room at the pousada. I think the pictures may look better than the actual view. I tried to take the pictures in a panoramic style so if anyone wants to stitch them together that would be dandy. This laptop is too freakin small for such a task.
It’s really difficult to shake this feeling of dread every time I take my camera out. I’m not getting as many pictures as I want or the kind I’d like to take. They all seem so hurried. With that said, here are some pictures of Salvador. This is only a small taste of what Salvador has. I’ll try to take more pictures later.
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I actually met up with someone from couchsurfing.com tonight. It was a lot of fun. She’s the kind of person who knows everyone so there were no shortages of people to talk to. I even got a few phone numbers.
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It has been almost a week of traveling by myself and I’m getting sick of it. The whole trip to the northeast has been alone. I was supposed to meet someone from couchsurfing.com in Fortaleza, but he flaked out. He replied to my first message saying he could hang out, but never answered the phone when I called. I didn’t even look for anyone in Recife. I was just passing through. Now, I’m in Salvador and this place is seriously alive. There’s so much color and atmosphere that I don’t even know where to begin. The couch surfing community here seems much more active so hopefully something will come from it. I’ve already had one person offer his couch and 2 more show interest in going out tonight.
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Last night I said goodbye to Recife. It was like saying goodbye to someone you met on a plane once and passed the time with idle conversation. There was no emotion except excitement to see Salvador. Granted, I didn’t really take full advantage of what Recife had to offer. I was only there for 1 full day. From the time I stepped off the bus I could tell I wasn’t going to be thrilled with the city. When I finally arrived in Salvador this morning, I realized what it was about Recife that I didn’t like.
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