the end of carnival, from feast to famine...
geez! how did it already become more than two weeks past? time has just flown since it all ended. i will try to pick up and finish what i started...
i had several choices when i came to brazil. it has been my overriding goal of this trip to participate in carnival. but the question was... where? my two choices, really, were rio or salvador. rio is obviously the most famous. you always see the pictures of the scantily clad dancers when you see pictures of carnival in brazil. but the more i read about it, salvador seemed more attractive to me. i did ask around, and salvador was the general concensus. while rio is the biggest, sometimes bigger is not better...,) rio it is far more commercial. the dancers and the floats that you see are there, but you have to see them in the sambadrome. there they spend 90 minutes doing their thing in front of a crowd and judges, which you have to pay for. i am not sure what happens on the street, other than partying and dancing. but i read that salvador was more intimate and direct.
salvador is very different, from rio too. it is much poorer and the ethnicity is very different from southern brazil. in salvador 80% of the people are of african descent. it is interesting because there a many parallels between northeastern brazil and the american south(east). (remember that everything is upside down below the equator!) namely they were both slaveholding and agrarian. they both failed to industrialize properly, especially after the ending of slavery. so with the decline of the cash crops and their failure to industrialize they were left poorer and had far less choices economically. the land, money and the power were concentrated into the hands of the few, namely the landowner. meanwhile the southeast and the south of brazil, along with the north(east) of the united states, diversified and industrialized. wealth and power had greater distribution. though in brazil power was still relitively concentrated in the hands of the few. but they still retains their religosity and the music remains very vibrant and very unique. this is why i chose to go there for carnival. it was said that their carnival was far more authentic and i do not regret the choice that i made.
the next night, early in the evening, i meet some of my artesenia friends. they are pretty much typical anywhere in the world. living on what they make craft-wise. jewelry, necklaces, hairweaves, etc... they are usually a very bohemian bunch, dreadlocks, simple hand-made clothes and all. they are generally pot smokers too. i met them awhile ago, usually every night at a different place on the streets. only at night and only when i was wearing my horns too. i would share my beer or share/give them cigarettes, occasionally i buy food, since one girl was rail thin. they would share their wine with me. this night they asked if i wanted to smoke pot with them. i have not smoked in months, i cannot even remember when the last time was. i am not sure if it was even in south america. so i accepted. there are always the dodgy street dealers offering coke and marijuana, etc... but i am not so desparate to even contemplate such a thing. only with people i trust to a degree, or in safe circumstances.
i gave them a couple of reals and we all went down the streets to some hidden alleyway. suddenly we were in an area of salvador that i did not realize existed. it was all dirt alleys and hidden bars, definately not for the tourist crowd. they would never find it, it is one of those places only locals can show you. there were about 5 of us. i only remember two of the girls names because one i met that evening and the other i had "talked" to (my spanish, her portugese) several times before and had bought food. fabiana and fernanda, respectively. there was another girl and two more guys that i had met frequently but can never remember their names. but oh well... they never remembered mine, only el diablo. ;) one was the father of fernanda´s baby, though i was not sure he was her boyfriend/husband.
they lead me down a dirt alley, through the back streets, between the major roads. i had no idea that these places existed. we found an open air bar and sat way in the back. there were several people dressing in distinctive bloco for the filhos de ghandy costume openly snorting cocaine. we sat at a table and one of the guys went out to make the purchases. it seemed that they prefered their pot mixed with crack cocaine. but they knew i preferred puro, not mixed with anything. so they rolled one joint with crack and another for me, puro. one of the girls only had a pipe and did not smoke anything but the crack. i was kind of surprised. i did not realize that crack was anything but an american phenomena. i had lived in detroit long enough to have plenty of exposure to it and the consequences of its usage. i had also been wondering what drugs were prevalent in the area. especailly after that last pickpocket attempt. i had been wondering if it was heroin, but it might possibly have been crack. i think that is also where the money might go if i gave it directly to someone rather than buying them food or drink directly.
they were kind enough to roll me a nice joint for myself that i sat and smoked and later shared with one or two. they did not like it usually because it would make them sleepy. no surprise there. but they smoked first one laced joint then another. i gave them more money for more crack and more pot. i might have given them about $10 in total. maybe it is one of those things where i want to be accepted or maybe it is one of those things were i just give what a person wants regardless of the consequences to them. i do that occasionally. oh well. i am not worried about it. i had money and they did not. i am willing to share it, but i will stop when i think that they are abusing my generosity.
the one girl smoked rock after rock. i was amazed. pretty serious habit, especially for a poor artesenia. one interesting observation, for the pure observer in me, was that they used the ashes of cigarettes to mix with the crack. i never knew that, that carbon ash was used as a catalyst for the drug. i had learned earlier in peru that the coca leaf, when it is chewed, needs ash, or something similar, to act as a catalyst to make the drug work and the effects felt. but cocaine does not, i am assuming that it is because it is highly refined version of the drug. i am thinking all this while being stoned for the first time in months. not stupid stoned, but definately stoned. fernanda kept messing with me, since she knew i was stoned. something i would probably do myself if had the opportunity.
it became harder to communicate, because it was harder to think in spanish and understand portugese. but they smoked several more laced joints and i smoked another to myself. it was an interesting experience overall, though i did have several flashes of paranoia. i know how to control myself and my mind when such things occur. usually i just leave. but i was in foreign territory, so i waited. we eventually left. the city was extremely crowded that night. i was not on the ball for being the devil anymore. it was hard enough to walk down the street and not run into a million people, literally. we finally returned to where all their stuff was placed. i parted ways with them and i made my way back to the hotel because i still had my backpack. it took ages.
i had to sit and watch a little tv, watch carnival live, before i could face the crowds again. it probably took an hour. but i went back out and later met the two dutch girls, A and E again. we sat together with two of the local guys that worked in the hostal and were trying to pick them up. both of the girls had boyfriends though and did not work very well. i met almost all of the artesenias working the crowds with their wares while i was sitting. after sitting for maybe 2 hours, since it is tiring to wander around for hours, we met another local guy. he tried to pick up the girls also, that wanted to bring us to a "trance" bar. so me and the girls agreed. we all went down another blocked off side street that a policeman had to give us access to. we had to climb down a wall because another access door was blocked and then went down a deserted street until we found the place. it had a door and a hole in the wall. you paid through the hole in the wall. they were charging a cover and the three of us had only enough money for the cover and 2 beers. it was pretty good music and after a while we went up to the chill out area. the local guy continued to try to pick up the girls. it was fruitless though. they decided to go back to the girls hotel, which was next to mine. this time we took a different route back to avoid climbing the wall. we followed the street up the same hill but this time we hit the full street crowds. it was as crazy as ever. we parted ways at about 3 am, or later. i woke up at 9 at breakfast and then napped for about 2 hours after that.
the department of health was doing a public campaign promoting the use of condoms and safe sex. brazil is the epicenter of the AIDS epidemic in south america and has 57% of the cases for latin america. some 600,000 case in brazil alone. but due to its high population it is not as high percentagewise as other latin american countries, such as belize or guyana. there was a booth in centro that was handing out condoms for free during carnival. i cannot remember what the number that they were trying to give away across the country but it was in the millions. they even had a public awareness commercials on the tv. when it would get to overwhelming outside and i needed to retreat to some sancuary. back at the hostal the tv would be on playing live what was going on outside. usually an electrico that was in front of the main barra stage to be judged. but occasionally they would cut to commercial. i loved the ones for department of health condom campaign. the one i remember was this guy wakes up bleary and hungover from the night before. he looks over and sees someone sleeping next to him and has a moment of panic. he then glances and sees two open condom wrappers on the lampstand next to the bed. his faces splits into this huge shit-eating grin. it cuts to shots of him standing in the rain waiting for the bus, standing line at the bank, sitting in his cubicle at work... all with his enormous grin! i loved it! funniest and smartest commercial i have seen in ages.
the next night was really more of the same. by this time i was starting to get worn out. the day and the evening had hit a routine. eat, drink coffee, do internet, rinse, repeat. that is until the evening. then all hell would break loose. things would start gearing up earlier and earlier each day. so by now the barra electrico circuit would be rocking already by nightfall. i finally wandered down there to get photos. it was insanely packed with people. there are two million people in salvador, and gods know how many were visiting. i did read in the newspaper that there were only 14,000 tourists. we were way outnumbered. though i was told recently that there were 600 israelis there. they are fucking everywhere! in force! but as i mentioned before i pretty much stuck to the historic centro. because the barra circuit was jammed packed and i was not looking for that kind of party. the centro was became far more crowded, but it still remained personal and intimate.
i took it easy that night. i met A and E and we went down to the centro area beer garden again and sat down for a few hours to watch the world noisily careen by us. one of the little street kids joined us for a while. he was a nice looking kid of about 10 years old and very polite. he asked us to buy him milk for his mother. i told him that i would. but since it was late, after 11 i think, he began to ask me as we were walking for money because all the stores were closed. i stopped immediately and had to explain to him that i would buy milk but would give no money. the poor kid. god knows how much pressure he is under. i think he was too young for the drugs, but that does not apply to his mother. but who knows? after talking to him for a while and fruitless arguement, we returned to the table empty handed. eventually i offered to buy him food. he grudgingly accepted. i met the shoe shiner and bought for him too from the comida por quilo, food by weight. the guy behind the counter filled up their plates. probably $8 worth. we returned to the table. the little boy left us. the girls watched where he went. he went to one of the nearby venders. it looked like he was trying to sell the food. i said it was beyond my concern. i can only try to do good things, what others do with those things are sometimes beyond my control.
we went back to our hotels pretty early, probably around midnight. the next day i was feeling even more burnt out. i guess that is what the point is... party until you are exhausted and then you can face the next forty or so days fasting and contemplating until easter with little problem. i think it works quite well, in my estimation. the next night, mardi gras (fat tuesday), i wandered around with the dutch girls, i think they were as burned out as i was. we were decidedly uninspired to party further. i decided that i was going to leave with them to go to another city the next day. i was feeling a bit lost. the one goal of this entire trip was to be in brazil in carnival. i had not a thing planned for afterwards. going with them seemed like the best plan for me. we all turned in early and got up relitively early to catch a bus elsewhere.
finally! i am caught up with at least carnival! but a bunch has since happened, so when i get the time i will post more pictures and such soon. i leave for uraguay this evening, so it may be a few days. hasta luego, amigos!
