Sorry it has been a while since we´ve posted. Everything in Bahia seems to happen "tomorrow" - which is great for me considering I have working on this kind of schedule for about 24 years now. To make it easier, we will try to re-cap our days since last Wednesday...when in fact we did not go to Salvador as planned. We stayed at the Institute, learned about the research being done on whale songs and worked on presentations that we are giving this Friday. (Hannah and I are both fine-tuning exactly what we will be presenting on.)
Thursday:
I attempted to go on a whale watch and got as far as the beach to row out to the boat, when it was canceled because of the wind. I was then able to piggy back onto Hannah´s plans for the day to go to Salvador with Pamela (an intern) and Barata (aka Clarencio, a researcher). We didn´t do many touristy things but rather ran some errands walked around and then hung out by the water, watching the sunset. There were some really pretty old buildings and the area we were in seemed rich with culture - we walked past a museum of modern art and down an alley where they were having a DJ workshop. (It was tempting, but no - I did not join.)
Thursday night we went to Arlete´s house (an environmental researcher at IBJ) to celebrate Natali´s birthday (another intern). While most of the conversation was lost on Hannah and I we enjoyed ourselves - and the wine and delicious cake/chocolate candies. At one point in the night someone pulled out their guitar which was passed around between those who knew how to play. A few English songs were thrown in the mix - including a favorite down here, Jason Mraz`s "I´m Yours" - so we gave our best efforts at joining in. After most everyone had left, the dancing began and I got my first lesson in some Brazilian moves. While we are no match for the locals, we have a fun time shaking our hips all the same.
Friday:
Of course, after a week of hearing "tomorrow, tomorrow" when asking when we would head out on the boat, tomorrow finally came the day after our first night out. Despite getting sick, I LOVED being on the boat. We went out with the researchers (and research interns) for the day. The Ecovolutarios (us) did not have a very good first showing though because we all got sick. Hannah was the first to go and had the hardest time in the morning so she laid down in the back of the boat. I was fine unless I was actually puking so I went back and forth from laying down to sitting at the front, but was never able to help out with the distance-finder, etc. The other volunteer, Carol, basically went comatose after feeling sick and was unable to function pretty much for the rest of the day. Luciana was so great and helped her lay down in the back of the boat where she was able to lay under a sleeping bag for the rest of the trip. WE SAW WHALES. There were 3 different groups for a total of about 10 whales. I may have teared up a little when I first saw three of them blow at the same time...honestly its´s indescribable how amazing they are to watch. One of the most exciting parts of the day was seeing a very rare whale behavior called spy-hopping which occur when a whale sticks his head up out of the water and rotates side to side - spying on us!! We were also able to listen to their songs - which were played over the boat´s speaker for a while. Even when we weren´t seeing whales, being on the boat was great in and of itself. We jumped into the water in the middle of the day - which was so clear with huge waves. Being out there for the first time just reinforced what an amazing experience this and how nice everyone who works at IBJ is.
Our best attempts at going out that night were thwarted due to hunger and sleep. (Hannah takes over writing from this point on). We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Bambu Gastrobar and ordered lots of healthy things....it was glorious.
Saturday:
We spent the day at the Institute because Saturday is not one of our days off. We worked on our presentations and chatted with the interns all day. We have already told everyone that they have to come to NYC to stay with us and we are even trying to help Carol (the intern not the volunteer) get into graduate school in the U.S....in short we really do love everyone here!!!! (can´t reiterate that one enough). As I said before Saturday is Cultural Night at the Institute and Luciana picked STOMP. Danielle and I weren´t going to stay for it but we got sucked into the video from the start, it was very entertaining and put us in a music making mood for the walk home to our hotel (we have moved 5 times as of now from room to room and from hostel to hotel....we are back in the hostel right now). Anyway, we got ourselves all dolled up and went to this bar/rest. called Souza, where Marcelinho (he works the door at the Institute) was playing with his band and dad (his dad is actually in the band that I heard one of the first nights I was here). It was so much fun and we were able to fine-tune our wonderful brazilian dance moves.
Sidenote: on one day at the Institute (we think it was Wednesday) we got to participate in the Coastal Patrol program. This is a program that caters to young kids in the community and creates activities for them to learn about whales and the environment. Soooo with all of the interns and some of the other workers at the Institute, we got to pretend to be the kids. It was a little bit challenging because the Instructors started with some exercises to get the creative juices flowing, and they were all in Portuguese, but again, the interns translated things for us. We then made origami turtles , went on a scavenger hunt around the Institute, and participated in a play about the environment. (I was a little tree and Danielle took lots of pictures, it was hilarious!)
Another Sidenote: On Wednesday night D and I went to Capoeira class and have paid 30R to do it for the month. It is every Monday, Weds, Friday, so that is a great deal!!!! The instructor has already given us nicknames....I am the ant and Danielle is the ever graceful sea cockroach. It´s gonna be a fun month and it is a great workout!!! The first part of the class is "moves" and then the second part, everyone gets in a circle and some of the people play instruments and then people challenge each other to "fight." Danielle and I have yet to show our moves in the circle but we have promised ourselves that we have to do it once right before we leave.
Sunday: We moved again, from the hotel back to the hostel and we attempted to do laundry but that didn´t really work out too well. We then walked around town and hung out with the interns in their sweet pad. There was also a gay-pride festival going on so we sat and "people-watched" for awhile, listening to the smooth tunes of lady ga-ga and the incessant techno beats. In the night-time we (this we includes carol, the volunteer) went to luciana´s adorable apartment (she lives down the street from us) for pizza and wine and it was glorious. We met her cute kitten "Miss America" (her american boyfriend has a lizard named Salvador) that brings back big flying cockroaches to feed her family and we chatted about the institute and life things and all that jazz....we love luciana.
Monday aka Today: we got up early and watched the new promotional video for the Institute. It is still the rough draft and didn´t have english subtitles but the animals and landscapes and music were awesome!!!!!!!!! we are now attempting to do laundry again, although only one machine is working today so we are going to see how that works out. We also have to move rooms again in the hostel, unless we can sweet talk one of the hostel workers into lettings us stay in the room we are at. (btw, sunday and mondays are our days off, unless there are whale watches, but today they are canceled, so hopefully we can have some clean clothes). We also plan to walk around town and buy stuff and go to the beach if it doesn´t rain (it always rains when Danielle and I are eating). Tonight the Institute is re-showing the Cove and Danielle is definitely going, I haven´t decided if I can handle seeing the documentary again so I might try to work on my good ol medical school application and things like that. After that it is off to Capoeira!!!
Alright we are all updated so we are out out out!!! as always, we miss and love you all!!!!!!
Looking out from the beach - the research boat we go out on is the blue and yellow one in the middle.
Sunset in Salvador.
Salud! Out on the "town!" with the interns - Pamela, Leo, Carol, Natali & Amanda - at Souza.
Leo, Carol and Amanda showing us their moves before we were brave enough to join in.
Sad about packing up and moving...again.
