Tuesday, August 26, 2003
Mega-show
It has been raining and raining and raining and raining here...I can't believe the amount of rain I have witnessed in the past week. To make matters worse, most of my classes were cancelled last week (this is a metaphor for my entire life here), and with few friends and no beach option things got a little boring. Still, in many ways I prefer rain to sun because at least it's cooler.
The entire nation of Italy is here. My Italian-American friend tells me that they're in the middle of August vacation right now, which is why every second person I see in certain neighborhoods here is Italian. Many of the men seem to frequent the prostitution zones, and all of them can been seen on the beach as soon as the sun is out. Either way, it makes for great people-watching.
I had a great time on Sunday evening when I went to the Mega-Show with some Brazilian friends. The Mega-Show is a concert held every Sunday in two open, barn-like structures for kids in some of the poorer neighborhoods of Salvador. I guess I should explain that here, as in many Brazilian cities, the wealthier people live downtown and the poorer people live in the suburbs, and in Salvador's case this means up in the foothills surrounding the city (with great views, I might add). Looking up from the venue, you can see the lights from the houses on the surrounding hills. There are two stages, so as one band is playing, another band is setting up, so there is never any down-time. There are murals on the walls promoting peace and music, and the concert begins and ends at reasonable hours. Most of the music this time was pagode, which is a great Bahian variation on samba, but there was a little bit of reggae mixed in, too. I liked the show because, unlike many of the other places I frequent here, there were absolutely no tourists or the people who try to sell things to them. As a result, no one paid any special attention to me. I'm very glad I got a chance to go because it gave me the opportunity to see a side of the city ordinarily unavailable to me. I hope I go back soon!!
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The entire nation of Italy is here. My Italian-American friend tells me that they're in the middle of August vacation right now, which is why every second person I see in certain neighborhoods here is Italian. Many of the men seem to frequent the prostitution zones, and all of them can been seen on the beach as soon as the sun is out. Either way, it makes for great people-watching.
I had a great time on Sunday evening when I went to the Mega-Show with some Brazilian friends. The Mega-Show is a concert held every Sunday in two open, barn-like structures for kids in some of the poorer neighborhoods of Salvador. I guess I should explain that here, as in many Brazilian cities, the wealthier people live downtown and the poorer people live in the suburbs, and in Salvador's case this means up in the foothills surrounding the city (with great views, I might add). Looking up from the venue, you can see the lights from the houses on the surrounding hills. There are two stages, so as one band is playing, another band is setting up, so there is never any down-time. There are murals on the walls promoting peace and music, and the concert begins and ends at reasonable hours. Most of the music this time was pagode, which is a great Bahian variation on samba, but there was a little bit of reggae mixed in, too. I liked the show because, unlike many of the other places I frequent here, there were absolutely no tourists or the people who try to sell things to them. As a result, no one paid any special attention to me. I'm very glad I got a chance to go because it gave me the opportunity to see a side of the city ordinarily unavailable to me. I hope I go back soon!!
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